Nearly all the workers escaped with their lives. Among those who didn't was train engineer Tom Mason, who'd just parked 10 empty flatcars in the tunnel. He was buried alive in his locomotive. Also trapped was at least one black laborer. Another train operator, Benjamin Mosby, suffered serious burns and died hours later at Grace Hospital.

Church Hill Tunnel Collapse, October 1925
National Railway Historical Society, Old Dominion Chapter
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link Wikipedia 30.Jun.06