Tunnels Railroad tunnels are unusual in Georgia. Thanks to its location at the southern end of the Blue Ridge, the state has mountains over 2,000 feet only in its northern extremities. In fact, it was this fortunate topography that allowed Georgia to connect the Atlantic Coast to the Ohio and Tennessee valleys by rail well before its economic rivals in the Carolinas could do so. It made the connection by going around the Blue Ridge range, through the Great Appalachian Valley. None of Georgia's railroad tunnels are particularly long; altogether they add up to less than a mile. Also, only a single tunnel per railroad line is the norm. In comparison, consider the Cincinnati Southern Railway, which traversed 27 tunnels totalling 5 miles of underground passageway along the middle section of its route between Cincinnati and Chattanooga. (This line eventually became Southern Railway's "Rathole" Division, so named because of the considerable amount of time that train crews had to spend inside cramped tunnels.) Five existing tunnels are featured here. Only one of them, however, still carries trains, the 1928 Chetoogeeta Mountain Tunnel currently in use by CSX. • Chetoogeeta Mountain Tunnels, Tunnel Hill. • Divide Tunnel, Rockmart. • Braswell Tunnel, Braswell. • TAG Tunnel, Pigeon Mountain. A few other tunnels should be mentioned. The oldest among these are the uncompleted Dicks Creek and Warwoman tunnels of the ill-fated Blue Ridge Railroad in Rabun County. The Dicks Creek tunnel would have been 2314 feet long while the Warwoman tunnel, about 5 miles to the west, would have extended 1,794 feet. Both were to be 16 feet wide and 20 feet high. Construction began in 1854 and continued until 1858, when work was suspended due to a lack of funds. Dicks Creek tunnel was left about half-finished. Some 1400 feet had been excavated into the mountain from the west end; only 59 feet of passage had been dug from the east end. Today the west end section is flooded due to the tunnel's slight downhill slope from west to east. The east end is open, but, as mentioned, it only extends 59 feet. The west end lies on private property, adding to its inaccessibility. The east end is on Chattahoochee National Forest land, so it is possible to visit it, but it is difficult to find. The east end of Warwoman tunnel is located on National Forest land near Warwoman Dell Picnic Area east of Clayton. This end has been closed off by landslides, however, and the Forest Service does not permit attempts to re-open it. The west end was destroyed by highway construction and re-grading years ago. Although the Georgia tunnels of the Blue Ridge Railroad have essentially been lost, the longest tunnel on the railroad is still in existence and is open to visitors. Twelve would-be railroad miles east of Dicks Creek tunnel, near Walhalla, South Carolina, is Stumphouse Tunnel. Of its planned 5,862-foot length, 4,363 feet were completed before funds ran out. It has been preserved by the City of Walhalla and can be visited from 10 until 5 most days of the year. At Pigeon Mountain Wildlife Management Area in Walker County are seven small tunnels built around 1910 for a narrow-gauge mining railroad. The longest is a bit over a thousand feet in length. When the iron-mining operations ended in the mid-1920s, the tunnels were abandoned. A railroad tunnel once carried Georgia Midland & Gulf Railroad (later Southern Railway) trains through Pine Mountain in west central Georgia. This tunnel, probably built in 1886-87, was located on the Columbus-to-McDonough line a few miles south of Warm Springs. In the mid-1950s it was "daylighted" by the Southern, meaning the ground above the tunnel was dug away, converting the tunnel into a cut. A highway bridge now passes over the tunnel site. There are no tracks because the rail line was abandoned in 1988. (On GA 190 about a mile east of GA 85.) One last tunnel may be worthy of mention. At Southern Railway's Inman Yards in Atlanta, L&N Railroad built a tunnel under the south end of the yards. (Donald Pickford, Jr. has photos of this tunnel online at RR Picture Archives.) Georgia's Railroad History & Heritage. Copyright, Steve Storey. Railroad History | The Depot List | Locomotives On Display | Odds & Ends | Sources & References | Home