One of the earliest and most impressive of America's great railroad engineering feats, the Horseshoe Curve was built as a means of overcoming a straight-line grade over the geological feature known as the Allegheny Escarpment or Allegheny front, which separates the ridge-and-valley section of Pennsylvania (on the east) from the Allegheny Front (on the west). Such a straight-line route would have made commercial railroad operations unfeasible from both and economic and technical standpoint.
Allegheny
![Horseshoe Curve](/sites/default/files/styles/landmark_node_/public/Horseshoe_Curve.jpg?itok=IRMMdqua)
![Allegheny Portage Railroad](/sites/default/files/styles/landmark_node_/public/Allegheny_Portage_Railroad.jpg?itok=c8bBHP1X)
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.
Innovations
![Allegheny Portage Railroad](/sites/default/files/styles/thumbnail/public/Allegheny_Portage_Railroad.jpg?itok=JEoBwa_O)
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…
Read More![Horseshoe Curve](/sites/default/files/styles/thumbnail/public/Horseshoe_Curve.jpg?itok=ywG8_aFe)
One of the earliest and most impressive of America's great railroad engineering feats, the Horseshoe Curve was built as a means of overcoming a straight-line grade over the geological feature known as the Allegheny Escarpment or Allegheny front, which separates the ridge-and-valley section of…
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