Pittsburgh’s Lost Incline Rail Network
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- เผยแพร่เมื่อ 2 ก.ค. 2024
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Chapters:
00:00 What is a Funicular?
00:44 Why did Pittsburgh have seventeen funiculars?
02:42 The Building of the Funiculars
05:53 The Best of the Funiculars
09:36 What happened to Pittsburgh’s abandoned Funicular Lines?
13:10 Pittsburgh’s Two Remaining Funiculars
IT’S HISTORY - Weekly Tales of American Urban Decay as presented by your host Ryan Socash.
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» CREDIT
Scriptwriter - Gregory Back
Editor - Karolina Szwata
Host - Ryan Socash
Music/Sound Design: Dave Daddario
» NOTICE
Some images may be used for illustrative purposes only - always reflecting the accurate time frame and content. Events of factual error / mispronounced word/spelling mistakes - retractions will be published in this section.
As a yinzer living right up on Mt Washington, I love to see a spotlight on the inclines! You nailed the Duquesne incline, but I gotta call out the pronounciation of Monongahela - it's closer to mononga-HAY-luh when spoken by locals (perfect example here th-cam.com/video/Am9_rjpdV2Y/w-d-xo.htmlsi=wF0BM5fYJl_huXIn ).
They just finished up a rehab project earlier this year to the Mon incline that added LED track lighting - I recommend anyone visiting the Burgh to take either of the inclines up to catch the breathtaking view up on the Granedview overlook. If you're driving, I can also recommend driving up the PJ McArdle Roadway since it feels like you're driving straight up to the sky; that road's completion was the true death knell for many of the inclines in the area.
Take the Mong instead and go visit my great uncle Pat's overlook 😁
Everytime he said it...and it was alot! ....I'm over here like "hey"..."hey"..."hey-la".....
@@younkinjames8571So it wasn't just me then!🤣
I was doing the same thing
For about two years I commuted daily on the Duquesne incline. Best commute of my life. I lived a block away from it at the top, and I worked downtown near the point. There's a downstairs area at the lower station where you can wait for a bus into town, there's even a mirror to help you watch, and a button to push to flash a light to make the bus stop. It's on the West busway so buses come very frequently. However, I'd usually get into town on foot using the Fort Pitt bridge, which has amazing views. Just bring noise cancelling headphones since the bridge does carry the Parkway.
I'd meet tourists almost daily, and they'd always ask me if I was afraid it would break. I never was afraid, it was built by Germans 150 years ago. It's not going anywhere.
The Mon is more useful as a commuter shuttle because there's more population density at the top and it's an even quicker walk into downtown, but the Duquesne does serve a solid handful of regular commuters.
I thought the "Mon" was now called the "Mount Washington Incline."
While both inclines still exist, the Monongahela has been modified quite extensively. The Duquesne is basically unmodified and still operates with its old, original mechanism. It is fascinating to watch. This makes the Duquesne Incline an original piece of history and my favorite of the two.
Very interesting. But, I had to laugh every time you said "Monongahela" because it sounded so funny. You forgot to say 'non' in the middle. Mah-non-ga-hell-ah. But needless to say, my husband who was born and raised in Pittsburgh, learned somethings. Very, very interesting. Thank you.
Amen. I've never heard the word slaughtered that way before, ever.
I've ridden it, but I bailed on this TH-cam by the 3rd time he tried to pronounce "Monongahela". Maybe he should take up like the locals and abbreviate it to "Mon".
I've also ridden an inclined railroad at Niagara Falls, but that's a cogwheel road rather than a passively driven cable vehicle as in Pittsburgh.
Ryan, I happen to be a decedent of Samuel Diescher. Still living in Pennsylvania, my family and I have visited the inclines and it warms my heart to enjoy the awesome video that you have created. Interesting note, Samuel married Caroline Endres, the daughter of John Endres, she was also trained as an engineer in Europe. I will be sure to subscribe to your channel and share it with others. Thank you!!!
That is awesome!
My Daughter took us on the Duquesne Incline last year while she was at Carnage Mellin. I highly recommend it. It's not like anything I've ever done.
CARNEGIE MELLON?
@@OneAdam12Adamguess the apple fell far from the tree
Lmao dude, how do you spell Duquesne right but shit the bed on the name of your own daughter's extremely illustrious school, to whom i assume you pay tuition??
@@cleverusername9369: Might have been a Freudian slip. I'm sure the tuition causes carnage to his bank account!
Lived in Johnstown PA in the 90s. Have fond memories of watching the incline cars crawl up and down the mountainside.
The Castle Shannon Incline also had a rather interesting story only touched on... started out as a coal mine going straight through "Coal Hill" (Mt Washington) until it reached the other side, and then the Pittsburgh & Castle Shannon narrow gauge rail road was set up to bring people in from the South Hills and service the mines throughout that area, that used the mine/tunnel to bring people to the top of Mt Washington, then to the incline you mention. Eventually, when the railroad tunnel was deemed unsafe for passenger traffic (not the incline itself) they built another incline coming up the back of Mt Washington, so you could come up one side, cross the street and then go down the other, all by incline. Coal trains still used the tunnel and existing incline structure, whilst the new passenger incline was built close by.
As recently as the 90s, the old Overbrook PCC streetcar line followed part of the Castle Shannon rail route, and - as I was told on a tour of it back in the day - also made use of the old narrow gauge rails as guide rails within the tracks to help stability going over the hills and around curves.
You can still see evidence of the inclines on Google Maps, one coming up the south side of the hill from Warrington Ave via a line of trees between Laclede and Haberman up to Bailey Ave... across to where now stand a set of townhouses (where the former top entrance structure of the opposite incline was). Then, you can see on Carson Ave, just to the west of where Arlington Ave comes out, where the buses exit from using the Mt Washington Transit tunnel - that's where the north face passenger incline dropped people off onto the street, from beneath the railroad line. As for the tunnel, on the south face it started a few feet above where that transit tunnel is now, and extended through the hill into the middle of the woods somewhere around Neff and Lava Streets, to the coal incline. It was always a project of mine to find that northern tunnel exit (among several others, including one I believe exited around a concrete retaining wall behind what is now the Onala Club - I was looking for the south entrance, across Sawmill Run and Woodville Road from yet another incline, in the West End), but I never could get out there to make the search. Now I live in a completely different region - but maybe somebody else will be interested enough to try to find it themselves. I wish you all the best, whoever you are. 🙂
Thank you for this information. That was interesting. Is what you are saying means that there is a lost tunnel in Mt. Washington?
Because as an urbexer, I am interested.
Theres no tunnel exit anymore, it's been filled in long ago. I explored around that small triangle of area and it's just dense woods....and ticks. You can still find the foundation blocks of the original, smaller castle Shannon incline near the entrance to the park up there on the left as you come up. I biked up Haberman st, next to the back incline right of way.was hard as hell.
@@Nylon_riotmt Washington is riddled with tunnels from all the coal mining. As for the Pittsburgh and castle shannontrain tunnels, the entrances were sealed up and overgrown a century ago. The tunnel may still get there however. I have no idea why they don't have subsidence issues up there, but it doesn't appear to be a problem.
@@alexprocyk8805 Heh, glad somebody did it. I figured the tunnel portals would be closed, if only for safety reasons, but I thought there might be a chance to find clues as to where the tunnel actually was.
As a Pittsburgher, I was 19 before I was ever on one of the inclines. I've been on both, but it has probably been 15-20 years now. Anyway, at the top of the Duquesne Incline, you can go under the station (but still inside) and see the mechanics of it. I think it costs extra--like $0.50 or $1.00.
Living here for over 50 years its always exciting an interesting to see how much history this city has that I STILL don't know about. It true a person is NEVER to old to learn something new.
Pittsburgh has the second most bridges in the world after Venice. 500 inside city lines.
Same here as a person born in the Mount Lebanon hospital in Jan 1972. For the first 31 years of my life I lived close to the Liberty Tunnels but since then I am on top of the hill close to the S curve on 79 above Neville Island.
Never too old to learn a thing or two!
The Duquesne Incline is a wonderful piece of engineering and so well kept! I was in the Pittsburgh area during a business trip and visited it. Can absolutely recommend it even if you are only interested in the view from above.
Fascinating. I love Pittsburgh and want to visit one day. Beautiful lush green hills and great river views. I live in San Francisco and their hills are even steeper than ours.
Yup...steepest hills in the world and it makes me happy to hear someone from San Fran admit that,cuz not even the Guinness book of records gives us our due. Ur hills are much longer tho
Sycamore Street has crushed the dreams of many of bicyclists. Come visit in the summer, when everything is green. You'd never know that the city was once an industrial powerhouse.
Great video! Thanks for covering Pittsburgh! I hope you consider covering Johnstown, PA for the its flood history and its inclined plane.
Thanks for touching on some local history!! Pittsburgh is full of it! I used to ride the Mon every day when I lived up there and tourists were fascinated that “people lived up here?”!
I rode the Duquesne as a child in 1958. Still remember the thrill and the view. Thanks for the memories.
In an episode of Route 66 they took their Corvette on Castle Shannon Incline.
Rail gauge in the US is 4’ 8 1/2”
And the UK and most of Europe. It's also said as 1435 mm.
Very cool. I knew some of it but not all thanks for the fill in. Glad to see Pittsburgh is on this channel.
Our pleasure!
I wish they would’ve kept the mt. Oliver one it crosses so much of the town and roads it would be a marvel to see today being 150 years old
Very interesting. So interesting that my Pittsburgh born wife watched the whole thing despite the butchering of Monongahela
Growing up in the south hills of Pittsburgh, I have been on both the Duquesne and the Monongahela inclines several times. It is breathtaking when you climb Mt. Washington and see the city skyline.
I also grew up in South Hills!
Went to West Mifflin South!
I live in Ohio now..
And do you enjoy the Conservatory? I love the flowers!
Ohio😊
@@bonnierobbins4230 I grew up in Bethel Park. And I proposed to my wife at the botanical garden. We grew up in a beautiful city!
Congratulations! My first date with my honey...I took him to the gardens as well!! He was always fearful of Pittsburgh. He grew up in Ohio.
@bonnierobbins4230 thanks! I lived in Ohio for 5 years when my wife was getting her PhD at Kent. We lived in Cuyohoga Falls, and honestly, it felt very similar to the South Hills. I wouldn't mind if I continued living and/or grew up there.
Gosh! I'm a Kent State Graduate!!
Science Microbiology Dieitation..
I have ridden the Duquesne when I was very little. Parents families grew up in that area. I rode it more recently when on a business trip to the city. Even got to grab a smiley while I was near the platform.
It’s been decades ago but I remember riding the Coal Hill/Mt. Washington incline - I was unaware of the Duquesne Incline - hopefully I’ll get to revisit them SOON!
Every time I spend a day down in Pittsburgh, I always go to the Duquesne Incline. It's cool, the upper landing has a small stairway you can go down into It's mechanical room and see all the large gears turn and pull the cables as it runs. When you look at it, you can see how it became such a mechanical marvel.
Johnstown, Pa has a incline yet also it help save ppl during the 1889 ,1936 and 1977 floods
I love going to the Cincinnati museum when I was living there because they had a scale model of the entire town right about the turn of the century and it shows their version of this lift and how canal Street which is now a road was actually a canal if you ever get the chance to visit Cincinnati check out their museum for just that piece of History.
My two little brothers and I got to ride the Monongahela Incline back in 2007. Grandpa Butch took us on a road trip around Pennsylvania, and that was one of the things we did in Pittsburgh.
This is fantastic! Thank you.
Great topic as always. I have ridden the Duquesne. Beautiful and quite vintage in a good way. Thanks for another good show Brian
Great Channel!
I enjoy all your shows about Pittsburgh my hometown. I'm from the South Hills by Kennywood Park!
My father worked for the city Civil Engineer. He helped rework waterworks and flood control. In the 1960s..He also surveyed "Parkway" rt 376/576 N to Wexford.
Bonnie Ohio
My uncle fell off the Penn incline and onto Bigelow Blvd underneath as a baby. Love the details.
@10:39 Those early inhabitants were truly a bunch of gophers building houses wherever on the side of the hills without streets, sidewalks and services!
😂😂
But the view..............
Pittsburgh is the official city of "I can't believe they built a house THERE!"
It reminds me of the "Amalfi Drive" between Positano and Raito in Italy. @@ostrich67
Great watch, loads of information. I don't live in Pittsburgh, but it's always a fun place to visit....
Fun Fact: Much of the 1977 classic movie Dawn of the Dead was filmed in and around Pittsburg.........
There are a bunch of cities named Pittsburg, but none of them are in Pennsylvania. Pittsburgh, on the other hand...
@@spaceflight1019 OOPS, sorry but I did go to a tax funded government run public school.... LOL
I made the proper change.
@@jetsons101 It's an easy mistake to make.
I must have been thinking of iceburg lettuce at the time, no "H" there. @@spaceflight1019
I loved riding the Duquesne incline.
Thanks for sharing something on my city!!! I'd love to see you do more. Soooo much history here!
More to come!
Québec City's funiculaire went into service in the 1870's. It's been revamped several times and is now run on electricity and has very modern cars.
Great video!! Extremely informative and interesting
You should have taken the time to étoile learn to say Mo-non-ga-he-la!
They have these in Valparaiso, Chile. I rode one and they have several as the city is built on a flat area bordered by many hills above the city., next to the Pacific ocean!
Another informative video. Thanks
Been on both of the still operating funiculars in PittsburgH. Puerto has one as well on its east coast.
It's Pittsburgh. We take it as an insult to leave the "h" off. We where the first and still the best
Yeah as you might have noticed I'm from Baltimore. Sorry bout that.
@@TechTokOffical Wow, you're so tied to the 'h' that you put it into 'were'.
Fascinating.
Los Angeles still has one. It was very interesting
We have a Incline plane in Johnstown pa… it’s a 135 years old give or take and it hauls cars and trucks and motorcycles as well… But it’s under rehabilitation right now and we’re hoping to have to working by late fall this year or open for sure in the spring of next year… I work on this great mass of world wonder and love every minute of… Hoping to see you when we open for business…
There was an incline that you could put your car on and there was a bend in the track as you went up the hill. My dad took me on that a number of times in the late 50s and maybe early 60s. So it would have been the last one closed down. I dont remember the name of it and cant find on the list. Maybe the one that closed in 1963
Having grown up in Johnstown, Pa, I used OUR incline many times. It's the steepest continuous run in the world. I have also ridden both of these Pittsburgh inclines, and the Angels Flight in Los Angeles!
Johnstown's incline is closed right now for supposed upgrades and repairs, but the rumor is, the county wants to leave it non-operational, as a museum.
It would be tragic to make it non operational! I hope they get it back up and running again!
@@DaveTheMagicalChiken Me too, but unless they're using federal taxed money, I'm not the one footing the bill. I wonder if they ever made public the annual operating cost before subsidies.
I grew up a few blocks from the pillars of several other inclines about an hour south of Pittsburgh. Wheeling, WV had several inclines.
I've seen both the inclines remaining in Pittsburgh but have not had the chance to ride one yet. Thank you for this very interesting video.
You really need to set a little time aside and take the ride. I've never been on the Monongahela, but the Duquesne is more than well worth the price of admission. Hopefully, they haven't done anything to try to improve it, because it truly is an experience; one that you should never forget. I haven't been back to Pittsburgh since 2010, so I really don't know how much they charge, but back then it wasn't very much, probably only a couple bucks for the round trip. When you get to the top, there's a little area up there that you can view some of its workings in action, plus there's a nice landing outside with a killer view. Regarding those workings that you can see, when you're in the car taking the trip, you can feel them working lol. Try to get in the back of the car on the way up, which is the front on the way down. There's a pretty decent sized lot across the street from the base for parking. Maybe I have been on the Monongahela, now that I think about it, but it would have been when I was really young, like maybe seven or eight years old. The memory I have from riding it back then is completely different from the way the Duquesne is laid out. I mean, not even close. Seriously, set a little time aside. You won't regret it.
I used to take my Church's youth group up to the top of the Duquesne Incline at night to see the city. That was back in 1969 when Pittsburgh still had its steel mills belching their foul stench into the air. My wife and I also road the one up Lookout Mountain near Chattanooga, Tennessee. Thanks for this episode.
was a child back then and took the incline about 1970
Awesome. I miss riding the inclines, it’s been too long.
Ryan, how about doing one on the Oregon City Municipal Elevator in Oregon? The original state capitol is history in itself.
consider doing something on the staircases of pittsburgh
Love those crazy trains especially Mt Washington Yinz Guises..
Iv always loved History!!!!.
Very Cool! Isn’t there one still in use today near Gatlinburg, Tennessee?
In Chattanooga actually
Hamilton Ontario had one too. The Mountian Incline Railway
We went on an adventure in search of the Castle Shannon incline not realizing it was long gone. We put a lot of miles on the car that day.
We have one here in johnstown pa. Too.
Thanks again Ryan 🤟👍
Old F-4 Shoe🇺🇸
I’ve been there. Very cool!
You can actually still see part of a wall left from the Freyburg St incline. And the top stop of the Knoxville incline is around where a convenience store now sits.
Please do an episode about the Duluth Minnesota funicular
Standard gauge in the US is 4’8 1/2 “ and in WV we have a Monongalia county along the Monongahela River so it’s ok.
They had one of these at Dogpatch Arkansas
Pittsburgh:
Formerly known as Fort Duquesne!
Spotted the Frenchie
Come to Johnstown and see the incline. Its the steepest incline that can carry a car.
i rode the mon incline home all the time for about a year
Which incline does the actress in Flashdance ride when visiting her grandmother?
There used to be a trolley service that ran from Cleveland to it's summer getaway Painesville. It ran along US20. This would make for an interesting video. A center turn lane runs where the trolleys once did.
#VideoTopic
The entire history of Euclid Ave. in Cleveland would be excellent on this channel! Millionaire's Row, Doan's Corners, University Circle, and beyond! Also, I'm surprised it wasn't mentioned that there was at least 1 furnicular in Cincinnati! 🤔🤔
Youngstown had street trolleys that took workers from the mills to their homes on the North side
@@dylanlowers5236 A large number of the trolleys from Youngstown and Cleveland are now what run in San Francisco.
We went to the Duquesne Incline while in Pittsburgh, after a very informative time there, we went to Primanti’s for a great sandwich and a drink…😂😂
You might want to take a look at Angel's Flight in Los Angeles sometime.
If you think about it all elevators are some sort of trains, it's just that they go up and down the rails, not back and forth
At least he got Du Kane right!
there's one of these in johnstown!
Dude covers my favorite historic topics in a professional well researched way.
Where is this guy from. He sure ain't from around Pittsburgh. Ma-non-ga-hey`-la is the way us locals say it, shortened to "The Mon". This guy sure doesn't know Yinzer.
there is at least one still running in GB.
The inclines were cold/hot, slow, and a little scary. They still are.
Cincinnati used to have seven of them, but they are all gone.
The incline might be making a come back do to the RIP off gas prices
Seems the last two survived being the shortest up the steepest inclines, making them the quickest up the hill.
They're also the closest to downtown Pittsburgh. So, there is a practical element in terms of commuting and a tourist element as it's scenic at the top of both of them.
I think the capital of Gondor - Minas Tirith - TOTALLY needs funiculars.
Standard gauge is 4'8.5", not three feet as you state at about eight minutes.
Funicular. An ItalianFolk Song covered by Rodney Dangerfield!
It's a tough one if you're not from Pittsburgh, but its "Muh-non-ga-hela"
Gone the way of the moon tower!😂
Los Angeles still has one
Bosch!
Bosch or the incline?
My wife and I got engaged at the Duquesne Incline
I ride the mon incline every day, great time
The old world is so much more fascinating that the twisted insane reality simulation of today....
Mononga-HEY-la.
definitely interesting coverage of it. although it hurts my ears constantly hearing Mah-Non-gah-HEE-la mispronounced.
Hi Ryan I really enjoy your videos but I don't understand your beginner credits, as its not showing what you're actually talking about.
Christina Aguilera grew up in Pittsburg.
In PittsburgH.
Ma NON Ga HE La.
Like Ha va na GEE la
On the very early inclines, if the pull cable broke, well --- say your prayers as there was no safety to stop the car from crashing to the bottom of the hill, this was the same in the UK/Europe as well. OUCH
I'm pretty sure I'd just jump off the thing.
Over a 100 years ago there was a incline railroad "passenger ride" in Shipley Glen in Bradford, UK. People got hurt but nobody died.....@@jelly7310
It's MonongaHEYla .
🎶 funicular fincula finculee finculahahaha a knapsack on my back 🎶
muh naang guh hay luh
Wheeling wv had one went to Mozart they moved it up Pittsburgh
I am like number 344