08/03 Allegheny Portage RR NM

Allegheny Portage Railroad
During the time of using canals to transport goods, Pennsylvania decided to build a canal from Baltimore to Pittsburgh. By 1831 most of the canal had been built but getting over the Allegheny mountain had still not been addressed. The steam engines used by the railroads, at that time, were not powerful enough to go over the mountain. It was decided that canal boats, passengers and goods would be moved to railroad cars and towed up by stationary steam engines up a huge staircase of 5 incline planes. On the descent they would be let down 5 more planes and then transferred once again to canal boats. If you look at the photos you can see that pulling the cars up the incline that they did not use a conventional railroad track. They used a flat piece of metal on a wood beam so that the cars were easily controlled. When they were let down on the descent side, conventional railroad track was used. In 6 hours the 36 mile travel would be accomplished, ascending 1398 feet and descending l,172 feet. There were many concerns for safety and this system was abandoning after the Pennsylvania Railroad was able to build a track system over the mountain. The water from the lake that was involved in the Johnstown flood was to be used in this canal system but was never needed before the system was abandoned.