The soot-stained brick interior of the Blue Ridge Tunnel is seen after a single 30s exposure on the day after Christmas, 2009. To mourn the 65th anniversary of this majestic tunnel's abandonment, we trudged through two-foot snow drifts to pay our respects to one of Claudius Crozet's architectural masterpieces. Completed in 1858, the 4,273 foot long tunnel was abandoned in 1944 and at the time of its completion was the longest railroad tunnel in the world.