Inside the Historic W&A Railroad Tunnel you may notice a very long groove between the wall and the ceiling in the tunnel’s brick. One of the things that makes the tunnel an engineering marvel is that it is ONLY 1/16th of an inch off center – exceptionally accurate for the mid-1800’s. But that is just enough for some of the first trains to get caught against the wall and stuck in the center of the tunnel. After calling for assistance from the stations in Chattanooga or Dalton, a second engine would push the first out as far as it took for them to pull away from the wall. Instead of removing the bricks and pushing the wall further (which would have taken too much time and resources on a busy line of track), they allowed the larger trains to be pushed until the groove worn in the wall allowed the trains to pass freely. | CivilWarRailRoadTunnel.com – (706) 876-1571
