Big Bend Tunnel

The Big Bend Tunnel is a location within the Savage Divide region of Appalachia, with its western exit located in the Ash Heap and its eastern one in the Cranberry Bog. It is currently used by the Blue Ridge Caravan Company as a trade route.
==Background==
The Big Bend Tunnel was a major railway passage underneath the Appalachians, allowing direct transit beneath the rock of the mountain. Although rail transportation was extinguished after the Great War, it still served the same role in the meantime, doubling as a shelter for those fleeing the carnage outside. The first permanent inhabitants arrived at the western end of the tunnel in January 2083. Some members of the Cutthroats, a raider warband from the Savage Divide, abandoned David Thorpe's banner in the wake of the Charleston Flood. The savagery was too much for them to handle.Scattered journal page 1 At first, the raiders stayed around the Ash Heap, salvaging Lewisburg and other nearby spots, until they finally stepped into the tunnels around September 2085 and started exploring them. At that point, the scorchbeasts already started emerging in the Cranberry Bog and their first encounters scared them off from exploring the Bog.Scattered journal page 2
By May 2088, supplies began to dry up on the west end of the tunnel, forcing the former raiders to explore the eastern end. They immediately encountered the Brotherhood, which set up a control perimeter at the eastern end to watch for traffic entering the region and help contain the scorchbeasts. Although the encounter was a shock at first, the Brotherhood was friendly and watched the eastern end, helping keep the tunnels safe. Furthermore, they revealed that some of the Responders survived the Charleston flood, lifting the spirits of the former highwaymen.Scattered journal page 3 By 2093, the west end turned into a bona fide community, developing some small scale farming and trading with the Brotherhood for supplies. The relations were positively cordial at that point, as the Brotherhood was interested in making their allied community prosper, oblivious to their background. Even the once-bloodthirsty raiders were surprised at how they adapted to the new life they led.Scattered journal page 4
The lucky streak ended in the summer of 2095 when the Brotherhood realized that they were losing the war and made a desperate gambit to defeat the scorchbeasts. Melissa, the leader of the Brotherhood detachment, picked up and left without so much as saying goodbye, answering Knight Wilson's last call. This was an unpleasant surprise to the former raiders, who soon realized that they needed to pick up the slack and fortified the eastern end with traps and killing zones to stave off the Scorched.Scattered journal page 5
The end came in the spring of 2097, following on the heels of two refugee raiders from the mountains. Broken and traumatized, they revealed that the Scorched overwhelmed and wiped out the raider gangs in the region. For those who called the tunnel home, this spelled doom: They had barely hours to prepare for the Scorched flooding the tunnels. The leaders of the community saw it as a form of justice, payback for the sins they committed as raiders. They faced their death with dignity, wiped out to the last man.Scattered journal page 6 The story of the Big Bend tunnel continued, however, as the Fire Breathers under Melody Larkin attempted to seal off the tunnel and reduce the influx of Scorched into the western parts of Appalachia. However, the task proved too daunting, or the Scorched proved too numerous, for the veterans of the wastelands to accomplish.Orders from Melody
Following the containment of the Scorched Plague, the Blue Ridge Caravan Company moved in from the eastern side, through the Cranberry Bog, and secured the tunnel to push into Appalachia.Vault 76 dweller: "What is this place?"
Libby Wen: "This is Big Bend. The Blue Ridge Caravan Company-- that's us-- have been using it to move merchants to the west side of Appalachia. Currently, we're trying to carve a path into Appalachia to improve trade and commerce with the settlements here. Head inside if you need to know more."(Libby Wen's dialogue) While the passage through the tunnel is still dangerous due to constant raids by Blood Eagles, the trade route has opened access to Appalachia. Once west of Big Bend, Blue Ridge is able to reach Foundation, Crater, and many more smaller settlements.Vault 76 dweller: "Where is the caravan headed?"Vinny Costa: "All over Appalachia. We ship to Foundation, Crater, a few smaller settlements here or there. Once we're west of Big Bend, the routes open up. Since we're one of the few sources of outside cargo coming in, even the folks up in Crater give us a pass."
 While many of the traders consider the passage nightmarish, it remains the safest passage through the Allegheny mountains,Aries: "Do any other routes see this much action?"Rudy Fernandez: "Oh, that's right. You're pretty new to Blue Ridge. But, no, not so much. Big Bend is its own special nightmare for us merchants. Not much choice in the matter, though. Believe it or not, it's the safest route to the western side of this mountain range."Aries: "Very true. There are things far more deadly than a gang of would-be bandits in those hills. Trust me on that one."(Aries and Rudy Fernandez's dialogue) as overland travel would be too slow and too dangerous for a variety of reasons.Eugenie: "That was a tough fight. Why don't we try taking the roads over the mountains next time?"Kieran Kennedy: "The cliffs above makes travel by Brahmin too slow, too dangerous. The lack of cover leaves us vulnerable. There are no roads that won't lead to a fight. At least this way is favorable for fighting larger numbers. I would have thought you knew that, Eugenie."Eugenie: "Of course I did, but look how I've finally got you talking, Kieran. Tell me, how was your childhood?"Kieran Kennedy: "Hrmm... Stop messing around."(Eugenie and Kieran Kennedy's dialogue)
==Layout==
The Big Bend Tunnel is a long straight railroad tunnel running east to west, underneath the Savage Divide mountain range above. A service and storage area which contains crafting workbenches is at the midway point. The storage area requires a key which can be found in the side tunnel, south from the storage area.
It is a mostly linear location with two tracks running in parallel west to east, with loot on both ends. The tunnels have a limited number of dead-end side tunnels accessible through holes in the wall that offer minor loot and some brain fungus to harvest. 
The important part lies in the middle of the tunnel, which contains a large maintenance junction for trains traveling through. The junction occupies the entire cavern, although the upper levels won't be accessible until the player acquires the key to the locked doors. The key is located down the tunnel to the south, excavated before the Great War. The key's located on the body of Sgt. Cominsky of the Fire Breathers, near the explosives crate. On several playthroughs, the key was on the body of an unnamed corpse on a large piece of yellow mining equipment in the cavern just outside where Cominsky can be found. The side tunnel is also filled with Mole miners that have made that abandoned section of Big Bend Tunnel their own.
The locked sections contain a vast array of items, including a power armor station and a random power armor set in the maintenance warehouse, a potential Vault-Tec bobblehead at the clerk's desk, a potential magazine upstairs in the office pods (southeast), and a steamer trunk. The locked area can be accessed without the key by climbing a series of boxes and jumping over the railing onto the catwalk that goes over the tracks.
==Notable loot==
* Cominsky's code - Note, on Sgt. Cominsky's corpse, near the end of the side tunnel running south at a right angle to the east-west tunnel.
* Orders from Melody - Note, on Sgts. Cominsky, Allemane and Holstein's corpses.
* Scattered journal pages - Notes, found throughout the tunnel:
** Scattered journal page 1 - On a metal barrel along the southern track, just past the large central room.
** Scattered journal page 2 - On a table in a USA train car, just past a Blue Ridge gate, near the center of the tunnel.
** Scattered journal page 3 - On a metal shelf in the large central room. It is next to a military trunk in the last blue pod room, along the upper catwalks.
** Scattered journal page 4 - On a table inside a wooden shack along the northern track. The shack is connected to a Blue Ridge checkpoint, the first from the west entrance.
** Scattered journal page 5 - On a barrel next to a lit lantern, at the first Blue Ridge checkpoint from the east entrance.
** Scattered journal page 6 - On a wooden box near the western exit/entrance, along the northern track.
* Big Bend Tunnel door key - On a corpse sitting on an excavation machine. Go south from the cavern with the buildings using the same route as for Sgt. Cominsky.
* East Bridge key - Inside the flooded side room near the exit, on a desk, in a lunch pail.
* Potential Vault-Tec bobblehead - In the clerk's office, on a filing cabinet across from a terminal, past the locked blue double doors.
* Potential magazine - In the main tunnel, among the stilted cabins above the train tracks with catwalks, in a room accessed through a locked double door, on a metal desk across from an orange tool case.
* Potential power armor mod plan - Inside the main tunnel, on a yellow recharging table in the storage room.
* Potential armor mod - To the left of an armor workbench inside the main tunnel, on a wooden box.
* Potential weapon mod - On a small table to the left of a weapons workbench, in the large room before the east entrance/exit.
* Power armor chassis with T-series armor pieces - In the locked storage room, across from the fusion generator.
* Fusion core - In a fusion generator in the storage room with the mole rats.
* Stealth Boy - Inside a side tunnel near the tunnel system's east exit/entrance, on the right, near a skeleton.
==Notes==
With the Blue Ridge Caravan Company taking over control of the tunnel entrances, the bodies of Sgt. Allemane and Sgt. Holstein of the Fire Breathers have been moved to the boxcars before the entrances.
==Appearances==
The Big Bend Tunnel appears .
==Behind the scenes==
The Big Bend Tunnel is based on the real world location of the Big Bend Tunnel, a location that is a celebrated part of Appalachian folklore.
==Gallery==
FO76 Tunnel BB 2.png|Exterior entrance
FO76 Tunnel BB 3.png|Train tracks
FO76 Tunnel east BB.png|Walkways covering tracks
FO76 Nondescript barrels.png|Barrels
PowerArmor Big Bend Tunnel.png|Power armor in storage room
FO76 Cominsky.png|Sgt. Cominsky's corpse in the southern tunnels (Cominsky's code)
FO76WL Scattered journal page 1.png|Scattered journal page 1
FO76WL Scattered journal page 2.png|Scattered journal page 2
FO76WL Scattered journal page 3.png|Scattered journal page 3
FO76WL Scattered journal page 4.png|Scattered journal page 4
FO76WL Scattered journal page 5.png|Scattered journal page 5
FO76 Big Bend Tunnel (Scattered journal pages 6).jpg|Scattered journal page 6
FO76 Big Bend Tunnel raider corpse.png|Carol Sweeney's raider corpse
FO76 Blue Ridge Tunnel Int 2022216 2.png|Mtn Blair sign
FO76 Blue Ridge Tunnel Int 2022216 1.png|Watoga closed
==References==
Category:Fallout 76 locations
Category:Ash Heap locations
Category:Cranberry Bog locations
Category:Blood Eagles locations
Category:Fallout 76 railway locations
ru:Тоннель «Большой излом»
zh:大彎山隧道