 While work on the tunnels continued , the Virginia Central Railroad , eager to connect its eastern division to the line under construction in the Shenandoah Valley , developed plans to use temporary tracks to bypass the incomplete Blue Ridge Railroad . As was done over Rockfish Gap to the west , a temporary track approximately 0 @.@ 5 miles ( 0 @.@ 8 km ) long was proposed by the Virginia Central Railroad 's Chief Engineer , Charles Ellet , Jr . , and constructed around the Brookville Tunnel as the digging continued . Due to the many setbacks and difficulties encountered , the tunnel was not completed until October 1856 , just two months prior to the hole @-@ through of the 4 @,@ 273 @-@ foot ( 1 @,@ 302 m ) Blue Ridge Tunnel at the top of Rockfish Gap . Remarkably , with the exception of the cholera outbreak , no one was injured during the dangerous work completing the Brookville tunnel . The Virginia Central soon after began routing trains through the Brookville tunnel , avoiding the short temporary track . 
