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Allegheny Portage Railroad
Society
Main Category
Sub Category
Era
Date Created
Location Country
us
Coordinates
40.359167, -78.85527
Address1
Hollidays burg to Johnstown
Address2
2600-2898 Old Route 22
City
Duncansville
State
Country
Zip

In an era when roads and canals were the most common means of overland transportation, the Allegheny Portage Railroad provided a novel alternative. The railway carried fully-loaded canal boats over the steep grades of the Allegheny Mountain. The 36-mile system rose almost 2,300 feet above sea level at its summit - the highest level to which canal boats had ever been carried. The project included ten double-tracked inclined planes, powered by steam engines. Its 900-foot Staple Bend Tunnel, cut from solid rock, was the first railroad tunnel constructed in America. Although the railroad lasted just 21 years, it replaced pack horse trails and wagon roads, substantially reducing the time and cost of crossing the Allegheny Mountain. Facts 1. Sixty-eight culverts, spanning three to 25 feet, were built of stone laid in lime mortar. Faces of walls at the end of each culvert were built of hammered stone. 2. The double-gauge tracks were 4 by 8.5 feet long, composed of flat iron bars spiked to timber rails laid on stone block sleepers. 3. Water was supplied to the steam engines by thousands of feet of wood and lead pipes from local wells and cisterns.

"[During construction] we were annoyed by multitudes of gnats and resorted to the smoke of burning leaves to mitigate the evil. We also tried greasing our faces to keep the insects from biting them. Rattlesnakes were numerous, but sluggish reptiles. Our a
Image Credit
Public Domain (National Park Service)
Image Caption
The Staple Bend Tunnel, completed 1834 for the Allegheny Portage Railroad

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