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Allegheny Portage Railroad
The Allegheny Portage Railroad was the first railroad constructed through the Allegheny Mountains in central Pennsylvania in the United States. It was a combination of a towpath canal and inclined plane railroad, approximately 50 mi (80 km) long, and operated from 1834 to 1854. It connected the two branches of the Pennsylvania Main Line Canal between Johnstown on the west and Hollidaysburg on the east, thus allowing continuous barge traffic between the Ohio and the Susquehanna rivers. Considered a technological marvel in its day, it played a critical role in opening up the interior of the United States beyond the Appalachian Mountains to settlement and commerce. Its inauguration was marked with great fanfare
Construction of the railroad began in 1831 and took three years to complete, financed by the State of Pennsylvania as a means to compete with the Erie Canal in New York. The work was done largely through private contractors. The railroad used ten inclined planes--five on either side of the summit of the Allegheny Ridge. The vertical ascent from Johnstown was 1,172 ft (355 m). The vertical ascent from Hollidaysburg was 1,399 ft (424 m). The barges were drawn by horses along level sections, which included a 900 ft (273 m) tunnel, as well as a viaduct over the Little Conemaugh River upstream from Johnstown. A typical voyage took between six and seven hours to complete. The entire Main Line system connecting Pittsburgh and Philadelphia was 400 mi (640 km) long.
In 1854 the portage railroad was rendered obsolete by the construction a locomotive railroad over the Alleghenies by the Pennsylvania Railroad, a private company. In 1857, Pennsylvania Railroad bought the portage railroad from the state and began dismantling it.
A small portion of the portage railroad is preserved at the Allegheny Portage Railroad National Historic Site, established in 1964 and located approximately 12 mi (19 km) west of Altoona.
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