"Boil Then Cabbage Down"+"John Henry"- World's Shortest Railway Tunnell, Beaver Dam RR

One hundred years ago the Beaver Dam RR ran through what was called "the world's shortest railway tunnel" passing through the Backbone Rock formation along Beaver Dam Creek on the short line between Damascus, Virginia and Crandull, Tennessee (eventually the line was extended through Shady Valley, Tennessee to Cross Mountain mines). The RR was removed in the 1920s and sometime in the 1930s the CCC (Civilian Conservation Corp) developed Backbone Rock Park which is now a Cherokee National Forest recreation facility. The twenty-six foot long tunnel through Backbone Rock remains as it did in 1911 except it now contains Tennessee Rt 133 rather than the rail-bed. The notch at the top of the tunnel was said to have been a late addition during construction since someone failed to account for the tall smokestack on one or more of the locomotives. Most of Tennessee Rt 133 from Crandull to Damascus follows the original railway grade.

The short line Beaver Dam RR was built around 1905 to haul forest products and ore from the Crandull area of Johnson County, Tennessee to the "mainline" at Damascus, Virginia. This "mainline" at Damascus was eventually a branch of the Norfolk and Western when it was abandoned about 1977. It became a conversion project in the "rails to trails" effort and is now the "Virginia Creeper Trail" taking the nickname of the slow moving steam powered trains that ran between Abingdon, Virginia and Todd, North Carolina.

The traditional old-time fiddle music is "Boil Them Cabbage Down" and "John Henry" played several decades ago by local musicians.

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[gingermc2]

Nice trip and loved the extra information!

[dbpw34]

What a ride! Beautiful - great fiddlin'.  Thank you. ...dw