[PRCo] Re: Pennsylvania (State of) Railroad Question

[Edward Skuchas]

Bob,

What is the year on the map?  I used to drive to this area to find vestiges of the inclines.  I think I found one pulley that the scrap metal guys missed.

The map does not have a few historical items.  The Wilkes-Barre & Hazleton crossed over the planes.  It is not shown at all.

The planes were abandoned because of the trackage from Ashley through Georgetown that angled up the mountain to the east.  It climbed the mountain until it doubled back around the hill near Rt 115.  From there the trackage was cut into the hillside.  It ran flat or at a far less grade back to the west where it intersected the trackage from the top of the planes.  The planes was not needed if the trains took this circuitous route.

They had a steam engine fan special in the 1960's that climbed the hill.  Seems that some fans had fun and greased the rails.

Regards,

Ed
On Feb 22, 2012, at 9:37 PM, robert netzlof wrote:

> --- On Wed, 2/22/12, Derrick Brashear <shadow at gmail.com> wrote:
> 
>> the Philadelphia and Columbia
>> Railroad certainly had an incline at its
>> eastern end.
>> 
>> On Wed, Feb 22, 2012 at 7:53 PM, Herb Brannon <hrbran at cavtel.net>
>> wrote:
>>> Other than the Allegheny Portage Railroad, were there
>> anymore mainline type
>>> railroads which utilized incline planes to get over the
>> mountains in
>>> Pennsylvania? The question came up on an email
>> discussion group here in NE
>>> Ohio. I have searched the Internet but only come up
>> with the Allegheny
>>> Portage RR, the Johnstown Incline, and several
>> Pittsburgh inclines.
> 
> The Ashley Planes on the Central Railroad of New Jersey, at Ashley PA. Don't recall when they shut down, but they were still in operation post-WW2.
> 
> Readers whose religion permits them to follow links may wish to see:
> 
> http://historical.mytopo.com/getImage.asp?fname=wlkb92nw.jpg&state=PA
> 
> Look for "GRAVITY BR. OF C.R.R. OF N.J."
> 
> More information and photos at:
> 
> http://www.gingerb.com/cnj%20ashley_planes.htm
> 
> Bob Netzlof a/k/a Sweet Old Bob
> 
> 
> 
>