You'll Never Guess What Lies Abandoned Beneath This Virginia City

It’s not often that you hear the tale of a buried train. Few people know that under Richmond’s own Church Hill neighborhood lies an abandoned locomotive with an eerie past. In its day, the steam engine was known as Locomotive 231 and it pulled along ten flatcars. The fate of this tunnel was sealed – quite literally – when the structure collapsed nearly 100 years ago and it had to be permanently closed off. There are many intriguing details about the Church Hill Tunnel, one of which is the stark difference between the eastern and western end of the portal. One has been preserved as a historic landmark; the other is slowly being reclaimed by nature. These portals are only ten blocks in distance, but they could be worlds apart.

Tess Dixon/flickr

The Church Hill tunnel was in operation from the early 1880s to 1925, the year of the fatal cave-in. It stretches 4,000 feet between Marshall Street and 18th and 19th Streets near Chimborazo Park. The structure was built so that cargo could be moved from Richmond’s port to a rail yard close to 17th street.

Eli Christman/flickr

Unfortunately, not enough thought went into building a tunnel beneath the limestone and soft clay of Church Hill. On October 2nd, a 190-foot section collapsed as a group of workers attempted to repair the tunnel. Many of these men were fatally injured and two were essentially buried alive.

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Abandoned Country

Here is a shot of the tunnel's overgrown portal, which will disappear altogether before too long. It's fascinating how the two remaining sections of the tunnel could look so vastly different. This eastern site is only accessible via a steep ravine, causing potential danger to explorers. According to one urban legend, this is the site of the Richmond vampire, a bloody figure that emerges from the rubble and disappears into Hollywood Cemetery. It’s no surprise that this would be the site of suspicion, as the tunnel acts as a sealed-in tomb for both the train and the men who died during the collapse.

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Abandoned Country

Author of "The Collapse of the Church Hill Tunnel" Walter S. Griggs Jr., is particularly fascinated by the story and compares the buried train to the Titanic. Because of the rapid overgrowth surrounding the tunnel, before too long it will be obscured entirely until people in another age re-discover it.

Have you visited Richmond’s Church Hill Tunnel? Be sure to share your experience!