Operating the Inclined Plane

Operating the Inclined Plane. . , Most of the Charleston to Hamburg rail line was a single track, but the Inclined Plane had two parallel sets of tracks adjacent to each other on a half-mile-long steep slope., The tracks ran through an Engine House positioned at the top of the grade. Rail cars and whole trains were raised and lowered simultaneously on the tracks using a rope cable. The weight of the cars moving down the slope acted as a counterbalance to the weight of the cars moving up. A stationary steam engine with two 25hp steam cylinders installed in the Engine House provided the supplemental power needed to perform this task., How Did the Engines Move the Cars and Trains? ,

❶ A hauling cable was attached to braking cars which linked to the cars to be raised and lowered. , ❷ The drive wheel in the Engine House was rotated by the stationary steam engine. , ❸ Rollers in the middle of the tracks kept the cable off the ground and made it easier to haul the trains up and down the slope. , ❹ As the drive wheel turned, the cable simultaneously raised the cars from the bottom of the Inclined Plane on one track and lowered the other cars to the bottom on the adjacent track.

, Enslaved Railroad Workers , From the start of construction, the SCC&RR Company used the labor of enslaved people to build and operate the Charleston to Hamburg railroad. Enslaved men were rented from local landowners as construction moved across the countryside. Later, the SCC&RR Company leased enslaved people from their owners to maintain the tracks and locomotives and work here at the Inclined Plane., Runaway Train! , The Inclined Plane was not without its risks and safety issues. In 1840 an eyewitness reported seeing a runaway train at the Inclined Plane!, Did You Know? , Historians estimate that 76% of the 118 railroads in operation in the southern states in 1861 had used enslaved labor to construct their lines. Southern railroads relied on more than 20,000 enslaved people to work and maintain their operations.,

"When the trains were about to pass, the coupling to the brake car in front of the engine going back down broke, creating an exciting scene. The hands all jumped from the train going down - both were freight trains - and let her rip.", Railway Conductor, August 1891