The Droop Mountain Tunnel is a 402-foot-long tunnel through Droop Mountain in Greenbrier County, West Virginia, along the former Chesapeake & Ohio Railway Greenbrier Division.
The Droop Mountain Tunnel is a 402-foot-long tunnel through Droop Mountain in Greenbrier County, West Virginia, along the former Chesapeake & Ohio Railway Greenbrier Division. The tunnel was completed in 1900. 3
The Chesapeake & Ohio Railway (C&O) chartered the Greenbrier Railway Company on November 16, 1897, to construct a line from the C&O west of White Sulphur Springs, West Virginia, to the Forks of the Greenbrier River in Pocahontas County. 1 Surveying began in Marlinton on April 9, 1898, and by June, work had proceeded south to Caldwell. Right-of-way acquisition for what became the C&O Greenbrier Division began in March 1899, and the first construction contract was let in April for a five-mile stretch from Whitcomb northward. The first train arrived in Marlinton on October 26, 1900, and regular passenger service between Whitcomb and Marlinton began on December 17.
In 1961, engineers from the National Radio Astronomy Observatory built a model of a telescope bearing to determine if it could fit through the Droop Mountain Tunnel. 3 The tunnel’s height constrained the bearing, a 17.5-foot diameter nickel-steel hemisphere—the largest ever made. This limitation determined the maximum size of the radio telescope they could construct at that time, which was 140 feet.
Following the closure of several large customers along the line in the late 1960s and early 1970s, the C&O approved the abandonment of the Greenbrier Division in December 1971. On March 18, 1975, the C&O requested permission from the Interstate Commerce Commission (ICC) to abandon 92 miles of the Greenbrier Division from North Caldwell to Cass, which included Watoga Bridge. 2 The ICC granted C&O permission to abandon much of the Greenbrier Division on August 16, 1978, with the route from North Caldwell to Cass closing to through traffic on December 29.
Chessie, the C&O’s successor, donated 92 miles of the out-of-service Greenbrier Division to the West Virginia Railroad Maintenance Authority (WVRMA) for reuse for a multi-purpose trail. 2 Chessie began track removal in July 1979 from North Caldwell to Cass and was completed by mid-1980, with the land transferred to the WVRMA on June 20. The development of the multi-purpose trail, dubbed the Greenbrier River Trail, was slow, as portions of it were damaged by a flood in 1985. Federal Emergency Management funds were awarded in 1992 to repair the damaged sections, and the Greenbrier River Trail between North Caldwell and Cass opened in 1994.
Information
- State: West Virginia
- Route: Greenbrier River Trail
- Type: Tunnel
- Status: Active - Pedestrian
- Total Length: 402'
Sources
- “The Chesapeake & Ohio Builds a Branch Line.” The Durbin Route. Charleston: Pictorial Histories Publishing, 1985. pp. 13-34. Print.
- “Depression and the Final years.” The Durbin Route. Charleston: Pictorial Histories Publishing, 1985. pp. 57-84. Print.
- Interpretative signage.