Allegheny Portage Railroad National Historic Site — Attraction in Cresson Township

I am a travel writer and photographer for National Park Planner and I was at the Allegheny Portage Railroad National Historic Site in September 2014. The park is located near Cresson and Gallitzin, Pennsylvania. The park commemorates one of America’s early technological achievements. Faced with losing business to New York’s Erie Canal during the rush to move people and goods to the west, the state of Pennsylvania opted to build its own canal from Philadelphia to Pittsburgh. Only the Allegheny Mountains stood in the way.

The canal would be dug from two sides of the mountain, with the eastern leg running from Philadelphia to Hollidaysburg and the western leg running from Pittsburgh to Johnstown. The gap between the two ends of the canal presented the challenge of how to move canal boats over the mountain. The solution was to build a “railroad,” not a railroad in the traditional sense of the word, but an incline railroad powered by steam engines that could take a canal boat out of the water on one side of the canal, place it on a rail car, and through a series of short inclines, pull it up the mountain and lower it down the other side where it could be placed back into the canal so that it could finish its journey east or west across Pennsylvania.

Construction on the canals began in the late 1820s, with the incline railroad starting in 1831 and opening for business in 1834. The incline railroad remained functional until the early 1840s, when the state built tracks around the base of the mountains from one side of the canal to the other. This was called the “new” Portage Railroad and it eliminated the need for the inclines. Overall, the Portage Railroad, old and new, remained the quickest way to move people and cargo across Pennsylvania for 23 years until it was replaced by a traditional railroad that bypassed the need for the canal, carrying passengers and goods from Philadelphia to Pittsburgh entirely on rails beginning in 1857.

The portage railroad was dismantled once it went out of business and nothing is left except for a few permanent tunnels and the Lemon House, the home of Samuel Lemon, who also ran a tavern from the home. This is open to visitors for self-guided tours of the first floor. The National Park Service has also reconstructed Engine House 6 at its original location at the top of Incline 6 (also open to visitors). The engine house is a building typical of those that housed the stream engines and pulley system that hoisted the canal boats up and down the mountain. In addition, a Visitor Center is located a short walk from the Lemmon House and Engine House 6. It is here that you can get a better understanding of how the railroad worked through information panels, archival photos, and models.

There are also three trails in the park. The 8-mile long 6 To 10 Trail takes hikers from the sixth incline (at the Visitor Center) to the tenth incline (towards Hollidaysburg). At the end of the trail is the Foot of Ten Trail that takes hikers to the area where Engine House 10 once stood. In addition, visitors can drive 35 miles towards Johnstown to the Staple Bend Tunnel, the first railroad tunnel ever built in America. It is situated near the top of Incline 1. A two mile paved trail that can be biked or hiked takes visitors to the tunnel.

For complete information and plenty of photos of the park, visit National Park...

Very well done. Both kids and adults will like it. Interactive displays. Can take large groups. Has nice bathrooms, but no food (45 miles West is Clem's barbecue which is worth the trip if you are going/coming from that direction). You can spend a half hour or several if you take a walking trail. Since this place is just a tenth of a mile off of the main highway, it is very convenient to get to. They have a small theater with stadium seats that shows a better-than-average movie about the history - Canal boats from Philadelphia were hoisted onto cradles on counter-balanced steam-powered-cable-drawn rail flat-cars to enable them to be pulled up & over the Allegheny mountains. They then continued onto Pittsburgh by canal cutting the travel time between these two cities from 1 month to 1week. This visitor's center is built next to one of the several rail inclines that were needed and were built in the early 1800s but ran for only 20 years before the railroads put it out of business. Hike a quarter mile down a trail by the incline to see a very clever "twisted" stone arch bridge. None of the original rails, steam engines or machinery can be seen, but they have very realistic life-sized reproductions. The incline itself (a wide flat graded slope) is still there. The twisted stone bridge that carried a country road over the incline, and the Lemon house (an Inn, 50 cents got you a meal and a room to sleep in) is still there all nestled in the beautiful western PA...

Went on Saturday in early August. No crowds at all. No more than 5 other groups we ran into the entire time. Lots of information and things to read and see. Plan at least 90 mins for a quick visit. Vistor center, engine house and Lemon house. Also there is a trail to the skew bridge? It was a little bit over grown and muddy from rain so we didn't hike it very far. Stone cutting demo was great. Very interesting. Exhibits in the egine house were also great, entertaining and informational. Tip to go to visitor center first to ask for timing of the movie and the demonstrations. Should probably watch the movie as first step. Its a bit dated but got the information across. Its about 30 mins. It introduces everything if you have no idea what the portage railroad is. Park ranger staff were all fantastic, super friendly and very well versed in the history. We also had all 3 of our kids (13, 10 and 7) do the junior ranger program and got their badges. Bathrooms were...