The Johnstown Inclined Plane is a
funicular
A funicular (, , ) is a type of cable railway system that connects points along a railway track laid on a steep slope. The system is characterized by two counterbalanced carriages (also called cars or trains) permanently attached to opposite en ...
in
Johnstown,
Cambria County
Cambria County is a county in the Commonwealth of Pennsylvania. As of the 2020 census, the population was 133,472. Its county seat is Ebensburg. The county was created on March 26, 1804, from parts of Bedford, Huntingdon, and Somerset Countie ...
, in the U.S. state of
Pennsylvania
Pennsylvania (; ( Pennsylvania Dutch: )), officially the Commonwealth of Pennsylvania, is a state spanning the Mid-Atlantic, Northeastern, Appalachian, and Great Lakes regions of the United States. It borders Delaware to its southeast, ...
. The incline and its two stations connect the city of Johnstown, situated in a valley at the
confluence
In geography, a confluence (also: ''conflux'') occurs where two or more flowing bodies of water join to form a single channel. A confluence can occur in several configurations: at the point where a tributary joins a larger river (main stem); o ...
of the
Stonycreek and the
Little Conemaugh rivers, to the
borough
A borough is an administrative division in various English-speaking countries. In principle, the term ''borough'' designates a self-governing walled town, although in practice, official use of the term varies widely.
History
In the Middle Ag ...
of
Westmont on Yoder Hill. The Johnstown Inclined Plane is billed as the "world's steepest vehicular inclined plane". It can carry automobiles and passengers, up or down a slope with a
grade
Grade most commonly refers to:
* Grade (education), a measurement of a student's performance
* Grade, the number of the year a student has reached in a given educational stage
* Grade (slope), the steepness of a slope
Grade or grading may also ref ...
of 71.9%.
The travel time between stations is 90 seconds.
After a
catastrophic flood in 1889, the Johnstown Inclined Plane was completed in 1891 to serve as an escape route from floods in the valley, as well as a convenient mode of transportation for residents of the new communities above the valley. It was operated by
Cambria Iron Company and its successor
Bethlehem Steel
The Bethlehem Steel Corporation was an American steelmaking company headquartered in Bethlehem, Pennsylvania. For most of the 20th century, it was one of the world's largest steel producing and shipbuilding companies. At the height of its succe ...
until 1935, when it was sold to the borough of Westmont. The incline was briefly shut down in 1962 when its supply of power from Bethlehem Steel was terminated.
Twice in its history, the Johnstown Inclined Plane fulfilled its role as a means of evacuation from floods—once in 1936 and again in 1977. The incline was listed on the
National Register of Historic Places
The National Register of Historic Places (NRHP) is the United States federal government's official list of districts, sites, buildings, structures and objects deemed worthy of preservation for their historical significance or "great artistic v ...
in 1973 and was designated a
Historic Mechanical Engineering Landmark in 1994. It had major renovations in 1962 and from 1983 to 1984.
Design
The Johnstown Inclined Plane was designed by Hungarian-American engineer
Samuel Diescher, who had also designed the
Duquesne,
Castle Shannon and
Fort Pitt Inclines in Pittsburgh. The funicular consists of a parallel set of
broad gauge
A broad-gauge railway is a railway with a track gauge (the distance between the rails) broader than the used by standard-gauge railways.
Broad gauge of , commonly known as Russian gauge, is the dominant track gauge in former Soviet Union (CIS ...
railroad tracks with a 70.9% grade or an angle of 35 degrees and 28
minutes
Minutes, also known as minutes of meeting (abbreviation MoM), protocols or, informally, notes, are the instant written record of a meeting or hearing. They typically describe the events of the meeting and may include a list of attendees, a state ...
from the horizontal.
The incline is long and ascends vertically to the top of Yoder Hill and the
borough
A borough is an administrative division in various English-speaking countries. In principle, the term ''borough'' designates a self-governing walled town, although in practice, official use of the term varies widely.
History
In the Middle Ag ...
of
Westmont, the station of which is at an elevation of above sea level. The rails are supported by 720
railroad tie
A railroad tie, crosstie (American English), railway tie (Canadian English) or railway sleeper (Australian and British English) is a rectangular support for the rails in railroad tracks. Generally laid perpendicular to the rails, ties transfer ...
s made from
Southern Yellow Pine
In ecology and forestry, yellow pine refers to a number of conifer species that tend to grow in similar plant communities and yield similar strong wood. In the Western United States, yellow pine refers to Jeffrey pine or ponderosa pine. In the S ...
.
The incline is illuminated at night by 114 high-pressure
sodium-vapor lamp
A sodium-vapor lamp is a gas-discharge lamp that uses sodium in an excited state to produce light at a characteristic wavelength near 589 nm.
Two varieties of such lamps exist: low pressure and high pressure. Low-pressure sodium lamps ar ...
s mounted along the sides of tracks.
There was a stairway between the tracks with 966 steps; this was removed circa 1963. Two cars traverse the slope; as one descends, the other ascends and acts as a
counterweight
A counterweight is a weight that, by applying an opposite force, provides balance and stability of a mechanical system. The purpose of a counterweight is to make lifting the load faster and more efficient, which saves energy and causes less wear ...
. The cars are wide, tall, and long, and are large enough to carry either 65 people, 6 motorcycles, or an automobile. While the cars are open to the elements, an enclosed seating area with a bench is situated along the outer side of the incline.
The cables connecting the cars are ,
6×36 right regular lay, steel wire rope. They are wound around a , drum that connects the cars. The cable on the north track is long, while the south cable is shorter. Each car weighs , but they and the cables can carry an additional load of . A electric motor drives the drum, simultaneously winding and unwinding the cable, to propel the incline. The Johnstown Inclined Plane is unusual in that the motor and
winch
A winch is a mechanical device that is used to pull in (wind up) or let out (wind out) or otherwise adjust the tension of a rope or wire rope (also called "cable" or "wire cable").
In its simplest form, it consists of a spool (or drum) attache ...
are located at a 90-degree angle to the incline instead of directly underneath it. Operation of the incline is controlled via a foot pedal located in a booth in the upper station.
An emergency brake engages if the air pressure needed to control the incline is insufficient; the brake also engages if a
dead man's switch
A dead man's switch (see alternative names) is a switch that is designed to be activated or deactivated if the human operator becomes incapacitated, such as through death, loss of consciousness, or being bodily removed from control. Originally a ...
is tripped in the operator's booth.
In addition to the hauling cables, a safety cable capable of withstanding is also connected to the cars.
File:Johnstown Inclined Plane mechanical room.jpg, The room that houses the incline's hoisting mechanisms
File:JohnstownIncline.jpg, The upper station has an observation deck and visitor center/restaurant adjacent to it
File:Johnstown Inclined Plane interior 2.jpg, The enclosed passenger area, with bench.
File:Johnstown Inclined Plane interior.jpg, The main deck of the car, which is large enough to hold several motorcycles or an automobile.
History
Background and construction
Inclines are common in Europe, and immigrants, like the
German
German(s) may refer to:
* Germany (of or related to)
** Germania (historical use)
* Germans, citizens of Germany, people of German ancestry, or native speakers of the German language
** For citizens of Germany, see also German nationality law
**Ge ...
,
Slavic, and
Welsh
Welsh may refer to:
Related to Wales
* Welsh, referring or related to Wales
* Welsh language, a Brittonic Celtic language spoken in Wales
* Welsh people
People
* Welsh (surname)
* Sometimes used as a synonym for the ancient Britons (Celtic peop ...
people who settled near Johnstown, remembered them from their native lands and brought the concept to the United States. The earliest inclines in the United States were a series of 10 that were built in the 1830s as part of the
Allegheny Portage Railroad
The Allegheny Portage Railroad was the first railroad constructed through the Allegheny Mountains in central Pennsylvania, United States; it operated from 1834 to 1854 as the first transportation infrastructure through the gaps of the Alleghen ...
. The portage railroad carried canal boats over the
Allegheny Mountains
The Allegheny Mountain Range (; also spelled Alleghany or Allegany), informally the Alleghenies, is part of the vast Appalachian Mountain Range of the Eastern United States and Canada and posed a significant barrier to land travel in less devel ...
to connect the canals from Pittsburgh to the ones from
Philadelphia
Philadelphia, often called Philly, is the largest city in the Commonwealth of Pennsylvania, the sixth-largest city in the U.S., the second-largest city in both the Northeast megalopolis and Mid-Atlantic regions after New York City. Sinc ...
. Pittsburgh at one time also had "at least 17" inclines—some carried passengers, others freight, while another two inclines (like the
Nunnery Hill Incline) were curved.
On May 31, 1889, the
South Fork Dam
The South Fork Dam was an earthenwork dam forming Lake Conemaugh (formerly Western Reservoir, also known as the Old Reservoir and Three Mile Dam, a misnomer), an artificial body of water near South Fork, Pennsylvania, United States. On May 31, 1 ...
collapsed upstream of Johnstown on the
Little Conemaugh River
The Little Conemaugh River is a tributary of the Conemaugh River, approximately 30 mi (48 km) long, in western Pennsylvania in the United States.
The main branch rises in eastern Cambria County, along the western slope of the Appalachi ...
. The
resulting deluge devastated the city, killing 2,209 people.
As the city rebuilt, the
Cambria Iron Company started work on a residential development atop Yoder Hill. To provide easy transportation on the steep slope for residents of the new community of Westmont, the company constructed an inclined plane. In addition to being a convenient mode of transportation, the Johnstown Inclined Plane doubled as an escape route in event of flood. Diescher was hired by Cambria Iron to design the incline. The rails used in the incline were manufactured in Johnstown at Cambria Iron, and many of the construction tools handcrafted there. The
Inclined Plane Bridge
The Inclined Plane Bridge is a , Pennsylvania through truss bridge that spans Stonycreek River in Johnstown, Cambria County, in the U.S. state of Pennsylvania. It connects the city to the lower station of the Johnstown Inclined Plane. The bridge w ...
was built to span the
Stoneycreek River to provide access to the lower station of the incline. Originally named the Cambria Inclined Plane, the Johnstown Inclined Plane opened on June 1, 1891 and cost
$133,296 to build. The convenience the incline provided stimulated a rapid growth of population in Westmont and made the borough one of the country's first suburbs. Over 40 million trips were taken on the incline in its first 80 years of operation.
Use
The incline's original steam engine was disconnected on January 6, 1912, and replaced with an electric motor. The cars used on the incline were originally double-deckers, but were reconfigured into a single-decker design in 1921. The double-decker cars had horses and wagons riding on the main, upper deck and passengers riding in a compartment below. Only one human fatality has occurred at the incline; it was determined that the incident was not caused by the incline itself. There were two incidents in the 1920s when horses aboard the incline became spooked and leapt from the car onto the tracks.
Bethlehem Steel
The Bethlehem Steel Corporation was an American steelmaking company headquartered in Bethlehem, Pennsylvania. For most of the 20th century, it was one of the world's largest steel producing and shipbuilding companies. At the height of its succe ...
, the successor to Cambria Iron, sold the Johnstown Inclined Plane to the borough of Westmont in April 1935. On March 17, 1936, nearly 4,000 people were
evacuated from Johnstown to higher ground via the incline as the Stoneycreek and
Conemaugh Rivers overflowed their banks.
The floodwaters continued downstream and
eventually reached Pittsburgh. From February 1938 to July 1953, the
Johnstown Traction Company
Johnstown Traction Company (JTC) was a public transit system in Johnstown, Pennsylvania, United States. For most of its existence it was primarily a street-railway system, but in later years also operated rubber-tired vehicles. JTC operated t ...
operated
transit bus
Transit may refer to:
Arts and entertainment Film
* ''Transit'' (1979 film), a 1979 Israeli film
* ''Transit'' (2005 film), a film produced by MTV and Staying-Alive about four people in countries in the world
* ''Transit'' (2006 film), a 2006 ...
es from Johnstown to Westmont with the "fully loaded public buses" being carried by the incline.
Bethlehem Steel stopped supplying electricity to the Johnstown Inclined Plane when the factory switched to "an incompatible power system", forcing the incline to close on January 31, 1962. Because of public pressure to keep the incline operating, it was reopened in July 1962 after extensive renovation, in which the electric motor was rewound, ties were replaced, and the cars were repainted.
The Johnstown Inclined Plane was listed on the
National Register of Historic Places
The National Register of Historic Places (NRHP) is the United States federal government's official list of districts, sites, buildings, structures and objects deemed worthy of preservation for their historical significance or "great artistic v ...
on June 18, 1973.
On July 20, 1977, the incline was again used as an escape route, evacuating residents from the valley amid rising floodwaters. It also carried "boats,
emergency personnel, and equipment down to the valley to aid in rescue operations". The incline was again sold for $1 by Westmont borough on March 8, 1983, to the Cambria County Transit Authority, now
CamTran. CamTran initiated a $4.2 million renovation on September 7, 1983, replacing "the incline's foundation piers, structural steel, and track." The renovations were completed on August 22, 1984, and the incline was rededicated on September 6. It was designated an
Historic Mechanical Engineering Landmark by the
American Society of Mechanical Engineers
The American Society of Mechanical Engineers (ASME) is an American professional association that, in its own words, "promotes the art, science, and practice of multidisciplinary engineering and allied sciences around the globe" via "continuing ...
(ASME) in September 1994.
A footbridge spanning
Pennsylvania Route 56
Pennsylvania Route 56 (PA 56) is a state highway located in west central Pennsylvania. Its western terminus is at the eastern end of the C.L. Schmitt Bridge in New Kensington. Its eastern terminus is on U.S. Route 30 (US 30) west of Bedfo ...
between the incline and Vine Street was opened around the same time. On September 1, 2000, the incline was closed when the
Pennsylvania Department of Transportation
The Pennsylvania Department of Transportation (PennDOT) oversees transportation issues in the Commonwealth of Pennsylvania. The administrator of PennDOT is the Pennsylvania Secretary of Transportation, currently Yassmin Gramian. Presently, Pe ...
(PennDOT) undertook an $2.3 million renovation of the bridge and its access road. It was reopened in April 2001, but again closed in September to allow PennDOT to finish repairs to the bridge deck. The repairs were completed on December 14, 2001. A strong thunderstorm disrupted power to the incline on April 16, 2010, stranding the cars and two passengers almost halfway down the slope. The rescue took three hours, and ended when firefighters
rappelled down the tracks to reach the car. The Johnstown Inclined Plane was closed from September 9 to October 14, 2010, for the installation of a new "hoist brake shaft." From October 29 to October 31, 2012, CamTran shut down the incline fearing power outages due to the passage of
Hurricane Sandy
Hurricane Sandy (unofficially referred to as ''Superstorm Sandy'') was an extremely destructive and strong Atlantic hurricane, as well as the largest Atlantic hurricane on record as measured by diameter, with tropical-storm-force winds spann ...
. During the annual Thunder in the Valley motorcycle rally, two
resistor
A resistor is a passive two-terminal electrical component that implements electrical resistance as a circuit element. In electronic circuits, resistors are used to reduce current flow, adjust signal levels, to divide voltages, bias active el ...
s failed and stopped the incline near the stations on June 28, 2014. Repairs took approximately a month after consultants diagnosed the failure.
Sensor issues briefly disrupted service in August 2014 and, again, December 2014 forcing the incline to start its winter maintenance period early.
File:Johnstown Inclined Plane side view.jpg, Side view
File:Johnstown Inclined Plane operation.ogv, Two cars traversing the slope
Current operations
With the growing popularity of the automobile and construction of new roads, ridership on the incline diminished. It was losing $25,000 a year by 1961.
Since the 1980s, the incline has become one of the main tourist attractions in Johnstown, with people visiting the incline to "ride for fun, nostalgia and novelty."
Primarily used for tourism, the incline's use by commuters, who bike or walk to work, has also increased. CamTran's Route 18
transit bus
Transit may refer to:
Arts and entertainment Film
* ''Transit'' (1979 film), a 1979 Israeli film
* ''Transit'' (2005 film), a film produced by MTV and Staying-Alive about four people in countries in the world
* ''Transit'' (2006 film), a 2006 ...
offers connections between the incline and downtown Johnstown. , the cost for a ride on the incline is $3 or $5 for a roundtrip. The one way fare for automobiles $8.
The incline takes around 90 seconds to travel between stations. The same trip takes 10 minutes by automobile.
In 2017, the Johnstown Inclined Plane had an annual ridership of 63,764 passengers, a decrease of 2.3 percent from the previous year.
The upper station has a gift shop selling souvenirs and snacks. A visitor center is located adjacent to the station.
The
mechanical room
A mechanical room, boiler room or plant room is a room or space in a building dedicated to the mechanical equipment and its associated electrical equipment, as opposed to rooms intended for human occupancy or storage. Unless a building is serve ...
housing the incline's hoisting mechanism can be viewed from windows in the gift shop and the visitor center lobby.
An
observation deck
An observation deck, observation platform, or viewing platform is an elevated sightseeing platform usually situated upon a tall architectural structure, such as a skyscraper or observation tower. Observation decks are sometimes enclosed ...
providing views of the incline, the city, and the valley is located on the opposite side of the station from the visitor center.
Two hiking trails allow visitors to walk the slope. One is a
sculpture trail
A sculpture trail - also known as "a culture walk" or "art trail" - is a walkway through open-air galleries of outdoor sculptures along a defined route with sequenced viewings encountered from planned preview and principal sight lines.
Setting ...
, with works created in 1989 by local artist
James Wolfe
James Wolfe (2 January 1727 – 13 September 1759) was a British Army officer known for his training reforms and, as a Major-general (United Kingdom), major general, remembered chiefly for his victory in 1759 over the Kingdom of France, French ...
, who used remnants of the Bethlehem Steel factory in Johnstown.
See also
*
List of funicular railways
This is a list of funicular railways, organised by place within country and continent. The funiculars range from short urban lines to significant multi-section mountain railways.
A funicular railway is distinguished from the similar incline eleva ...
*
List of Historic Mechanical Engineering Landmarks
*
Explanatory notes
:A. Various other sources often use 71.9 percent as the grade of the incline.
Citations
General sources
*
*
*
*
External links
Johnstown Inclined Plane
{{featured article
8 ft gauge railways in the United States
Buildings and structures in Johnstown, Pennsylvania
Funicular railways in the United States
Heritage railroads in Pennsylvania
Historic Mechanical Engineering Landmarks
Rail infrastructure on the National Register of Historic Places in Pennsylvania
Public transportation in Pennsylvania
Railway lines opened in 1891
Inclined Plane
An inclined plane, also known as a ramp, is a flat supporting surface tilted at an angle from the vertical direction, with one end higher than the other, used as an aid for raising or lowering a load. The inclined plane is one of the six clas ...
Tourist attractions in Johnstown, Pennsylvania
Articles containing video clips
National Register of Historic Places in Cambria County, Pennsylvania
Cableways on the National Register of Historic Places
1891 establishments in Pennsylvania