Climbing the Mountain: The Allegheny Portage Railroad

Abstract

In this article the author describes the historical Allegheny Portage Railroad, built in Pennsylvania between Philadelphia and Pittsburgh in the earlier 19th century as an economic competitor for the Erie Canal trade route. Despite many technical complications with building a canal over the Allegheny mountains, the state of Pennsylvania proceeded by connecting two stretches of canal on the east and west with a railway through the mountainous regions where a canal would not be feasible. Also required of the line was the first railway tunnel constructed in the U.S. The railway was divided into two sections: levels and planes. The former of these were flat regions in the mountains where the railcars could be pulled along by horses and locomotives. Much of these loads were intermodal carriages designed to carry cargo by boat along the canal as well as on the rail. Plane regions were slopes where railcars were hauled using stationary steam engines and ropes. While the system was never a success economically for the state, the inventiveness and originality of the design are noted as an important landmark in the history of transportation in the U.S.