1958 - Longest N&W Tunnel

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Roanoke Times - May 18, 1958

   CARBO, May 17 - A series of muffled explosions followed by the 
cheers of drill crews marked the biggest event in the construction 
near here on the Norfolk and Western Co.'s longest tunnel.
    The event was yesterday's successful "hole through" when more 
than 1,300 pounds of explosives shattered the last 23 feet of rock 
separating drill crews who had been working from both sides of Sandy 
Ridge to complete the 8,240-foot tunnel.
    SOME OF the engineers stood with fingers crossed after the series 
of explosions, but confident shouts arose from drill crew members. 
And before the fumes and dust had cleared enough to see if the "shot" 
had been effective and the engineers' calculations correct, the crew 
members' confidence proved correct when voices were heard coming from 
the other side of the 480-cubic-yard pile of blasted rock.
    Crewmen who had been burrowing from the south side of the 
23x16-foot tunnel rushed up the rock pile to greet crewmen who had 
been drilling from the north side.
    N&W engineers and officials of the contracting firm, the Ralph E. 
Mills Co. of Frankfort, Ky., modestly agreed that the "hole through" 
was successful. However, they probably had been thinking about what 
Scottish poet Robert Burns had to say about "the best laid schemes o' 
mice an' men gang aft agley."
    The southern entrance of the tunnel is in Russell County, the 
northern portal is in Dickenson County.
    Actual drilling of the tunnel started July 3, 1957 when the south 
side of Sandy Ridge was penetrated. Workmen started boring into the 
north side of the mountain last Sept. 30.
    Officials hope to start moving coal through the tube Aug. 1.
    The Sandy Ridge tunnel is the toughest link in about seven miles 
of new N&W track which will carry millions of tons of coal from 
Clinchfield Coal Co.'s new Moss No. 3 mine to Clinchfield's new 
preparation plant. Most of the coal will go to Appalachian Power 
Co.'s multi-million-dollar steam generating plant now nearing completion here.
    Appalachian, Clinchfield and the N&W are the principals in a 
giant industrial development project in this area that will represent 
a total outlay of close to $100 million.The N&W tunnel and rail 
extension will cost approximately $7 million.
    L.A. DURHAM JR., division engineer of the N&W's Pocahontas 
Division, said the new tunnel is the longest in the N&W system and 
the longest railroad tunnel in the states of Virginia and West 
Virginia. It no doubt is longer than the most extensive tunnels in 
may other states, but Durham said he did not have statistics on the 
other railroad tunnels. The N&W's 7,107-foot long Elkhorn tunnel at 
Elkhorn, W.Va., was the longest before the Sandy Ridge tube came into 
existance.
    Construction of the new tunnel was under the general supervsion 
of A.B. Stone, N&W's chief engineer, and his assistant, B.E. Crumpler.
    Officalis on hand for yesterday's "hole through" included Durham; 
Ralph E. Mills, president of the contracting construction company 
which bears his name; C.W. Fiery, veteran N&W resident engineer, and 
W.B. Cole, also an N&W resident engineer.
    Fiery, a veteran railroad tunnel builder who soon will be 
retiring, was given the honor of "throwing the switch" which set off 
the final series of explosions. He stood with other engineers, 
construction company officials, drillers and newsmen in the south 
section of the tunnel about 1,100 feet from the final section of rock 
when he detonated the 26 cases of special mine explosives.
    the electrically-timed explosions went off one after the other, 
each followed by a muffled sound, a slight jar and rushing air from 
the concussion. The "hole through" was made 4,750 feet from the south 
entrance of the mile and one-half-plus tunnel which is 700 feet below 
the peak of Sandy Ridge.
    Drillers had put a test hole through the remaining 23 feet of 
rock before drilling about 100 holes in the faces of the remaining 
wall of rock on each side.
    AFTER THE dust and fumes had cleared "muckers" started the big 
job of removing the blasted rock with their elmco loaders. The elmcos 
scoop up the rock and transfer it to dumpers which take it out of the 
tunnel to a point where it is loaded onto big Euclid trucks for the 
"long haul."
    Sandy Ridge tunnel is a straight-line tube (no curves) in the 
Clinch Valley district of the N&W's Pocahontas Division. A total of 
170,000 cubic yards of rock and dirt has been taken out of the tube 
and when it is completed workman will have put in it 4,117,000 pounds 
of steel tunnel liner and rail.
    Division engineer Durham said the drilling operation was "plagued 
by coal seams" in the mountain, explaining that hitting coal seams 
make tunnel construction more difficult. The primary formation of 
Sandy Ridge is sandstone with the secondary type of rock being shale.
    The next phase of the tunnel construction will be the pouring of 
concrete for the floor and curb walls. Durham said track will then be 
laid and the tube will be lined with concrete "under traffic."

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- Ron Davis, Roger Link