The article is: CRAWLING INTO THE BELLY OF A RICHMOND LEGEND Richmond Times-Dispatch July 5, 1998 You find some of the coolest places. Chris, FYI the audio is mono (L) only up to 1:40 then again @2:01 till end. Ck your mic.
Thanks for supplying the info to the article . You saved me & I am sure many others the effort to locate it... I am horrified by the plight of the occupants of the train...How horrific it must have been ...
ENTIRE ARTICLE PART 1 The arched ceiling drips like a leaky dam. Cracks riddle the brickwork, which sags overhead like a clay guillotine as we crawl through the belly of one of Richmond's greatest legends, the Church Hill tunnel. Despite the cool dampness, we're sweating a little. Would we find any hint of the death train or of the bodies said to be buried beside it more than 3,000 feet away? Or would we join them, perhaps, in the city's deepest graveyard? Kids play basketball 80 feet above us at the 30th Street park. But down here it's tomb-quiet, like when you're wearing headphones and the music stops. We crawl on, hugging the fill that was supposed to keep the tunnel - and the ground above it - from collapsing. Clearly, it had settled, giving us our scant crawling room. Years ago, during the great cave-in of 1925, more than 200 men had stampeded on the tunnel floor below us, running for their lives in the opposite direction. "The lights went out, hell began to reign in the tunnel," carpenter George Raborg told the Richmond Times-Dispatch shortly after he escaped. "Some of them yelled that they had knives and would cut anybody that got in their way. Others were praying - you never heard such praying." The men ran blindly, tripping over the rails and smashing into shoring timbers and each other, Raborg said. "It was like being in a bottomless pit without knowing what had happened or what was going to happen." Nearly 75 years after the great cave-in, the tunnel of misery remains alive, like a 4,000-foot snake writhing beneath the city. A portion of Jefferson Park above the tunnel - near the buried train - gave way in 1962. A decade ago, the 16-foot-thick snake kinked its back below 29th Street, swallowed a tennis court and may have helped tip two houses. And earlier this year, an old brick pharmacy almost directly above the East Marshall Street portion of the tunnel was torn down after one of its walls fell into the street, although the city's building inspector doubts the tunnel had anything to do with it. One of Richmond's most intriguing legends, the C&O railroad tunnel has been a nightmare since its bloody beginning about 125 years ago. It would consume more than a dozen men, one at a time, during construction, and would become such a nightmare for the C&O that officials practically cheered when it was closed. Its final known meal, on Oct. 2, 1925, consisted of a work train, its conductor, fireman and at least one laborer. Soon thereafter, the tunnel, with the train inside, reportedly was filled with sand and plugged at both ends. The mankiller finally had been slain, it appeared. "The train might not be seen for another geological epoch," wrote a Richmond News Leader editorial writer at the time, "when men of a new civilization discover a relic of the 20th century in what once was the blue marl of Church Hill." But like everyone else, the editorial writer underestimated the power of the tunnel to lure people below the surface of Church Hill. Someone has broken into the tunnel's eastern end, which is hidden in a wooded ravine below Sugar Bottom. People are risking their lives, belly-crawling inside the beast in a search for the train and the buried men, or perhaps for the gold rumored to be hidden there. "There's a lot of history in that hole," Kenneth Minor said as he sat on the porch of his old frame home near the tunnel entrance. "They come about every weekend to look at that tunnel. They're really getting close to that thing down there." There are old tires and junk in there as well as a damp graveyard smell, especially as you move farther from the entrance and approach the massive concrete wall that seals off the rest of the tunnel. Water gushes constantly from the base of the tombstone-like wall. Someone spent long hours trying to chisel a chest-high hole in the wall but gave up after gouging a hole nearly a foot deep in the concrete. Recently, Virginia Commonwealth University student David Brooks told me about a hole someone had poked into the top of that wall. He and other students had crawled in there. "I was terrified when I went in there," said Brooks, who only crawled in a few feet. "Very creepy." What? The Church Hill tunnel open? I needed help to check this out. A search led to the home of Bill Biggers, a veteran caver who survived a cave-in and an unscheduled swim through a fast underground river. "No," he said flatly when asked about a crawl under the city. "I don't go in anything manmade." But when he found out it was the Church Hill tunnel, he felt the tug of the legend. A few days later, it pulled him in. He had one stipulation: "The minute I say pull out, we pull out." Times-Dispatch photographer P. Kevin Morley also felt the tug. He's had coal mine experience, not to mention a gut check in war-torn Zaire. I've spent more than half my life as a bricklayer and figured I could evaluate the tunnel's masonry and keep us from being buried beneath it. Plus, I had researched the tunnel years earlier. After studying maps and historical accounts from our newspaper archives and summaries from the Chesapeake & Ohio Historical Society, it became clear we had a remote chance of making it all the way to the train's closest flatcar, which was about 3,800 feet away from our entry point. Photographs at the time showed that the cave-in stopped at the last car. In fact, many of the men escaped the collapse by crawling under the flatcars. At the least, we would be able to determine how solidly the tunnel was filled before it was closed off and just how dangerous the current conditions were, given the fact that people were going inside. Thanks to Biggers, we had all the proper underground gear: hard hats and high-powered electric lights, as well as backup carbide lights and a couple of flashlights. We brought plenty of water, gorp and candy bars, in case we were able to go all the way to the flatcars, which might take all day and part of the night. I carried a ladder down the hill and got it set up against the concrete wall. Biggers climbed up, shined his light inside, adjusted his gear and, without further ado, squirmed in. "It's a belly crawl," he drawled as he slithered into the rocky passage just inches larger than his 56-year-old body. "You make it look easy," Morley said as he wiggled in. "Sorry" came the muffled reply. The first 40 feet or so of the crawl was over heavy granite rocks stacked haphazardly almost to the ceiling. It was so tight we had to take off all of our gear and push it ahead of us. "I'm on sand," Biggers announced from ahead. "There's more room. Hands and knees." From reading the historical accounts, I'd expected the sand. I also half-expected methane gas, which stalled the rescue effort in 1925. "Heavy, poisonous gases caused abandonment of other rescue work, which was started from the 31st Street end of the tunnel," The Richmond News Leader reported on Oct. 4, 1925, "and no one dared enter the gaping death chamber without gas masks and escorts." We rested a few minutes on the sand, checking our breathing and getting a good look around. The sand fill had settled equally, so it was round, like the tunnel, with a 2- to 3-foot gap between the fill and the domed ceiling. Biggers scooted down the slope and looked at the gap on the side of the tunnel. There was water down there, oily black and looking dangerous. "You could probably slide down in there and get pinned, and the whole thing would slough off on top of you," he observed casually. I fought down a shiver and wondered whether there were any missing college students buried down there. We spent the first of many moments examining the bricks in the arched ceiling. There were plenty of cracks, but early on it looked OK. We crawled on, roughly 150 feet, and came to a 50-foot-long section filled with railroad ties stacked nearly to the ceiling, like cribbing. Over the years, the ties had rotted and settled, and the space between the mealy wood and the ceiling grew to 5 feet in some places.
ENTIRE ARTICLE PART 2 "Hey, cool! I can stand up," Morley said brightly. "Be careful, please," I begged him, warning that the ties were rotten and might give way and send him into a watery tangle below. Morley's a young guy, recently married, given to collecting Gumby toys and making fluegelhorn sounds through his nose. He's a nice, innocent guy, and my greatest fear was something happening to him, or to Bill, for that matter. The ceiling-high stacks of railroad ties apparently were used sporadically like dams to help hold the sand in place as the laborers filled in the tunnel. Biggers noted that water at the sides of the tunnel was getting higher the deeper we crawled, indicating the tunnel ran downhill. (I later found a scaled side view of the tunnel, drawn by an engineer, that showed that the tunnel indeed sloped down from east to west. I had figured as much, since water seeps out from the very top of the wall that blocks the western portal.) We reached another stretch of sand. Water was starting to drip from the ceiling, and the sand was wet. The brickwork still looked pretty sound. The masons had done a good job, and I admired the straight lines and even joints. The faces of a few of the softer, salmon-colored bricks had popped off, but that was to be expected. "The elephant tracks go right through," Biggers said, referring to the knee and elbow prints left by previous explorers. "The thundering herd has been in here." Stalactite formations began to appear, hanging from bricks. "When the 'mites go up, the 'tites go down," Biggers said, quoting the trick for remembering the difference between stalagmites and stalactites. "Some of these are a good 6 inches long." The ceiling had sagged in the area just beyond the railroad ties. It was hard to notice it until we looked back for Morley, who had lagged behind to take pictures. All we could see was the reflection of his spotlight. Portions of the ceiling had twisted and ripped. Ragged edges of snapped bricks stared down, defying gravity. There was next to nothing holding them up. "I wonder if we shouldn't talk a little softer," I suggested. Biggers nodded. A bit further in, the ceiling improved, and we waited for Morley to catch up. "Wow! Look at the ceiling!" he almost shouted when he came past the twisted portion. The shiver returned. As he caught up, I could feel the vibrations from his knees and elbows, and I suggested we all talk, and crawl, a little more softly. "This is definitely a dangerous nuisance," Biggers said. "Somebody could get hurt." Hurt? Anyone caught below the masonry would be crushed flat if it fell, since it was made of several layers and was more than a foot thick. And there's about 80 feet of wet earth on top of it. I remember watching helplessly 15 years ago as a 20-foot-high block firewall blew over on top of two carpenters framing the second-floor walls for a West End condominium. It drove them through the wooden floor like nails before the whole mess fell in on top of them. I crawled on ahead as Biggers helped Morley take some pictures of a stalactite. Off in the distance, it looked like the ceiling dipped again. Water was dripping steadily now. It gurgled high on the sides of our sandy road, which was now pocked with puddles. We weren't even 500 feet into the tunnel, roughly one-eighth of its length. The ceiling was twisted and cracked again, and I sensed we were entering the Twilight Zone. Up ahead was a curtain of shattered brick and earth. This section had collapsed completely. (Later I would walk the path of the tunnel above ground, pacing it off, and find that this cave-in was the one that had destroyed the tennis court. Turns out, city workers used a dump truck to pour sand in the hole until it filled.) "End of the line," I called out, looking at the tortured ceiling and wondering what it would feel like to be crushed to death. Again, I wondered if any students were buried under the rubble, or beyond it. Our team didn't need to tarry under this section, my bricklayer's soul told me. Biggers said later that my voice rose an octave. I helped hold the lights so Morley could get a picture as Biggers scouted the collapse to see if there was any possible way under it. We all figured there was more open crawling space beyond that cave-in, but it was clearly suicide to try to dig through the rubble to get to it. "Uh-oh," Morley said, struggling with a flash unit that wasn't going off. "You never say 'uh-oh' in a cave," Biggers said, cursing as he crawled away from the collapse. We re-examined the tunnel on our way out, and it was nice to notice that none of the previous explorers had defaced brickwork or left any evidence of their passing, beyond their knee, elbow and occasional footprints. Neither did we. "Take nothing but pictures, leave nothing but footprints, kill nothing but time," Biggers said, reciting the caver's motto as we crawled back. Biggers told us a couple of caving stories during a snack break on the way back, and I couldn't help but notice how he blossomed underground, as if God put him on Earth to crawl beneath it. He showed not the slightest hint of fear, or even unease, during our nearly two hours in the Church Hill tunnel. But after we finally had squeezed our way back into the daylight, he said what I was thinking: "I don't want to do that again."
Yes I agree very interesting to read that entire article I certainly wouldn't have been able to go into that cave, because I suffer from claustrophobia just reading it goodness knows how it feels in real life.
My dad was a brakeman for Sante Fe his whole career. He took me and my brother to this tunnel when I was about 9 or 10. I remember thinking " what's the big deal?" As a man in his mid forties, I find this story both fascinating and tragic. I regret not showing it the reverence it deserves. Great video, thanks!
Same as when i saw Schindler's list at eleven years old, i thought oh. Now i know why my dad took me. I remember him saying everyone should see this. Me and my dad are far too alike to ever get on, we argue about everything but he's usually right. He can't argue if his life depended on it so even being wrong i generally win. I love a debate It's not arguing really more heated discussion. I digress.
We all did that buddy, as kids something thar was amazing to dad wasn't that amazing to us kids, until later, don't let it bother you , your Dad was happy to visit this place 😀
I read the book about this and as one posted that tunnel was a disaster waiting to happen. One incident after another till it was temporarily closed. The tunnel was left unused for nearly 25-27 years before they decided to put it back into service. The C&O put up a vast amount of funds to update and strengthen the tunnel. All was going good and on schedule till the day off 10/2/1925 when the tunnel finally gave away. The fireman who crawled out had suffered 3rd degree burns from the steam engine when it burst under pressure and died later in the hospital from his injuries. The engineer was found but had also suffered the same fate as the fireman, he had gotten pinned and couldn't move and died from the injuries. After another 2-3 days the search for the other two unaccounted for was called off due to safety reasons and we're left in the tunnel as their final resting place.
Could you give the title of that book? I would love to read it! If you have a copy would it even be possible to quote the ISBN number? No worries if you can't lay hands on it.
We had a similar thing happen in the UK in 1979 at Penmanshiel Tunnel. Two workers, one driving an excavator and one driving a dump truck were killed when then tunnel they were doing improvement works in suddenly collapsed trapping the two men inside. Thirteen men escaped, but rescue efforts failed to reach the other two. The tunnel was sealed up as it was deemed too dangerous to retrieve the bodies.
Imagine. Being a land developer, knowing the land you want to build on has a history of cave ins and unstable ground, with a train buried beneath it… and still wanting to build on top of it.
We got many such problems with old mineshafts here in western Germany. People are mining here for at least 5000 years and the last 200 years were full of insanely deep operations. Sometimes old tunnels collapse over others and a house just sinks in
If I recall the current railroad still owns the tunnel underneath the city. That is why is it sealed up. Back when the tunnel was originally built the soil composition was not suitable for tunnel construction. During the construction phase they had cave ins. The tunnel was eventually lined with stone blocks but after several years the soil and the drainage in the soil just couldn’t and wouldn’t make it suitable. The train that is still in the tunnel was there for routine maintenance on the tunnel when this latest collapse happened. Taking several brave and strong honorable men. My they Rest In Peace.
I think it’s cool they sealed it up tight, so no one could get in and all but I personally think they should have maybe collected the bodies for a proper burial. And maybe also fill that tunnel with cement to keep any cave ins for buildings that are inevitable and will happen.
I believe there's 'only' 2 bodies in that tunnel. 4 men died due to the collapse- 1 managed to escape the tunnel, but died later of burns (from the exploding boiler of the train). One body was recovered during rescue attempts, but the other 2 weren't, and remain inside.
Wow, never heard about this. I can’t imagine what they went through if they did not die instantly. Waiting to be rescued and then the realization they would not be rescued. Very sad story but thank you so much for sharing.
@A killa 4 reala i’m not really claustrophobic, but I’ve had to have a couple of M R Is over the years and it messes with my head too being in that small tight environment!
@@suzannehartmann946 thank you, wet clay is not fun , interesting area , have not been there , thus a challenge it must be. thank you again. hope they find out more someday .
Three are buried inside. Engineer Mason was not recovered, plus the day laborers Lewis and Smith. The only one to make it out and then succumb was Fireman Benjamin Mosby. About 200 crawled out and survived.
Im born and raised in Richmond and used to live about 2 blocks away from the tunnel and those stairs you climbed. The legend goes that when the boiler exploded the engineer managed to sprint out purely through shock and adrenaline, and then collapsed next to some workers. There was supposedly a sighting of a man attempting to break back into the capped tunnel some years later, and a man who came running OUT of the tunnel some days after the collapse, who then sprinted all the way to a cemetery called Hollywood cemetery, into a tomb by the name of Poole.
So do I...oddly enough it popped into my recommendations so I saved it to my watch later... couldn't tell where it was because of the pic in the thumbnail. The moment it started however I instantly knew..since my parking lot was right across the street!
There was an excellent article in the July 1980 issue of Rail Classics magazine. This was a Chesapeake & Ohio tunnel that was bypassed. When the collapse happened crews were inside attempting to shore things up with iron rings and to enlarge the tunnel for the larger freight cars of the day. After the collapse shafts were sunk on the hillside above and they did find the coupler between the engine and the first car. Further excavation was deemed too dangerous and the effort was given up. The ground in that area is blue marl and clay. The train is buried about 100 feet in from that western portal. A number of workers made it out alive. 👨
This has been in my plans to visit and make a little vid of for a while now, and I never seem to remember to do it when I'm in the area. Great job with your commentary. 👍
I live in Richmond and for 10 years I lived in the Tobacco Row Apartments which is where this video was recorded! Thank you for coming to RVA and telling people about this tunnel and it’s collapse.
Apparently it didn’t just suddenly fail on its own, there were some 200 workers widening the tunnel so it could take larger trains which caused the collapse.
@@jeremybaker7963 Penmansheil tunnel (built 1846) on the East Coast main line in Southeast Scotland, UK collapsed due to undetected instability of the rock in March 1979 whilst work was being carried out to increase it's height by lowering the floor level enabling it to take 8ft 6in containers carried on intermodal wagons. Two workers were killed and their bodies are still entombed inside, it being far too dangerous to even consider recovering them. A deviation was built to bypass the tunnel, which was then sealed for posterity and landscaped. A memorial obelisk was erected in their memory...
@@jeremybaker7963 It doesn't make sense they were widening an already iffy tunnel? Or it doesn't make sense that widening an iffy tunnel made it collapse? We need to know what you mean so we can discern if you're contemplative or just a confused individual.
@@jeremybaker7963 Wait, third choice makes sense for contemplation: Or it doesn't make sense 200 workers were in there while a train was passing through? The point is, when declaring something as layered as this "doesn't make sense" leads to questions about the person observing it doesn't make sense.
@Big Daddy Partly true. The issue is here we how respect death a lot more and have sites for people to rest. This is now one of those sites and I think disturbing it for any reason is a bit disrespectful. I could see why they would want to remove the bodies and train to give the people a more respected burial. And maybe do something with the tunnel strengthens it so it’s safe maybe actually use it again?
It’s not a burial site. It’s where an accident happened. The bodies should have been removed so the families could have the remains back. Otherwise every time there was a trench collapse we would just leave the person in the trench and say oh well.
You are a very respectful young man. You explain the story in a low voice because this is the final resting place of those 4 unfortunate people. God Rest Them✝️
@@alyssabrooke6152 All tunnels have unusual acoustics - photograph'd several of them over years. People let their active imaginations get the best of them.
The entire area is geologically unstable. During late 1980's, due to heavy rains, the soil on the east side of Church Hill became saturated. A section of East Broad St started to slide down hill. I have never heard of it being stabilized. Central Virginia is subject frequent but low intensity seismic activity which makes it even worse.
On an important note: there are only two bodies left in the tunnel. Two of the four that died were dragged out alive before they eventually died from burns received from the steam engine letting out steam. Both are buried up in Hollywood Cemetery.
Very cool- thanks for sharing this story. Hearing little-known stories, that affected normal people in a normal town, are what brings history to life for me. Well done.
40 years ago, when I was in high school I was able to explore all the way to where the tunnel was plugged on both ends. There different stories about how many people were killed and buried underneath. The ground is still not stable there, hence no building.
If you drive on the streets above the tunnel most have an obvious dip where the tunnel is collapsing below. City guy told me an entire house collapsed into the tunnel years ago. The hole was filled and is now a city park.
@@TheRealJesseStoltzfus Don't remember the name of the park, believe it was across from old historic church that also sustained some damage. We were tracking the tunnel street for street most streets have dip where they crossed the tunnel. Was city guys who pointed it out that was about five years ago.
I went to the east portal the other day I filmed it. It is a lot more grown up now. And there is a construction site that goes right over the original trail people used to take. I found a trail from the dog park that a homeless man built. He lives right on top of the tunnel in a tent. Nice guy. It is a very tragic story.
It's been nearly a century. I doubt there's much left of the Locomotive or flat cars. Damp earth & water table has likely rusted most of the iron. Perhaps some of the heavier cast pieces, such as the wheels, and connecting shafts might be intact, but to think there's still a complete train that could be un-earthed is pure folly.
According to Wikipedia, there are only 2 bodies entombed in there. The 4 people who died were the fireman, who had escaped but died later of his injuries, the engineer, whose body was later recovered, and two day laborers, who were identified but their bodies were never recovered.
At some point in the mid 2000's, there was a planned History Channel feature on the tunnel & train, but I don't know if it was ever actually filmed. I was with the RVA DPW at the time, and learned about it through the office grapevine. This was also one of the sites that my boss pointed out on one of our 'getting to know Richmond' drives about the city before he retired.
I stumbled on this randomly but very glad I did. Fascinating history. Thank you for being so respectful of the site. With all the green around at least it is a peaceful place.
A friend lived at 21st & Marshall. The north part of his duplex collapsed and was rebuilt. So the tunnel passed through the the southern end of Jefferson Park. Also, "The Church" for Church Hill is the one where Patrick Henry gave his famous speech, "Give me Liberty or Give Me Death".
Also, with modern technology, they could use modern ground sonar to possibly locate where the actual train is. After that, they could sink in multiple probes, and use side-scan sonars to get a better outline.
@@JJ-kl5xe They already use ground sonar for similar projects built on a smaller scale, and on the large-scale for oil exploration. It's very simple. They set up the initial probes with a truck that has all the instruments on it. Then Santa truck with a large drop slab cuz a certain distance and simply releases a concrete reinforced slab to slam into the ground. It is then automatically winched back up into the body of the truck College moves ahead of creeperman distance and repeat the process until the entire survey is completed. The data gives a remarkably complex picture. They've been using this particular method for oil exploration since at least the 1950s.
They could find it but there's no way of being able to raise it as a hundred years of urbanisation has happened on top of it. Still would be interesting to know though
having a civil engineer go through would probably be a good idea in any case even without the bodied, if the thing keeps randomly collapsing, they gotta backfill it or reinforce it or something.
In 2006 there was a project in which they drilled a hole through the one of the seals. They then inserted a camera which showed the tunnel filled with silt and water so nothing further was done. I had a relative who was rather disappointed since he imagined that there was a nice pretty 19th century train just waiting to be pulled out instead of a rusted hulk buried in the cave in. The Wiki article covers all of this.
There is a house at 22nd & Marshall that sits right above the tunnel, only two blocks from the main car. The house, made of brick, is sinking heavily into the ground. It leans heavily east, while at the same time leaning north. Every year, it leans more and more.
In the south part of Poland , just a few miles from the border with Slovakia , a quarter plus mile tunnel was built in 1860. Because of its location with a mountain on one side , and a river flowing along just 80 - 100 feet away on the other , it collapsed on the first attempt killing 126 workers and 10 horses. The rescue and body recovery mission was called off after hopeless 7 days. Another tunnel the same length was built next to it even closer to the river , but further away from the small mountain that gave way the first time. Two memorials still stand till this day. Many people , even in Poland do not know about it till this day. Only us , Rail fans , explorers , and Historians.
RIP i suppose it's not worth losing any more people. I'm English the hardest workers I've ever known were polish and Romanian. You lot can graft (work hard).
Interesting side legend of the Richmond Vampire and how the ignorance of some people led others to believe they discovered a train crew member being fed upon and suffered massive lacerations and bites but in fact was his body was terribly scalded from the crushed engine with dirt, blood and coal dust smeared in such a way he must have looked ghastly. Trouble is, they should have gotten to grips with this tunnel from day one, either adopting the London Underground method of cast iron flanges all or part the way through or utilised the more reliable cast concrete lining as brick is not sufficient a medium on its own to hold back soft clays and drainage plays a major major factor in any under earth tunnel which the builders of this one just failed to understand and so the water line turned the supporting clay into mush, drained it away and then came the collapses and sinkholes :(
It's so cool to see you do the tunnel in Richmond. My hometown. Thank you. Great video. I remember going to the wooded end on a field trip when I was in elementary school.
This is cool! I watch a lot of British videos about similar era architecture, I live in DC and would love to document some of the abandoned and forgotten stuff buried around here!
Richmond is my hometown and I’ve never known about this! The fact that you did a video on this and showed it is truly awesome! Richmond is packed full of history much of which still exists as it did years and years ago. As this video continues to prove. Have you been over to Belle Isle?
A lot of the history is now gone because of the piece of shit mayor and the former governor kissing the NAACP's ass. Not to mention the fact that the mayor THREATENED the descendants of A. P. Hill who's buried under his statue on monument avenue with a lawsuit if they did not dig him up and move him
There is a man, his dog, his car and his house buried under tons of poured concrete in Spring Hill, Fl. Apparently in the middle of the night, a sink-hole opened up and swallowed him and everything he owned. The Authorities said it was to dangerous to go down and retrieve him and Spot (There were plenty of Volunteers). So, the county filled in the hole with concrete and put a fence around his lot. I don't know if they put up a Plaque, Headstone or who pays the taxes ? Who said, you can't take it with you ? : )
So weird, I've never even heard of this before! Your voice echoing as you talked about the story, really freaked me out...I kept thinking there were people behind you but then I remembered it was just the echo. Chilling story for sure!
The Problem with The Church Hill Tunnel is. The Tunnel is Failing collapsing and The Ground above (( which People in area call the Millionaire Row houses )) is Sinking and causing some of those home above to have Foundation problems that are getting worse and worse every year. But being that the Homes above have the wealthy people in it. They are able to get the Homes Fixed/repaired and make the matter Go away and keep living in the home. They are also the people that Stop any attempt at opening up the Tunnel to not only get the train out and recover bodies. but also Have the Tunnel shored up and fixed so Up top does not sink anymore.
Chris always manages to bring the recondite and the obscure to light in the most accessible and fascinating way. Thanks for reminding us to look around for the mysterious and unusual in our midst.
Look at the size of blocks used at the entrance. Those blocks aren’t caving. The entrance to the tunnel is arched and clearly the bottom should be much deeper. Clearly the mud filled in the entire tunnel up to a certain level. That wouldn’t happen with a few cave ins. The amount of material in their is huge. Mudflood.
Are there names of the lost on a sign or anything? Like a memorial? I didn't really see anything in the video. I would have thought there would have been something.
Wow. Never heard this story. I went to a museum in kansas city and they had excavated a sunken steamboat that had been buried in mud for a hundred years. They had thousands of things on display recovered in great condition.
Hi Chris, omg that is just so sad and it must've been heart breaking for the families of the men that died, to not be able to give their loved one's a decent burial must play on their minds to this day. Thank you for sharing, much love. xx 🙏💖
If they did decide to excavate it, it could be a really interesting time capsule of sorts. I'm guessing the safest way to excavate the tunnel would be to go in from the top and excavate most if not all of the 4,000 foot length, which would probably be a pretty costly and time consuming project. They could also use ground penetrating radar or something like it to find the train and just dig out that portion.
if you want to find out more about the Richmond railroads (and yes, the tunnel), I suggest the Richmond Railroad Museum on Hull Street (near the flood gates). Run by members of the Old Dominion Chapter of the National Railway Historical Society.
Did anybody even put up a marker with the names of those who died here? I mean like a memorial marker like what would be at a cemetery, because that's what this has been for all those years is a grave. I know there was a historical marker telling about the tunnel, but there should had been a marker for those ppl with their names, unless nobody knew who they were. Thank you for sharing the video...I've never heard of this before.
On a Distance 4000feet there should be Special entrances along the track from the Outside for technical Support and maintenance? ....Good Job and Thanks for all this Exploring
@@marywegrzyn506 October 2nd, 1925 is the date of fatal collapse. I read about this in an old issue of Rail Classics magazine from July 1980. There was an excellent picture of the rescue workers at the tunnel opening. And another picture of the eastern portal.
I dont get if the tunnel is owned by CSX Transportation. how come they dont get sued for cavein damages? Land should be cheap and buyer warned of danger. [ Approximately 200 workmen crawled under flat cars and then escaped out the eastern end of the tunnel, including the fireman Benjamin F. Mosby (who died hours later at Grace Hospital because of burns caused by the ruptured boiler), but the engineer Thomas Joseph Mason was killed; initial reports claimed that, besides Mason, six black laborers were unaccounted for, although the missing number of men was later scaled down to two, identified as day laborers Richard Lewis and “H. Smith.”]
Very cool! I was stationed in VA in the early 2000's and would go to Richmond a lot but I never knew about this tunnel so its very interesting to learn about it now.
The coroner's tunnel was located in Shockhoe Valley for north Richmond, and for south Richmond beneath Maury Cemetery. The Jefferson Park tunnel which collapsed in October 1924 had a portal which faced south atop the hill with a turntable which directed the cars to the east portal near Government Road. A steam shovel placed on the west side of the portal enabled a search of the Jefferson Park tunnel at the time of the collapse.
So intriguing my friend. I absolutely love history. and this is definitely it. Like most I never heard of this and its awsome of you to not only share the history of it. but have video to go with it helps to tell the story. Very cool.
Burials can and have been moved for various reasons before in the past. I would normally say that if there was no danger from the tunnel collapsing further, just leave it be. However, that doesn't seem to be the case. At some point, the city is going to have to remove everything from the tunnel or do something to keep it from collapsing further. The cities safety should be priority number one.
Anytime the tunnel is opened it is said that the residents of Church Hill (residential area above the tunnel) hear loud booms and an old train whistle at night
The article is:
CRAWLING INTO THE BELLY OF A RICHMOND LEGEND
Richmond Times-Dispatch
July 5, 1998
You find some of the coolest places.
Chris, FYI the audio is mono (L) only up to 1:40 then again @2:01 till end. Ck your mic.
Thanks for supplying the info to the article . You saved me & I am sure many others the effort to locate it...
I am horrified by the plight of the occupants of the train...How horrific it must have been ...
ENTIRE ARTICLE PART 1
The arched ceiling drips like a leaky dam. Cracks riddle the brickwork, which sags overhead like a clay guillotine as we crawl through the belly of one of Richmond's greatest legends, the Church Hill tunnel.
Despite the cool dampness, we're sweating a little.
Would we find any hint of the death train or of the bodies said to be buried beside it more than 3,000 feet away? Or would we join them, perhaps, in the city's deepest graveyard?
Kids play basketball 80 feet above us at the 30th Street park. But down here it's tomb-quiet, like when you're wearing headphones and the music stops.
We crawl on, hugging the fill that was supposed to keep the tunnel - and the ground above it - from collapsing. Clearly, it had settled, giving us our scant crawling room.
Years ago, during the great cave-in of 1925, more than 200 men had stampeded on the tunnel floor below us, running for their lives in the opposite direction.
"The lights went out, hell began to reign in the tunnel," carpenter George Raborg told the Richmond Times-Dispatch shortly after he escaped. "Some of them yelled that they had knives and would cut anybody that got in their way. Others were praying - you never heard such praying."
The men ran blindly, tripping over the rails and smashing into shoring timbers and each other, Raborg said.
"It was like being in a bottomless pit without knowing what had happened or what was going to happen."
Nearly 75 years after the great cave-in, the tunnel of misery remains alive, like a 4,000-foot snake writhing beneath the city.
A portion of Jefferson Park above the tunnel - near the buried train - gave way in 1962. A decade ago, the 16-foot-thick snake kinked its back below 29th Street, swallowed a tennis court and may have helped tip two houses. And earlier this year, an old brick pharmacy almost directly above the East Marshall Street portion of the tunnel was torn down after one of its walls fell into the street, although the city's building inspector doubts the tunnel had anything to do with it.
One of Richmond's most intriguing legends, the C&O railroad tunnel has been a nightmare since its bloody beginning about 125 years ago. It would consume more than a dozen men, one at a time, during construction, and would become such a nightmare for the C&O that officials practically cheered when it was closed.
Its final known meal, on Oct. 2, 1925, consisted of a work train, its conductor, fireman and at least one laborer.
Soon thereafter, the tunnel, with the train inside, reportedly was filled with sand and plugged at both ends.
The mankiller finally had been slain, it appeared.
"The train might not be seen for another geological epoch," wrote a Richmond News Leader editorial writer at the time, "when men of a new civilization discover a relic of the 20th century in what once was the blue marl of Church Hill."
But like everyone else, the editorial writer underestimated the power of the tunnel to lure people below the surface of Church Hill.
Someone has broken into the tunnel's eastern end, which is hidden in a wooded ravine below Sugar Bottom. People are risking their lives, belly-crawling inside the beast in a search for the train and the buried men, or perhaps for the gold rumored to be hidden there.
"There's a lot of history in that hole," Kenneth Minor said as he sat on the porch of his old frame home near the tunnel entrance. "They come about every weekend to look at that tunnel. They're really getting close to that thing down there."
There are old tires and junk in there as well as a damp graveyard smell, especially as you move farther from the entrance and approach the massive concrete wall that seals off the rest of the tunnel. Water gushes constantly from the base of the tombstone-like wall.
Someone spent long hours trying to chisel a chest-high hole in the wall but gave up after gouging a hole nearly a foot deep in the concrete.
Recently, Virginia Commonwealth University student David Brooks told me about a hole someone had poked into the top of that wall. He and other students had crawled in there. "I was terrified when I went in there," said Brooks, who only crawled in a few feet. "Very creepy."
What? The Church Hill tunnel open?
I needed help to check this out.
A search led to the home of Bill Biggers, a veteran caver who survived a cave-in and an unscheduled swim through a fast underground river.
"No," he said flatly when asked about a crawl under the city. "I don't go in anything manmade."
But when he found out it was the Church Hill tunnel, he felt the tug of the legend. A few days later, it pulled him in.
He had one stipulation: "The minute I say pull out, we pull out."
Times-Dispatch photographer P. Kevin Morley also felt the tug. He's had coal mine experience, not to mention a gut check in war-torn Zaire.
I've spent more than half my life as a bricklayer and figured I could evaluate the tunnel's masonry and keep us from being buried beneath it. Plus, I had researched the tunnel years earlier.
After studying maps and historical accounts from our newspaper archives and summaries from the Chesapeake & Ohio Historical Society, it became clear we had a remote chance of making it all the way to the train's closest flatcar, which was about 3,800 feet away from our entry point. Photographs at the time showed that the cave-in stopped at the last car. In fact, many of the men escaped the collapse by crawling under the flatcars.
At the least, we would be able to determine how solidly the tunnel was filled before it was closed off and just how dangerous the current conditions were, given the fact that people were going inside.
Thanks to Biggers, we had all the proper underground gear: hard hats and high-powered electric lights, as well as backup carbide lights and a couple of flashlights. We brought plenty of water, gorp and candy bars, in case we were able to go all the way to the flatcars, which might take all day and part of the night.
I carried a ladder down the hill and got it set up against the concrete wall. Biggers climbed up, shined his light inside, adjusted his gear and, without further ado, squirmed in.
"It's a belly crawl," he drawled as he slithered into the rocky passage just inches larger than his 56-year-old body.
"You make it look easy," Morley said as he wiggled in.
"Sorry" came the muffled reply.
The first 40 feet or so of the crawl was over heavy granite rocks stacked haphazardly almost to the ceiling. It was so tight we had to take off all of our gear and push it ahead of us.
"I'm on sand," Biggers announced from ahead. "There's more room. Hands and knees."
From reading the historical accounts, I'd expected the sand. I also half-expected methane gas, which stalled the rescue effort in 1925.
"Heavy, poisonous gases caused abandonment of other rescue work, which was started from the 31st Street end of the tunnel," The Richmond News Leader reported on Oct. 4, 1925, "and no one dared enter the gaping death chamber without gas masks and escorts."
We rested a few minutes on the sand, checking our breathing and getting a good look around.
The sand fill had settled equally, so it was round, like the tunnel, with a 2- to 3-foot gap between the fill and the domed ceiling. Biggers scooted down the slope and looked at the gap on the side of the tunnel. There was water down there, oily black and looking dangerous.
"You could probably slide down in there and get pinned, and the whole thing would slough off on top of you," he observed casually.
I fought down a shiver and wondered whether there were any missing college students buried down there.
We spent the first of many moments examining the bricks in the arched ceiling. There were plenty of cracks, but early on it looked OK.
We crawled on, roughly 150 feet, and came to a 50-foot-long section filled with railroad ties stacked nearly to the ceiling, like cribbing. Over the years, the ties had rotted and settled, and the space between the mealy wood and the ceiling grew to 5 feet in some places.
ENTIRE ARTICLE PART 2
"Hey, cool! I can stand up," Morley said brightly.
"Be careful, please," I begged him, warning that the ties were rotten and might give way and send him into a watery tangle below.
Morley's a young guy, recently married, given to collecting Gumby toys and making fluegelhorn sounds through his nose. He's a nice, innocent guy, and my greatest fear was something happening to him, or to Bill, for that matter.
The ceiling-high stacks of railroad ties apparently were used sporadically like dams to help hold the sand in place as the laborers filled in the tunnel. Biggers noted that water at the sides of the tunnel was getting higher the deeper we crawled, indicating the tunnel ran downhill. (I later found a scaled side view of the tunnel, drawn by an engineer, that showed that the tunnel indeed sloped down from east to west. I had figured as much, since water seeps out from the very top of the wall that blocks the western portal.)
We reached another stretch of sand. Water was starting to drip from the ceiling, and the sand was wet. The brickwork still looked pretty sound. The masons had done a good job, and I admired the straight lines and even joints. The faces of a few of the softer, salmon-colored bricks had popped off, but that was to be expected.
"The elephant tracks go right through," Biggers said, referring to the knee and elbow prints left by previous explorers. "The thundering herd has been in here."
Stalactite formations began to appear, hanging from bricks. "When the 'mites go up, the 'tites go down," Biggers said, quoting the trick for remembering the difference between stalagmites and stalactites. "Some of these are a good 6 inches long."
The ceiling had sagged in the area just beyond the railroad ties. It was hard to notice it until we looked back for Morley, who had lagged behind to take pictures. All we could see was the reflection of his spotlight.
Portions of the ceiling had twisted and ripped. Ragged edges of snapped bricks stared down, defying gravity. There was next to nothing holding them up.
"I wonder if we shouldn't talk a little softer," I suggested. Biggers nodded.
A bit further in, the ceiling improved, and we waited for Morley to catch up.
"Wow! Look at the ceiling!" he almost shouted when he came past the twisted portion.
The shiver returned. As he caught up, I could feel the vibrations from his knees and elbows, and I suggested we all talk, and crawl, a little more softly.
"This is definitely a dangerous nuisance," Biggers said. "Somebody could get hurt."
Hurt? Anyone caught below the masonry would be crushed flat if it fell, since it was made of several layers and was more than a foot thick. And there's about 80 feet of wet earth on top of it.
I remember watching helplessly 15 years ago as a 20-foot-high block firewall blew over on top of two carpenters framing the second-floor walls for a West End condominium. It drove them through the wooden floor like nails before the whole mess fell in on top of them.
I crawled on ahead as Biggers helped Morley take some pictures of a stalactite. Off in the distance, it looked like the ceiling dipped again.
Water was dripping steadily now. It gurgled high on the sides of our sandy road, which was now pocked with puddles.
We weren't even 500 feet into the tunnel, roughly one-eighth of its length. The ceiling was twisted and cracked again, and I sensed we were entering the Twilight Zone.
Up ahead was a curtain of shattered brick and earth. This section had collapsed completely. (Later I would walk the path of the tunnel above ground, pacing it off, and find that this cave-in was the one that had destroyed the tennis court. Turns out, city workers used a dump truck to pour sand in the hole until it filled.)
"End of the line," I called out, looking at the tortured ceiling and wondering what it would feel like to be crushed to death. Again, I wondered if any students were buried under the rubble, or beyond it.
Our team didn't need to tarry under this section, my bricklayer's soul told me. Biggers said later that my voice rose an octave.
I helped hold the lights so Morley could get a picture as Biggers scouted the collapse to see if there was any possible way under it.
We all figured there was more open crawling space beyond that cave-in, but it was clearly suicide to try to dig through the rubble to get to it.
"Uh-oh," Morley said, struggling with a flash unit that wasn't going off.
"You never say 'uh-oh' in a cave," Biggers said, cursing as he crawled away from the collapse.
We re-examined the tunnel on our way out, and it was nice to notice that none of the previous explorers had defaced brickwork or left any evidence of their passing, beyond their knee, elbow and occasional footprints.
Neither did we.
"Take nothing but pictures, leave nothing but footprints, kill nothing but time," Biggers said, reciting the caver's motto as we crawled back.
Biggers told us a couple of caving stories during a snack break on the way back, and I couldn't help but notice how he blossomed underground, as if God put him on Earth to crawl beneath it.
He showed not the slightest hint of fear, or even unease, during our nearly two hours in the Church Hill tunnel.
But after we finally had squeezed our way back into the daylight, he said what I was thinking: "I don't want to do that again."
@@KMcNally117 Thank you. That was very interesting to read.
Yes I agree very interesting to read that entire article I certainly wouldn't have been able to go into that cave, because I suffer from claustrophobia just reading it goodness knows how it feels in real life.
My dad was a brakeman for Sante Fe his whole career. He took me and my brother to this tunnel when I was about 9 or 10. I remember thinking " what's the big deal?" As a man in his mid forties, I find this story both fascinating and tragic. I regret not showing it the reverence it deserves. Great video, thanks!
Are you crazy
Same as when i saw Schindler's list at eleven years old, i thought oh. Now i know why my dad took me. I remember him saying everyone should see this. Me and my dad are far too alike to ever get on, we argue about everything but he's usually right. He can't argue if his life depended on it so even being wrong i generally win. I love a debate It's not arguing really more heated discussion. I digress.
You were 9. Cut yourself some slack.
Let it be private!! Don't go in the tunnel for God's Sake!!😢😢😢
We all did that buddy, as kids something thar was amazing to dad wasn't that amazing to us kids, until later, don't let it bother you , your Dad was happy to visit this place 😀
I read the book about this and as one posted that tunnel was a disaster waiting to happen. One incident after another till it was temporarily closed. The tunnel was left unused for nearly 25-27 years before they decided to put it back into service. The C&O put up a vast amount of funds to update and strengthen the tunnel. All was going good and on schedule till the day off 10/2/1925 when the tunnel finally gave away. The fireman who crawled out had suffered 3rd degree burns from the steam engine when it burst under pressure and died later in the hospital from his injuries. The engineer was found but had also suffered the same fate as the fireman, he had gotten pinned and couldn't move and died from the injuries. After another 2-3 days the search for the other two unaccounted for was called off due to safety reasons and we're left in the tunnel as their final resting place.
What is the book called?
Could you give the title of that book? I would love to read it! If you have a copy would it even be possible to quote the ISBN number? No worries if you can't lay hands on it.
@@morelenmir title is "The Collapse of Richmond Church Hill Tunnel" by Walter S. Griggs. I'd give you the info requested by currently at work
@@morelenmir yes it is a fantastic read as it really goes in to detail and how the line came about. Definitely a page turner
Krasveabnboneb clssgs4
Southern paciflcsohool🚂
🛤☠️
We had a similar thing happen in the UK in 1979 at Penmanshiel Tunnel. Two workers, one driving an excavator and one driving a dump truck were killed when then tunnel they were doing improvement works in suddenly collapsed trapping the two men inside. Thirteen men escaped, but rescue efforts failed to reach the other two.
The tunnel was sealed up as it was deemed too dangerous to retrieve the bodies.
Krasue abanboneb☠️🌳
Classgs4 southern
Paciflcsohool🚂🚃
Imagine. Being a land developer, knowing the land you want to build on has a history of cave ins and unstable ground, with a train buried beneath it… and still wanting to build on top of it.
Imagine building a dog park on a burial site.
We got many such problems with old mineshafts here in western Germany. People are mining here for at least 5000 years and the last 200 years were full of insanely deep operations. Sometimes old tunnels collapse over others and a house just sinks in
@@DonnaChamberson I think he's saying the dog park is where he was standing near, OUTSIDE the tunnel, not in or on it.
@BohemianLake what is the problem with it. Land is meant to be used.
@@Чарлинеизвестный-м9ч if you don't see the engineering problem of building a house on top of quicksand, I can't help you
As both a railfan and a history enthusiast, I found this to be very interesting! Thank you for sharing this story and footage with us.
Same here! I love finding old relics!
Definitely wish they could’ve gotten the train out for static display and given the bodies a proper burial.
Krasue abanbonen🌳
Classgs4southern
Paciflcsolool🚂🚃☠️
Krasue abanbbonenclssgs5
Southrn paciflc
Sohool
If I recall the current railroad still owns the tunnel underneath the city. That is why is it sealed up. Back when the tunnel was originally built the soil composition was not suitable for tunnel construction. During the construction phase they had cave ins. The tunnel was eventually lined with stone blocks but after several years the soil and the drainage in the soil just couldn’t and wouldn’t make it suitable. The train that is still in the tunnel was there for routine maintenance on the tunnel when this latest collapse happened. Taking several brave and strong honorable men. My they Rest In Peace.
Are the men identified?
@@laurab1089 I am sure they figured it out. Just look for missing maintenance workers.
@@jquest43 no, that would not be cool.. It would be disrespectful and desecration of a grave site..
That's interesting how the collapse was on October 2nd, 10/2 and if you add up the letters of the alphabet in Gematria "Church Hill" equals 102.
I think it’s cool they sealed it up tight, so no one could get in and all but I personally think they should have maybe collected the bodies for a proper burial. And maybe also fill that tunnel with cement to keep any cave ins for buildings that are inevitable and will happen.
I believe there's 'only' 2 bodies in that tunnel. 4 men died due to the collapse- 1 managed to escape the tunnel, but died later of burns (from the exploding boiler of the train). One body was recovered during rescue attempts, but the other 2 weren't, and remain inside.
Yes you're right! Thanks I ll fix the title
They should recover the bodies and give them proper buryal and bring the train in the open as a reminder.
Are they still alive ?
@Kabuki Kitsune I dont know the place there...why wouldnt they dig out the tunnel completely and then after extraction put dirt instead?
@@floatpool8307 Stupid gotta stupid up everything. Go ruin some kid's party.
The tunnel was accessible in the 80’s when this part of downtown was a bit “rough”. Used to have Halloween ghost walks here, years ago
The 80's kicked butt.
The east side of the tunnel is still open and keeps on draining out water all the time.
@@davidca96 old head
@@559jessyr old head but still has more info
@Latinos will take over the USA look at ur name 💀
More than four people were trapped. Early newspaper reports list scores of missing African-American laborers by first initial and last name only.
I was in the open section of the tunnel back in 1990. It wasn't flooded then. I found an old rusted rail spike from the tracks. Great video.
I'd imagine that most of the people in those buildings don't even know about the people buried in those tunnels.
I guess that depends on if they are being haunted by the spirits of those buried in their. Some of the places could be haunted.
There was a stone he read from at the first entrance
I highly doubt that. I'm sure it's widely known.
No it's better they don't know about it. Makes more people come down there
@@KevinBenecke there was a ghost hunting group that got EVPs there
Wow, never heard about this. I can’t imagine what they went through if they did not die instantly. Waiting to be rescued and then the realization they would not be rescued. Very sad story but thank you so much for sharing.
It would have been a nightmare to be trapped.
My thoughts exactly!!
I know for me I can't even bring myself to go inside the MRI machine:(
@A killa 4 reala i’m not really claustrophobic, but I’ve had to have a couple of M R Is over the years and it messes with my head too being in that small tight environment!
@@annieama3027 yup, Valium is your friend for MRI machines
Correction - 4 men died in the collapse but only 2 are still trapped inside there.
that is very interesting of 2 got out yet not alive. / ? by now technology + engineering should have a way to excavate. ~
@@emeralds318 NO this is a CLAY base area NOT ROCK it is STILL collapsing every time it rains. You saw that basically it is a river not solid ground.
@@suzannehartmann946 thank you, wet clay is not fun , interesting area , have not been there , thus a challenge it must be. thank you again. hope they find out more someday .
I imagine they might find a few meters of attempted tunneling out if someone ever does a careful excavation.
Three are buried inside. Engineer Mason was not recovered, plus the day laborers Lewis and Smith. The only one to make it out and then succumb was Fireman Benjamin Mosby. About 200 crawled out and survived.
Im born and raised in Richmond and used to live about 2 blocks away from the tunnel and those stairs you climbed. The legend goes that when the boiler exploded the engineer managed to sprint out purely through shock and adrenaline, and then collapsed next to some workers. There was supposedly a sighting of a man attempting to break back into the capped tunnel some years later, and a man who came running OUT of the tunnel some days after the collapse, who then sprinted all the way to a cemetery called Hollywood cemetery, into a tomb by the name of Poole.
The guy running was named Poole or the Tomb was for the Poole family? Just for clarification
@@lordcantiismyname the tomb for the poole family. This started a separate legend of the Richmond Vampire.
Weird....
No graffiti? Crazy. Great video. I enjoyed this. Thank you
I love your videos about these various historical sites and somehow find them very relaxing at the same time.
Krasue southern
Paciflc class GS4
Ababonebschool
I live in Richmond Virginia and never knew about this. Thanks for bringing me on the journey, I’ll have to visit this place.
Same here
So do I...oddly enough it popped into my recommendations so I saved it to my watch later... couldn't tell where it was because of the pic in the thumbnail. The moment it started however I instantly knew..since my parking lot was right across the street!
Same!
@@aj3974 oh wow
There was an excellent article in the July 1980 issue of Rail Classics magazine. This was a Chesapeake & Ohio tunnel that was bypassed. When the collapse happened crews were inside attempting to shore things up with iron rings and to enlarge the tunnel for the larger freight cars of the day. After the collapse shafts were sunk on the hillside above and they did find the coupler between the engine and the first car. Further excavation was deemed too dangerous and the effort was given up. The ground in that area is blue marl and clay. The train is buried about 100 feet in from that western portal. A number of workers made it out alive.
👨
HUMAN ALWAYZ TRYNA BUILD ON CLAY,... RIDICULOUS!!
@@jayo552 You speak as if you are "Non-Human"? Are you an Alien from a different plant?
@@Fantazier1 you are why youtube sucks
100 ft is nothing. They should do the excavation.
@@trains2057 and you as well.
Most graves become obscure as time goes by . This grave is immortal .
You mean like King Tut's? They dug his ass up. This will be dug up too. Sooner.....or a lot later.
@@redbeansricelytours7947 They won't find gold .
@@redbeansricelytours7947 the only way they would open it up again is to fix a collapse that is so bad it collapses the surface.
This has been in my plans to visit and make a little vid of for a while now, and I never seem to remember to do it when I'm in the area. Great job with your commentary. 👍
Yoo you were my childhood man
@@sceu25 thanks! 🙂
You’re gonna need a wetsuit and a raft just to get in there-I hear the water is pretty deep nowadays once you get past the mouth of the tunnel!
Krasue abanboneb☠️🌳
Classgs4 southern
Paciflcsohool🚂🚃
Krasue abanbonenclass☠️🌳
Gs4southern paciflsohool🚂🚃
I live in Richmond and for 10 years I lived in the Tobacco Row Apartments which is where this video was recorded! Thank you for coming to RVA and telling people about this tunnel and it’s collapse.
Apparently it didn’t just suddenly fail on its own, there were some 200 workers widening the tunnel so it could take larger trains which caused the collapse.
That doesn't make sense
@@jeremybaker7963 Penmansheil tunnel (built 1846) on the East Coast main line in Southeast Scotland, UK collapsed due to undetected instability of the rock in March 1979 whilst work was being carried out to increase it's height by lowering the floor level enabling it to take 8ft 6in containers carried on intermodal wagons. Two workers were killed and their bodies are still entombed inside, it being far too dangerous to even consider recovering them. A deviation was built to bypass the tunnel, which was then sealed for posterity and landscaped. A memorial obelisk was erected in their memory...
@@jeremybaker7963 what doesn’t make sense?
@@jeremybaker7963 It doesn't make sense they were widening an already iffy tunnel? Or it doesn't make sense that widening an iffy tunnel made it collapse? We need to know what you mean so we can discern if you're contemplative or just a confused individual.
@@jeremybaker7963 Wait, third choice makes sense for contemplation: Or it doesn't make sense 200 workers were in there while a train was passing through? The point is, when declaring something as layered as this "doesn't make sense" leads to questions about the person observing it doesn't make sense.
Technically this is a burial site and must be respected accordingly.
Correct !
@Big Daddy
👍 Thank you! My thoughts exactly! Technically, the entire Earth is "hallowed ground".
lol jesus dude stop
@Big Daddy Partly true.
The issue is here we how respect death a lot more and have sites for people to rest.
This is now one of those sites and I think disturbing it for any reason is a bit disrespectful.
I could see why they would want to remove the bodies and train to give the people a more respected burial.
And maybe do something with the tunnel strengthens it so it’s safe maybe actually use it again?
It’s not a burial site. It’s where an accident happened. The bodies should have been removed so the families could have the remains back. Otherwise every time there was a trench collapse we would just leave the person in the trench and say oh well.
I love it there have been many things I’ve only learned from watching your channel and this is one of them! Thanks for sharing!
Krasue abanboneb☠️🌳
ClassGs4 southern
Paciflc sohool🚂🚃
Loved this. Richmond is my home town and I still live there. The Church Hill Tunnel collapse has always been a fascinating story.
You are a very respectful young man. You explain the story in a low voice because this is the final resting place of those 4 unfortunate people. God Rest Them✝️
The haze over the water in the tunnel is so creepy lol. Seriously love your channels. Living vicariously through your explorations.
Death fog
💨 💀 🌫
WINSTONNNN
I know damn good and well I heard some something coming out of that tunnel that wasn’t his voice😬
@@alyssabrooke6152 All tunnels have unusual acoustics - photograph'd several of them over years. People let their active imaginations get the best of them.
The entire area is geologically unstable. During late 1980's, due to heavy rains, the soil on the east side of Church Hill became saturated. A section of East Broad St started to slide down hill. I have never heard of it being stabilized. Central Virginia is subject frequent but low intensity seismic activity which makes it even worse.
That was a bad idea from the start. Very interesting video. Never heard of this before. Rip to the victims.
On an important note: there are only two bodies left in the tunnel. Two of the four that died were dragged out alive before they eventually died from burns received from the steam engine letting out steam.
Both are buried up in Hollywood Cemetery.
Very cool- thanks for sharing this story. Hearing little-known stories, that affected normal people in a normal town, are what brings history to life for me. Well done.
I'm surprised no one has come up with a legend of gold being in the train.
You didn’t know? 💰💰💰😉😉
Actually, it was low grade silver. 25% in the ore
It was already found
@@ryanscott2548
I'd love to see a link to an article or video that tells us about that...
I think that's in Poland!
40 years ago, when I was in high school I was able to explore all the way to where the tunnel was plugged on both ends. There different stories about how many people were killed and buried underneath. The ground is still not stable there, hence no building.
Could divers get through? Anyway at all someone could get in. So cool to me and would have loved to go with you
Wow! I've been in Richmond a half dozen times and I never knew about this! Thank you!
Krasue abanboneb☠️🌳
Classgs4 southern
Paciflc sohool🚂🚃
You are an amazing story teller. Subscribed 👍🏼 🙂
Appreciate ya man! I enjoy random historical stories like this.
Krasue abanbonen☠️🌳
Classgs4 southern
Paciflc sohool🚂🚃
@ 3:40 it’s so green and beautiful! Thanks for the video brother!🤙 always appreciate a new one from you. Have a great day!
Much love and Respect🙏🏼🙏🏼🙏🏼
If you drive on the streets above the tunnel most have an obvious dip where the tunnel is collapsing below. City guy told me an entire house collapsed into the tunnel years ago. The hole was filled and is now a city park.
Is Patrick Henry park what you are referring to? Right across from fire station 1?
@@TheRealJesseStoltzfus Don't remember the name of the park, believe it was across from old historic church that also sustained some damage. We were tracking the tunnel street for street most streets have dip where they crossed the tunnel. Was city guys who pointed it out that was about five years ago.
Saw an old news report 5 years ago. Mentioned a tennis court collapsed too.
A idiot dog park were all irresponsible dog owners go to have dog fights and arguments...yes....
How moving it is - also to see how moved *you* evidently are by the end of this post. Thank you, Chris.
I went to the east portal the other day I filmed it. It is a lot more grown up now. And there is a construction site that goes right over the original trail people used to take. I found a trail from the dog park that a homeless man built. He lives right on top of the tunnel in a tent. Nice guy. It is a very tragic story.
It's been nearly a century. I doubt there's much left of the Locomotive or flat cars. Damp earth & water table has likely rusted most of the iron. Perhaps some of the heavier cast pieces, such as the wheels, and connecting shafts might be intact, but to think there's still a complete train that could be un-earthed is pure folly.
Is there at least some kind of markers naming the 4 people entombed in the collapse?
According to Wikipedia, there are only 2 bodies entombed in there. The 4 people who died were the fireman, who had escaped but died later of his injuries, the engineer, whose body was later recovered, and two day laborers, who were identified but their bodies were never recovered.
So are there markers for them that was the ?
At some point in the mid 2000's, there was a planned History Channel feature on the tunnel & train, but I don't know if it was ever actually filmed. I was with the RVA DPW at the time, and learned about it through the office grapevine. This was also one of the sites that my boss pointed out on one of our 'getting to know Richmond' drives about the city before he retired.
I lived near Richmond for a decade and never heard of that tunnel. Thanks for sharing this historical story! Happy travels!
I stumbled on this randomly but very glad I did. Fascinating history. Thank you for being so respectful of the site. With all the green around at least it is a peaceful place.
A friend lived at 21st & Marshall. The north part of his duplex collapsed and was rebuilt. So the tunnel passed through the the southern end of Jefferson Park. Also, "The Church" for Church Hill is the one where Patrick Henry gave his famous speech, "Give me Liberty or Give Me Death".
Also, with modern technology, they could use modern ground sonar to possibly locate where the actual train is. After that, they could sink in multiple probes, and use side-scan sonars to get a better outline.
What year are you living in G.I Joe.
.
2304?
@@JJ-kl5xe
They already use ground sonar for similar projects built on a smaller scale, and on the large-scale for oil exploration. It's very simple. They set up the initial probes with a truck that has all the instruments on it. Then Santa truck with a large drop slab cuz a certain distance and simply releases a concrete reinforced slab to slam into the ground. It is then automatically winched back up into the body of the truck College moves ahead of creeperman distance and repeat the process until the entire survey is completed. The data gives a remarkably complex picture. They've been using this particular method for oil exploration since at least the 1950s.
They could find it but there's no way of being able to raise it as a hundred years of urbanisation has happened on top of it. Still would be interesting to know though
having a civil engineer go through would probably be a good idea in any case even without the bodied, if the thing keeps randomly collapsing, they gotta backfill it or reinforce it or something.
In 2006 there was a project in which they drilled a hole through the one of the seals. They then inserted a camera which showed the tunnel filled with silt and water so nothing further was done. I had a relative who was rather disappointed since he imagined that there was a nice pretty 19th century train just waiting to be pulled out instead of a rusted hulk buried in the cave in. The Wiki article covers all of this.
You find and show some amazing and curious places, even the sad ones like this.
Great video. Never heard of this. Going to look up that article you mention. Tks!
Great video. Really enjoyed it. Thank you. With all the standing water we can see I'm amazed that the whole lot hasn't caved in already.
There is a house at 22nd & Marshall that sits right above the tunnel, only two blocks from the main car. The house, made of brick, is sinking heavily into the ground. It leans heavily east, while at the same time leaning north. Every year, it leans more and more.
In the south part of Poland , just a few miles from the border with Slovakia , a quarter plus mile tunnel was
built in 1860. Because of its location with a mountain on one side , and a river flowing along
just 80 - 100 feet away on the other , it collapsed on the first attempt killing 126 workers and 10 horses.
The rescue and body recovery mission was called off after hopeless 7 days. Another tunnel the same
length was built next to it even closer to the river , but further away from the small mountain that
gave way the first time. Two memorials still stand till this day. Many people , even in Poland do not
know about it till this day. Only us , Rail fans , explorers , and Historians.
RIP i suppose it's not worth losing any more people. I'm English the hardest workers I've ever known were polish and Romanian. You lot can graft (work hard).
@@stephenlamley541 Thank you.
I LOVE LOVE LOVE this kinda stuff. Thanks so much for posting this. Cheers,Toronto 🇨🇦
hello from midland
@@kristinacountrybathbombs2050 Haven’t been to Midland in a long time but have many fond memories of the times I did go. Beautiful place!
Interesting side legend of the Richmond Vampire and how the ignorance of some people led others to believe they discovered a train crew member being fed upon and suffered massive lacerations and bites but in fact was his body was terribly scalded from the crushed engine with dirt, blood and coal dust smeared in such a way he must have looked ghastly. Trouble is, they should have gotten to grips with this tunnel from day one, either adopting the London Underground method of cast iron flanges all or part the way through or utilised the more reliable cast concrete lining as brick is not sufficient a medium on its own to hold back soft clays and drainage plays a major major factor in any under earth tunnel which the builders of this one just failed to understand and so the water line turned the supporting clay into mush, drained it away and then came the collapses and sinkholes :(
That's cool. Thank you for this video. I always love learning about history (and abandoned tunnels)
Wow, I lived in Charlottesville, Richmond and now Hampton Roads. In all of my 6 years in Richmond, I've never heard of this. Thank you.
I'm just up the road from Richmond and never heard of this. Quite interesting.
I learn so much by watching your videos thank you for showing this❤️
Fascinating story! Thanks for sharing it.
It's so cool to see you do the tunnel in Richmond. My hometown. Thank you. Great video. I remember going to the wooded end on a field trip when I was in elementary school.
This is cool! I watch a lot of British videos about similar era architecture, I live in DC and would love to document some of the abandoned and forgotten stuff buried around here!
Just came upon this thank you for posting. I love seeing and learning about things like this .Great job sir. Rip to the four
Richmond is my hometown and I’ve never known about this! The fact that you did a video on this and showed it is truly awesome! Richmond is packed full of history much of which still exists as it did years and years ago. As this video continues to prove. Have you been over to Belle Isle?
A lot of the history is now gone because of the piece of shit mayor and the former governor kissing the NAACP's ass. Not to mention the fact that the mayor THREATENED the descendants of A. P. Hill who's buried under his statue on monument avenue with a lawsuit if they did not dig him up and move him
Ya I've been a few times, used to be beautiful but not so much recently due to certain groups.
There is a man, his dog, his car and his house buried under tons of poured concrete in Spring Hill, Fl.
Apparently in the middle of the night, a sink-hole opened up and swallowed him and everything he owned.
The Authorities said it was to dangerous to go down and retrieve him and Spot (There were plenty of Volunteers).
So, the county filled in the hole with concrete and put a fence around his lot.
I don't know if they put up a Plaque, Headstone or who pays the taxes ?
Who said, you can't take it with you ? : )
Omg, that's sad.
This sinkhole just recently reopened. I believe the article said that this is now the third time.
So weird, I've never even heard of this before! Your voice echoing as you talked about the story, really freaked me out...I kept thinking there were people behind you but then I remembered it was just the echo. Chilling story for sure!
The Problem with The Church Hill Tunnel is. The Tunnel is Failing collapsing and The Ground above (( which People in area call the Millionaire Row houses )) is Sinking and causing some of those home above to have Foundation problems that are getting worse and worse every year. But being that the Homes above have the wealthy people in it. They are able to get the Homes Fixed/repaired and make the matter Go away and keep living in the home. They are also the people that Stop any attempt at opening up the Tunnel to not only get the train out and recover bodies. but also Have the Tunnel shored up and fixed so Up top does not sink anymore.
Interesting story with a sad ending. Good job Chris !
Chris always manages to bring the recondite and the obscure to light in the most accessible and fascinating way. Thanks for reminding us to look around for the mysterious and unusual in our midst.
Recondite, I've learnt a new word, thank-you!
@@survivinginbim
I've yet to look it up.
Yep, as soon as I leave here.
🤓👍
Very interesting and well presented. Thank you (Pete, Manchester, UK)
Definitely one of the most interesting and informative videos on you tube. thank you.
I've been obsessed with this story since the 80's. Good Video, Thanks for respect for this story.
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i love watching your videos i love everything old and old Historical places like this
It's like British Rail once was.
People used to pass away just waiting for their train.
Seal the entrance & mark it as a memorial🙏...RIP to the souls⚰ in there..
That good and all till you have a building fall in to it. And that people knew about the problems and did nothing.
Look at the size of blocks used at the entrance. Those blocks aren’t caving. The entrance to the tunnel is arched and clearly the bottom should be much deeper. Clearly the mud filled in the entire tunnel up to a certain level. That wouldn’t happen with a few cave ins. The amount of material in their is huge. Mudflood.
Are there names of the lost on a sign or anything? Like a memorial? I didn't really see anything in the video. I would have thought there would have been something.
Wow. Never heard this story. I went to a museum in kansas city and they had excavated a sunken steamboat that had been buried in mud for a hundred years. They had thousands of things on display recovered in great condition.
Hi Chris, omg that is just so sad and it must've been heart breaking for the families of the men that died, to not be able to give their loved one's a decent burial must play on their minds to this day. Thank you for sharing, much love. xx 🙏💖
Oh my goodness I just found you. I've never heard of this. Thank you so much I'll be watching all of your videos now.💗💖💗💖
I have never heard of this, thank you for sharing.
If they did decide to excavate it, it could be a really interesting time capsule of sorts.
I'm guessing the safest way to excavate the tunnel would be to go in from the top and excavate most if not all of the 4,000 foot length, which would probably be a pretty costly and time consuming project. They could also use ground penetrating radar or something like it to find the train and just dig out that portion.
Excellent clip!! One of your best yet!! Thanks for sharing. Ax
if you want to find out more about the Richmond railroads (and yes, the tunnel), I suggest the Richmond Railroad Museum on Hull Street (near the flood gates). Run by members of the Old Dominion Chapter of the National Railway Historical Society.
Your channel is extremely interesting
Did anybody even put up a marker with the names of those who died here? I mean like a memorial marker like what would be at a cemetery, because that's what this has been for all those years is a grave. I know there was a historical marker telling about the tunnel, but there should had been a marker for those ppl with their names, unless nobody knew who they were. Thank you for sharing the video...I've never heard of this before.
Awesome video man, never knew about this! Love from Scotland!
On a Distance 4000feet there should be Special entrances along the track from the Outside for technical Support and maintenance? ....Good Job and Thanks for all this Exploring
Wow! this so amazingly interesting, I love, love your videos, thank you so much.
Little known fact; the train's name was Henry and it was raining that day.
“There once was an engine attached to a train who was afraid of a few drops of rain...”
I totally get this reference and it still makes me sad.
I don’t get it lol
Is that supposed to be a joke or is it actually true
@@Cam14540 it’s a joke based on a Thomas the Tank Engine episode.
This happened nearly 96 years ago. If there's anything left at all it's just some rusted hunks of wheels. Metal buried in earth disintegrates.
The train entered into it in '98 for maintenance n that's when it collapsed.
@@marywegrzyn506 October 2nd, 1925 is the date of fatal collapse. I read about this in an old issue of Rail Classics magazine from July 1980. There was an excellent picture of the rescue workers at the tunnel opening. And another picture of the eastern portal.
@@marywegrzyn506 no, the reporters tried to go in on 1998
Your right, not much to see.
I dont get if the tunnel is owned by CSX Transportation. how come they dont get sued for cavein damages? Land should be cheap and buyer warned of danger.
[ Approximately 200 workmen crawled under flat cars and then escaped out the eastern end of the tunnel, including the fireman Benjamin F. Mosby (who died hours later at Grace Hospital because of burns caused by the ruptured boiler), but the engineer Thomas Joseph Mason was killed; initial reports claimed that, besides Mason, six black laborers were unaccounted for, although the missing number of men was later scaled down to two, identified as day laborers Richard Lewis and “H. Smith.”]
Beautiful story. Keep exploring Bro. Greetings from Poland!
I lived in Richmond for a few years and never realized this was there. There's always something to learn!@
Thanks for the video. Great as always 😊
Why would anyone want to build on top of something that has collapsed and still does 😮 I wouldn't.
It's possible they don't even know what's underneath. Full disclosure is a pretty recent development.
Richmond, as well as many of these current structures have been there long before 1925!
Very cool! I was stationed in VA in the early 2000's and would go to Richmond a lot but I never knew about this tunnel so its very interesting to learn about it now.
The coroner's tunnel was located in Shockhoe Valley for north Richmond, and for south Richmond beneath Maury Cemetery. The Jefferson Park tunnel which collapsed in October 1924 had a portal which faced south atop the hill with a turntable which directed the cars to the east portal near Government Road. A steam shovel placed on the west side of the portal enabled a search of the Jefferson Park tunnel at the time of the collapse.
So intriguing my friend. I absolutely love history. and this is definitely it. Like most I never heard of this and its awsome of you to not only share the history of it. but have video to go with it helps to tell the story. Very cool.
I’ve never heard of it either. Wonder how far a drone could get or if that’s even possible.
It’s capped a bit further in.
That’s nonsense. Pay attention
@@CANControlGRAFFITI I did. Re-watch the vid. He explains that both ends are capped. I’ll be here waiting for the apology.
@@CANControlGRAFFITI Are you going to apologize to the man for being an ass ?
So did either of you guys waiting for an apology wonder if the “ass” was replying to the main comment? Just a thought
Burials can and have been moved for various reasons before in the past. I would normally say that if there was no danger from the tunnel collapsing further, just leave it be. However, that doesn't seem to be the case. At some point, the city is going to have to remove everything from the tunnel or do something to keep it from collapsing further. The cities safety should be priority number one.
They don’t give a damn about the cities safety 😂 or this would have been addressed years ago.
This reminds me of the “Thomas The Tank” story, by Rev W. Awdrey, where a train was bricked up inside a tunnel.
"Thomas the Tank" based off true story by Rev W. Audrey. Lol 😆🤣
the name of the episode is "the sad story of henry" written by the Rev W. Awdry in the TV show named "Thomas the tank engine and friends"
Anytime the tunnel is opened it is said that the residents of Church Hill (residential area above the tunnel) hear loud booms and an old train whistle at night