Richmond Sealed a Tunnel in 1926 With a Locomotive and Two Men Still Inside It

There is a steam locomotive buried under a public park in the middle of Richmond, Virginia. Not a replica and not a monument. An actual Chesapeake and Ohio Railway engine, number two hundred and thirty one, with ten flat cars still coupled behind it, sitting where it stopped on the afternoon of the second of October, nineteen twenty five, under about sixty feet of hillside, in the neighbourhood of Church Hill. Everybody knows it is there. The city knows, the railroad knows, the residents of the houses above it know. There is a park on top of it with grass and paths and people walking dogs. There are also at least two men down there, and their names are known. LOCATIONS IN THIS VIDEO Western portal, sealed 1926: 37.5325, -77.4183 Jefferson Park, above the collapse: 37.5330, -77.4165 Eastern portal, open and flooded: 37.5292, -77.4033 Approximate line of the tunnel: 37.5310, -77.4110 Access: the eastern portal can be seen from public ground near 31st and East Grace. The western portal is on private property behind a fence and is not accessible. Jefferson Park is a public city park. Nothing here is enterable and the ground above the tunnel line is unstable. SOURCES Richmond Times-Dispatch, contemporary reporting, October 1925 Virginia State Corporation Commission, order to seal the tunnel Chesapeake and Ohio Railway records Virginia Museum of History and Culture Virginia Places, Church Hill Tunnel IN MEMORY Thomas Joseph Mason, engineer Benjamin F. Mosby, fireman Richard Lewis, labourer H. Smith, labourer Old Alignment covers the roads and railroads America stopped using and what is left of them. #ChurchHillTunnel #Richmond #Virginia