The Hornblower Niagara Funicular, previously called the Maid of the Mist Incline and originally known as the Clifton Incline, was a funicular railway in the city of

Niagara Falls Niagara Falls () is a group of three waterfalls at the southern end of Niagara Gorge, spanning the border between the province of Ontario in Canada and the state of New York in the United States. The largest of the three is Horseshoe Falls, ...

Ontario Ontario ( ; ) is one of the thirteen provinces and territories of Canada.Ontario is located in the geographic eastern half of Canada, but it has historically and politically been considered to be part of Central Canada. Located in Central Ca ...

, Canada. The line was built to convey patrons of the ''

Maid of the Mist The Maid of the Mist is a sightseeing boat tour of Niagara Falls, starting and ending on the American side, crossing briefly into Canada during a portion of the trip. The fleet currently consists of two vessels, both of which launched in 2020. ...

'' boat tour, and linked the foot of Clifton Hill to the boat dock below. The line was built as the Clifton Incline in 1894. It was long, was electrically hauled, and passengers were carried in two small 12-seater cars. The track splits near the bottom to allow for cars to pass. A station is located near the top of the incline. The line was renamed as the Maid of the Mist Incline in 1973, without any change to the method of operation or capacity. The increasing size of the vessels used on the ''Maid of the Mist'' tour meant that more capacity was required, and the line was rebuilt between 1976 and 1977. When it reopened, it was served by new 24-seater cars which made the journey in 45 seconds. However even these proved inadequate for traffic, and the line finally closed in 1990 when it was replaced by a set of four

elevator An elevator or lift is a wire rope, cable-assisted, hydraulic cylinder-assisted, or roller-track assisted machine that vertically transports people or freight between floors, levels, or deck (building), decks of a building, watercraft, ...

s. Although the line closed in 1990 (replaced by elevators from the main entrance above) and became somewhat overgrown, both the track and the 1977 cars remained for decades afterwards. After several years of construction, Hornblower Niagara Cruises reopened the incline for the 2019 season as the Hornblower Niagara Funicular to enable more traffic to the boat tour. The new system was built by AnCam Solutions Company Limited of

Oakville, Ontario Oakville is a town in Regional Municipality of Halton, Halton Region, Ontario, Canada. It is located on Lake Ontario between Toronto and Hamilton, Ontario, Hamilton. At its Canada 2021 Census, 2021 census population of 213,759, it is List of tow ...

and Heller Manus of

San Francisco San Francisco (; Spanish language, Spanish for "Francis of Assisi, Saint Francis"), officially the City and County of San Francisco, is the commercial, financial, and cultural center of Northern California. The city proper is the List of Ca ...

. The new incline uses the same foundation and substructure of the original incline but with new, climate-controlled cars, and operates alongside the elevators.

References

{{coord, 43.0888, -79.0725, type:landmark_region:CA-ON, display=title 1976 disestablishments Railway lines closed in 1990 Defunct Ontario railways Funicular railways in Canada Defunct funicular railways Railway lines opened in 1894 Railway lines opened in 1977 Transport in Niagara Falls, Ontario 1850 mm gauge railways in Canada

See also

References