Tunnel

[NW Mailing List]

On Sun, Sep 28, 2014 at 9:27 PM, Mike wrote:

> Anyway, I have found Montgomery Tunnel, but a bit west of Montgomery, just
> south of Blacksburg is a single track tunnel.
> I got to Montgomery Tunnel by following the double track west from Salem
> under the severely angled-end bridge at Singer (?).   I followed the single
> track over the Singer (?) bridge and got to the mystery tunnel...a bit south
> of Merrimac.  Do I recall there is a tunnel named Merrimac?

Welcome to my backyard. It sounds like you got off track at Singer.
The double track you were following from Salem is the Norfolk &
Western mainline, which eventually goes through the twin-bore tunnel
at Montgomery then under I-81 on its way to Christiansburg. The skewed
bridge east of Singer is the single-track Virginian crossing of the
N&W. If you follow that line west, you will find Slate Hill Tunnel,
then after wrapping around the horseshoe bend around Ellett the line
takes a hard right and heads to Yellow Sulpher Springs, the east
portal of the Merrimac (or Alleghany) Tunnel. The west portal is where
the N&W Blacksburg Branch crossed the Virginian, at the community of
Merrimac. The line continues down grade from there, eventually
reaching Whitethorne, where pushers are still stationed.

Bruce in Blacksburg