A funicular is a type of cable railway system that connects points along a railway track laid on a steep slope. The system is characterized by two counterbalanced carriages permanently attached to opposite ends of a haulage cable, which is looped over a pulley at the upper end of the track. The result of such a configuration is that the two carriages move synchronously: as one ascends, the other descends at an equal speed. This feature distinguishes funiculars from inclined elevators, which have a single car that is hauled uphill.
An inclined plane is a type of cable railway used on some canals for raising boats between different water levels. Boats may be conveyed afloat, in caissons, or may be carried in cradles or slings.
The Duquesne Incline is a funicular located near Pittsburgh's South Side neighborhood, scaling Mt. Washington in the United States. Designed by Hungarian-American engineer Samuel Diescher, the incline was completed in 1877.
The Monongahela Incline is a funicular located near the Smithfield Street Bridge in Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania. Designed and built by Prussian-born engineer John Endres in 1870, it is the oldest continuously operating funicular in the United States.
The Lookout Mountain Incline Railway is a 4 ft 8+1⁄2 instandard gauge inclined plane funicular railway leading to the top of Lookout Mountain from the historic St. Elmo neighborhood of Chattanooga, Tennessee. Passengers are transported from St. Elmo's Station at the base, to Point Park at the mountain summit, which overlooks the city and the Tennessee River. It is just a short drive to three of Chattanooga's main tourist attractions, Ruby Falls, Cavern Castle, and Rock City. The railway is approximately one mile (1.6 km) in length. It has a maximum grade of 72.7%, making it one of the world's steepest passenger railways. It obtained Historic Mechanical Engineering Landmark status in 1991. The cable system for the cars was made by the Otis Elevator Company.
The Falls Incline Railway, originally known as the Horseshoe Falls Incline is a type of funicular railway in the city of Niagara Falls, Ontario, Canada. It is located beside Niagara Falls at the Horseshoe Falls. The line was built in 1966 for the Niagara Parks Commission by the Swiss company Von Roll. It adopted its current name in the 1980s. Originally built with open-air cars, it was rebuilt in 2013 with enclosed cars to permit year-round operation.
Cincinnati Street Railway (CSR) was the public transit operator in Cincinnati, Ohio, from 1859 to 1952. The company ceased streetcar operations and was renamed Cincinnati Transit Company.
Mount Lookout, Ohio is one of the Eastern neighborhoods of Cincinnati, just northwest of Linwood and overlooking the Ohio River valley.
Mount Adams is a geographic landmark and residential neighborhood of Cincinnati, Ohio, located directly east of downtown Cincinnati, south of Walnut Hills, southwest of East Walnut Hills, and west of the East End.
The Knoxville Incline was a broad gauge inclined railway that ran between Pittsburgh's South Side and Allentown neighborhoods. The incline was built in 1890 and had a track gauge of 9 feet (2,700 mm).
Ida Street Viaduct is a registered historic structure in Cincinnati, Ohio, listed in the National Register on November 28, 1980. The reinforced concrete bridge is located in the hilltop neighborhood of Mount Adams.
The Mill Mountain Incline was a 0.37 mi (0.60 km) funicular, or inclined plane, located on Mill Mountain in Roanoke, Virginia that operated between 1910–1929. Costing $40,000 to complete, the incline took visitors from the base of the mountain where the present-day Carilion Roanoke Memorial Hospital is located to the summit in the area where the Mill Mountain Star is now located. It is not clear whether the former location of the incline is visible in the form of a cleft in the trees on Mill Mountain, immediately behind the hospital, or whether the incline was located just to the north of the present-day cleft.
Mount Airy is a neighborhood in Cincinnati, Ohio, United States. The population was 9,210 at the 2020 census. Interstate 74's Ohio-Iowa segment ends in Mount Airy, OH, while the westernmost North Carolina segment ends in Mount Airy, NC.
The Mount Oliver Incline was a funicular on the South Side of Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania. It was designed in 1871 by the Prussian-born engineer John Endres and his American daughter Caroline Endres, one of the first women engineers in the United States.
Downtown Cincinnati is the central business district of Cincinnati, Ohio, United States, as well the economic and symbiotic center of the Cincinnati metropolitan area. It also contains a number of urban neighborhoods in the low land area between the Ohio River and the high land areas of uptown. These neighborhoods include Over-the-Rhine, Pendleton, Queensgate, and West End.
The Troy Hill Incline, also known as the Mount Troy Incline, was a funicular railway located in old Allegheny, Pennsylvania, which is now the North Side of the city of Pittsburgh.
Streetcars operated by the Cincinnati Street Railway were the main form of public transportation in Cincinnati, Ohio, at the end of the 19th century and the start of the 20th century. The first electric streetcars began operation in 1889, and at its maximum, the streetcar system had 222 miles (357 km) of track and carried more than 100 million passengers per year. A very unusual feature of the system was that cars on some of its routes traveled via inclined railways to serve areas on hills near downtown. With the advent of inexpensive automobiles and improved roads, transit ridership declined in the 20th century and the streetcar system closed in 1951.
An inclined elevator or inclined lift is a form of cable railway that hauls rail cars up a steep gradient.
The Ridgewood Incline was an inclined plane railroad in Allegheny City, Pennsylvania, in what is now the Perry South neighborhood of Pittsburgh. Built in 1886 and burned the next year, it was Allegheny's first and shortest-lived incline.
