The tracks of the Alegheny Portage Railroad crossed the mountains in stair-step fashion, with steep inclined planes linked by gently graded sections called levels. There were eleven numbered levels, and the railroad trace here formed part of Level No. 6, or the Summit Level, the highest point of the trip, running 1.62 miles between Inclines 5 and 6. When the railroad opened, horses pulled railroad cars along the levels, and track was usually laid on stone blocks called sleepers rather than on crossties, which would have made insecure footing for horses. Steam locomotives soon replaced horses on nearly all levels. The thirty-two miles of levels required more than 150,000 sleepers, some of which remain in place today. A locomotive pulling a sectional canal boat later approached a viaduct on a level section of the New Portage Railroad, a rerouted version of the old Allegheny Portage Railroad that bypassed the troublesome inclined planes but operated only two years before its sale to the more efficient Pennsylvania Railroad Co. in 1857.

Photo: William Fischer, Jr.

Photo: William Fischer, Jr.

Photo: William Fischer, Jr.

Photo: Unknown

Photo: National Park Service

Tunnelhill, Pennsylvania · USA