7th Avenue West Incline Railway

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Seventh Avenue West Incline
Minnesota Point from Incline Railway, Duluth, Minn (NYPL b12647398-67838).tiff
Detroit Publishing Company postcard view from the incline, c. 1907
Overview
Locale Duluth, Minnesota, United States
Service
Operator(s)Duluth Street Railway Company
History
Opened1891 [1]
ClosedSeptember 4, 1939
Technical
Line length.5 miles (0.80 km)

The Seventh Avenue West Incline ran in Duluth, Minnesota, from 1891 until 1939, when the tracks were sold for scrap for the war effort.

Contents

History

The incline railway was opened on Seventh Avenue West because the hillside was too steep for a regular rail line. It was built by the Duluth Street Railway Company which had received a charter from the state in 1881 to build a streetcar line for Duluth. [2]

The incline climbed 509 feet in slightly over half a mile, with a grade ranging from 15 to 25%. Two forty-one by fifteen-foot cars counterbalanced each other with one ascending while the other descended. The cars were built to accommodate up to 250 standing passengers, and was powered by a stationary steam engine at the top. A trip one-way took 16 minutes. [2]

Early ridership did not live up to expectations. Still, the railway company opened the Beacon Hill pavilion at the top of the incline on July 4, 1892. The pavilion had a restaurant and theatre, and hosted events such as hot-air balloon launches. [2]

On May 28, 1901, a fire broke out in the powerhouse engine room and burned the pavilion, melting the cable and releasing a flaming car down the incline. Service resumed on January 1, 1902, now with only a single vehicle balanced by a counterweight, and with electric motors instead of a steam engine. However, in 1911, the railway updated the Incline with two new cars, raised and lowered by an electric hoist. [2]

In 1925, the Incline carried an average of 2,170 weekday passengers, travelling downhill in the morning and uphill in the afternoon. The railway was never profitable, but was the last remnant of the streetcar system to be replaced by buses. The last day of operation was September 4, 1939. [2]

Statistics

See also

References

  1. ↑ "Duluth Beltline Railway". Archived from the original on December 10, 2015. Retrieved December 7, 2015.
  2. 1 2 3 4 5 Isaacs, Aaron. "Duluth Incline Railway". www.mnhs.org. Retrieved 2025-12-04.
  3. ↑ 1634–1699: McCusker, J. J. (1997). How Much Is That in Real Money? A Historical Price Index for Use as a Deflator of Money Values in the Economy of the United States: Addenda et Corrigenda (PDF). American Antiquarian Society. 1700–1799: McCusker, J. J. (1992). How Much Is That in Real Money? A Historical Price Index for Use as a Deflator of Money Values in the Economy of the United States (PDF). American Antiquarian Society. 1800–present: Federal Reserve Bank of Minneapolis. "Consumer Price Index (estimate) 1800–" . Retrieved February 29, 2024.


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