8.3.22 Greenwood, VA. AMTK 182 (P42DC B/D 6/2001, BN 53038) leading Amtrak's eastbound Cardinal #50 down the Blue Ridge Grade. To the right in the shadows you can make out the arched portal of Greenwood Tunnel, the first of 4 tunnels built prior to the Civil War under the engineering direction of Claudius Crozet. This 518 ft. tunnel part of the original Blue Ridge grade out of Charlottesville to the Blue Ridge Tunnel beneath Rockfish Gap. Greenwood Tunnel was completed In 1853. It was bypassed and abandoned in 1941-42. |