Monongahela Incline - Pittsburgh, PA
N 40° 25.946 W 080° 00.273
17T E 584433 N 4476230
The Monongahela Incline is the oldest continuously operating funicular in the USA. The lower station is located on E Carson St near Smithfield St. The upper station is located at 5 Grandview Ave. Passengers can embark/disembark at either station.
Waymark Code: WM3M5M
Location: Pennsylvania, United States
Date Posted: 04/19/2008
Views: 78
From the ASME web site:
"As a practical conveyance during the horse-and-buggy era, the Monongahela Incline was one of seventeen built and operated in Pittsburgh in the last century. Of the seventeen, the Monongahela and the Duquesne are the only two remaining operating units. While the Mt. Washington Incline was known as a coal-carrying incline plane in 1854, the Monongahela Incline is probably the earliest passenger-carrying incline in the United States and has been in continuous successful service since its construction. Inclines contributed greatly to the development of metropolitan areas in hilly terrain such as Pittsburgh, but were superseded by the automobile and improved roads in the early part of the twentieth century.
Designed by John G. Endres, a Prussian engineer, and Sam Diescher, who went on to design the Duquesne Incline (NL 25), the Monongahela opened May 28, 1870. It was steam powered to move two cars along a wooden plane on a 71 1/2 percent grade. Though the wooden plane was replaced with iron in 1882, followed by the addition of a parallel plane the next year, it has continued with few interruptions for more than one hundred years. It travels on two parallel tracks, overcoming the need to pass a switch track at the midpoint like the single-track incline."
Hours of operation:
Monday through Saturday 5:30 a.m. to 12:45 a.m.
Sundays and Holidays 8:45 a.m. to Midnight
From Wikipedia:
The Monongahela Incline, located near the Smithfield Street Bridge, it is the oldest continuously operating funicular in the USA, and one of two surviving (the other is the nearby Duquesne Incline) from the original 77 built in Pittsburgh. Its lower station is across the street from the Station Square shopping complex, and is easily accessible from the light rail system at the Station Square station.
Pittsburgh's expanding industrial base in 1860 created a huge demand for labor, attracting mainly German immigrants to the region. This created a serious housing shortage as industry occupied most of the flat lands adjacent to the river, leaving only the steep, surrounding hillsides of Mt. Washington or "Coal Hill" for housing. However, travel between the "hill" and other areas was hindered by a lack of good roads or public transport.
The predominantly German immigrants who settled on Mt. Washington, remembering the Seilbahns (Cable cars) of their former country, proposed the construction of inclines along the face of Coal Hill. The result was the Monongahela Incline, which opened May 28, 1870.
It is operated by the Port Authority of Allegheny County, which operates the rest of Pittsburgh's transit system. Transfers can be made between the incline and the light rail and buses.
* Length: 635 feet (194 m)
* Elevation: 369.39 feet (113 m)
* Grade: 35 degrees, 35 minutes
* Speed: 6 MPH (10 km/h)
* Passenger Capacity: 23 per car
* Opened: May 28, 1870"