Nebraska has exactly one railroad tunnel, and it’s this one: 698 feet of hand-cut bore through the Pine Ridge, built by the Chicago, Burlington and Quincy in 1888–89 to conquer the escarpment on the way to Crawford. The last train passed through on May 3, 1982, when the railroad bypassed it with a new cut.
The tunnel sits near the semi-ghost town of Belmont, about 11 miles southeast of Crawford off Highway 71 — look for the East Belmont Road area, and view it from outside the fence line. The concrete portal is the photogenic end; the bore itself is in surprisingly good shape for something abandoned 40-plus years ago.
A word of honesty: this is a view-from-the-roadside stop on private railroad land, not a walk-through attraction. Do not trespass on the tracks. Pair it with Fort Robinson and the Museum of the Fur Trade for a full Crawford-area railroad and frontier day.