Pittsburgh's Mon Incline turns 150 years old
Here’s one birthday celebrant that can do its own drive-by parade.
One of Pittsburgh’s most iconic symbols — the Monongahela Incline — has turned 150 years old. (And it doesn’t look a day over 125!)
The city’s first funicular — the technical name for an inclined transit system powered by cables — opened May 28, 1870. It’s undergone a few cosmetic changes and upgrades over the years, but it remains the oldest continuously operating railway system of its kind in the country.
Oh sure, it’s not the funicular that’s seen most often in Pittsburgh skyline images — that would be its younger sibling, the Duquesne Incline — but the Mon still gets a ton of passengers each year. Perhaps that’s because the lower station is right across the street from Station Square and many use for their daily commute. According to the Port Authority of Allegheny County, over a half-million riders take the up-and-down trip each year. The Port Authority owns both of Pittsburgh’s inclines, but they only operate the Mon.
Other facts:
• In February 1854, the Mount Washington Inclined Plane Co. was given the go-ahead to build an incline for workers to get to and from their jobs. However, land-rights disputes and the Civil War halted the progress.
• Work on the incline resumed in 1867, with Jones & Laughlin building the iron T rail tracks, the Iron City Bridge Co. manufacturing an iron bridge over the railroad tracks at the bottom, carpenter R.J. Smith constructing the upper and lower stations, and John Roebling (designer of the Brooklyn Bridge and the Smithfield Street Bridge) providing the steel cables.
• Price & Long of Philadelphia built the incline’s cars — at $3,057 a piece.
• The Mon Incline’s first fare cost 6 cents.
• There are 635 feet of track on the Mon Incline (165 less than the Duquense Incline).
• The elevation is 369.39 feet, with a grade of 35 degrees.
• The cars, with a passenger capacity of 23, travel at 6 mph.
• Originally powered by steam, the Incline was converted to electricity in 1935.
• It was added to the National Register of Historic Places in 1977.
• Riding up (or down) the incline, passengers can still see remains of a larger industrial-size incline that used to run parallel to it. That larger one would carry horse-drawn freight and cars. It was taken down in 1935.
• Only the Mon and Duquesne inclines are still standing, but Pittsburgh used to have nearly two dozen inclines.
The most recent work on the Mon Incline was done in early 2019, which was done to repair damage caused by a series of water main breaks.
Operating hours are from 5:30 a.m.-12:45 a.m. Mondays through Saturdays, 7:45 a.m.-midnight Sundays and holidays. Cars depart about every 15 minutes.
Fares are paid for before riding and cost $2.75 for a one-way trip, $5.25 for round-trip; discounts are available with ConnectCards. Fares can be purchased at either upper or lower stations.
Chris Pastrick is a TribLive digital producer. An Allegheny County native, he began working for the Valley News Dispatch in 1993 and joined the Trib in 1997. He can be reached at cpastrick@triblive.com.
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