Tunnel No. 5 - Bridges and Tunnels

State: Kentucky
Route: Eastern Kentucky Railway
Type: Tunnel
Status: Abandoned / Closed

Tunnel No. 5, also known as the Ramey Tunnel, is an abandoned railroad tunnel in eastern Kentucky.

The Eastern Kentucky Railway (EK) was rooted in speculative land purchases that the owners believed to be rich in timber, iron ore, and coal in the vicinity of Riverton and Argillite. ^{1 2} The company name was amended in December 1865 to the Kentucky Improvement Company, and it was proposed to construct a railroad.

The first section of the Eastern Kentucky Railway (EK) opened from Riverton (Greenup) to Argillite in 1867 and included the boring of Tunnel No. 1 (Barney) and Tunnel No. 2 (McIntire) tunnels. ¹ An extension from Argillite south to Hunnewell was finished later in 1870, which included Tunnel No. 3 (Argillite), Tunnel No. 4 (Callahan), Tunnel No. 5 (Ramey), and Tunnel No. 6 (Shelton) tunnels. ²The EK reached Grayson on June 10, 1871, which included Tunnel No. 7 (Hopewell) and Tunnel No. 8 (Big) tunnels, and approached Willard by 1874. An additional 1.77 miles was built to Webbville in 1889. ^{1 2}

Although it served several mines and early pig-iron blast furnaces, the EK was abandoned in 1933 during the height of the Great Depression.