Mount Washington

Mount Washington. The Monongahela Incline. , The Monongahela Incline is the oldest continuously operating funicular railway in the United States, having begun service in 1870 to transport factory and mill workers from their residences atop Mount Washington to their places of employment. As transportation infrastructure improved into the early 20th century with the introduction of electric streetcars and the construction of the Liberty Bridge and Tunnel and P.J. McArdle Roadway, incline ridership began to dwindle. When the Port Authority of Allegheny County took responsibility for consolidating the region's public transit, it purchased the Monongahela Incline. Today, the Incline is an essential link for commuters to downtown Pittsburgh and for visitors from all over the world., The people behind the machine, Caroline Endres, one of the first female engineers in the country, oversaw the Monongahela Incilne's construction. The Incline was designed by her father, John J. Endres, with the help of John Roebling. Caroline later married Samuel Dlescher, another engineer who bullt or rebuilt ten Pittsburgh Inclines, including the City's only other remaining Incline, the Duquesne Incline, also in Mount Washington. Sadly, no picture of Caroline could be found., Shiloh Street business district, Be sure to visit Shiloh Street, only a few steps away, for a unique selection of shops and eateries. Shiloh also claims the ghost of Mrs. Katherine Soffel, a former resident and prison warden's wife who broke the Biddle brothers out of jail in 1902, later made famous in the 1984 movie "Mrs. Soffel.", (Sidebar):, Mon Incline Facts:, Length: , 635 feet , Elevation: , 367.39 feet , Grade: , 35 degrees, 35 minutes , Speed: , 6 miles per hour , Passenger Capacity: , 24 in the east car, 23 in the west car, ● May 28, 1870 , Opened , ● 1882 , Renovated: added steel structure , ● 1935 , Renovated: steam engines replaced with electrical equipment , ● 1982-83 , Renovated: new track structure, cars, and stations , ● 1994 , Renovated: upper station restored, replaced electric motors and controls, west car made wheelchair and bicycle accessible, (Captions):, Shiloh Street in 1937, Pittsburgh City Photographer Collection, University of Pittsburgh, The "dual" Mon Incline in 1905 , A second funicular track parallel to the Mon incline was built in 1884 for the purpose of transporting freight This incline was, even known to carry automobiles up/ and down the hill in its later years, The freight inoind was disassembled in 1935 due to decreasing ridership.