Grimms Bridge Tunnel
This is some old material that I posted in the dying days of the old site, but I’m going to pick up where I left off, so here it is again…
I managed to hit up the old grimms bridge tunnel before moving away from Ohio. The tunnel was part of the Pittsburgh Coal Company’s line. It is in the ballpark area of Fredrick Town, but to pinpoint it, you’d need to find Grimms Bridge Rd and walk the former rail line. The tracks have been lifted, but there is no mistaking where they once layed. This may be private property now, so be respectful.
The tunnel was built in the 1930s, and used until the 60s when the mining covered the portal on the south end. The tunnel has sat empty since.
There wasn’t much to this one. This is a location that I’d heard about for years and never bothered to find. One day with some extra time, I tracked it down. Basically it is in the middle of no-where. I started off guessing that it would be down the rail line from where I parked in the wrong direction, so I walked the former rail line, toward Negley Ohio for about 2 miles before turning back and going the other direction only to find the tunnel about 300 yards from where I started. I suck. It was cold, and the tunnel had too much water for me to walk through it, so I only got a few pictures of the portal. In the years since the trains ran, the land had been stip mined and the tunnel collapsed. There is no other end. Outside of that, there isn’t much to show.
Is that all standing water or was it frozen over? That tunnel is pretty cool, how far does it go?
My family has owned property by Grimm’s Bridge since the ’60s, and I’ve probably visited it once a month since I was 2 or 3. My dad explored the entirety of those hills in his extensive experience in the area yet always believed that both ends of the tunnel were blasted in. We used to hike to the trestle often (which was a couple miles down the track if you were to walk out of the tunnel), but it was razed after a teenager accidentally died while rappelling off of it.
Anyway, I saw a photo of this tunnel entrance online and knew it was a digital photo, meaning that this end of the tunnel was not blasted in the ’60s/’70s. I went looking for it and found it in 2008, later going back with my dad and girlfriend, where we walked through it on the ice. The ice started to crack, so I had to slither out on my belly. Pretty scary, but memorable.
It’s believed that it goes back a quarter mile or so, but I think it’s longer, based on the near-30 second echo that comes back if you’re to yell in.
Luckily it is not on private property, but you have to maneuver around private property to get there. Some Grimm’s locals canoe through in the summer time.
A bad ice storm caused a lot of trees to fall over since then, and it’s extremely cumbersome to get to nowadays.
stumbled on grimm’s bridge while surfing. do you know who the grimm’s were.
I’m not sure. I’ll see if I can find out.
I almost walked through the water, but then my brain started coming up with all sorts of bad things that may be in the water. I love that area though. I wish I had more time to walk around there.
I just noticed your name tom… do you know?
I have been checking out this tunnel out on and off with my now wife and friends for over 30 years. Back then there was also a cool train tressel near Fredrick’s town. We were by there over the summer of 2011. It was fun for old times sake. Back in the early 80′s we took some caonoes back and checked it out. Not much to see but it was a cool thing to do on a hot summer day. We have made that trek from the Ohio River to Fredrick’s town a few times. Growing up in Calcutta, OH it’s cool to see this on line.
By the way if your into this area check out Gretchen’s Lock.
I also remember going back the tunnel in the summer of 82. It was like something out of a horror movie with the fog rising up out of the entrance, then the drastic temperature change. We took two canoes and went back to the end. ( As you can tell from the photos it is probably 20 foot tall or so.) The tunnel is actually a gradual turn, when you are back there you can no longer see the entrance of the tunnel. Kinda scary! When you get to the back you are at the top of the tunnel where there is a little soil (from the slide in) is above the water line where you can stand up and touch the top of the tunnel and water all at the same time. We lost a pair of eye glasses back there if anyone finds them…. The guy that lost them jumped into the cold cold water to find them but never did. The only living thing we ever saw in the water were the johnny crawls, crawdads,crayfish, which ever name you call them by.
In the summer of 2011 we went back and someone was trying to drain the water out. I don’t think they will have much luck just because the lay of the land.
The only way to find the backside of the tunnel is to follow the tracks until they disappear into a hill. There use to be tracks to follow, however with the price of scrap metal I don’t know if they are still there.
i lived around that area in 1954-55 in the house that we helped clyde johnston built dick wright lived by the creek appox. a mile up from the old bridge, bill gamble lived across the road boyd’s lived in a 2 story shop type building, cunningham’s lived next to clyde’s house and a marge gamble lived at the top there was a allen wilson that had married arlene crabtree that had build a house back toward beaver creek.