Allegheny Portage Railroad National Historic Site, near Altoona, Pennsylvania, preserves the history of the first railroad to cross the Allegheny Mountains. The railroad was part of a canal system that shortened travel time between Pittsburgh and Philadelphia and helped Pennsylvania develop into an industrial center.
In 1826, the state legislature of Pennsylvania approved a plan to speed travel between Pittsburgh and Philadelphia by constructing a canal. However, the Allegheny Mountains blocked the proposed route of the canal. Plans to construct a water tunnel under the mountain range proved too expensive and too difficult. Instead, engineers designed the Allegheny Portage Railroad to carry freight and passengers over the mountains. The railroad began operating in 1834.
The 36-mile (58-kilometer) railroad connected sections of canal on either side of the mountains. The railroad was designed in a series of inclined planes, or slopes, that led up to and down from the crest of the mountains. The tracks were too steep for ordinary locomotives to pull the trains. Instead, stationary steam engines pulled the cars up the inclined planes on long ropes. Ordinary locomotives carried cars along flatter sections of track.
The Allegheny Portage Railroad closed in 1854, when the Pennsylvania Railroad Company completed its continuous rail line from Philadelphia to Pittsburgh. The Pennsylvania Railroad purchased the Allegheny Portage Railroad. The company removed the tracks and used them to build railroad lines elsewhere.
The Allegheny Portage Railroad National Historic Site was established in 1964. It consists of a number of structures linked to the old railroad. The Engine House #6 Exhibit Shelter houses the remaining stone foundation of one of the 10 engine houses. The shelter also displays a full-scale model of a steam engine used to pull the trains up steep tracks. The nearby Skew Arch Bridge was built to allow local farmers and travelers to pass safely over the railroad tracks. A building called the Lemon House served as a tavern and place of rest for weary railroad passengers. Historians have restored the Lemon House barroom, dining room, and parlor using archaeological evidence. The house also displays exhibits on the railroad and on social life and recreation in the mid-1800’s.
A separate area of the park, near Johnstown, Pennsylvania, houses the Staple Bend Tunnel. The Staple Bend Tunnel was the first railroad tunnel constructed in the United States.
