The Trouble with Aiken's Inclined Plane

The Trouble with Aiken's Inclined Plane. . , The company began to be concerned about the Inclined Plane and its effect on passengers and freight shipments. , In 1845 they commissioned a study which recommended the Inclined Plane be eliminated.,

"…the Incline Plane at Aiken… is a source of alarm to travelers, and the cause of serious delay and risk in the transportation of produce and merchandise, and is believed to add greatly to the expenses of the Road." , - Stockholders Annual Meeting, February 1845

, 👉 Bottlenecks! , The Inclined Plane cost the railroad company and its customers time and money. Often passengers had to stay overnight in Aiken and sometimes even over the weekend since trains did not run on Sundays., 👉 Delays! , Business customers experienced delays and extra costs. A shipment that started on one train might be split onto several trains to travel the Inclined Plane. The divided shipment could arrive at its destination at different times and take hours to reassemble to complete delivery., 👉 Long Travel Times , The average travel time from Charleston to Hamburg was almost 5 hours longer than the trip from Charleston to Columbia despite only a six-mile difference in the length of the two roads. The problem was worse in reverse, with the trip from Hamburg to Charleston taking an average of 10.5 hours longer than the trip from Columbia to Charleston., What Did It Need to Operate? , Superintendent . Guard . 18 Laborers plus Temp Laborers (to remove sand which accumulates at the foot of the Plane after every hard rain) . New Rope (Every 2-3 years) . Workshop . 5 Locomotives . Mule and Machinery (For working on the Plane),

"The Committee have been unable to learn with precision what is the annual cost of keeping up this Plane, but enough has been ascertained to convince them that it is a heavy drain upon the income of the Company, and that it ought by all means to be dispensed with." , - Report of the Committee appointed by the Stockholders of the South Carolina Railroad Company to examine into and report the condition of the Road. May 2nd, 1848

, The Aiken Cut , In 1850 the company decided to reroute the line and eliminate the Inclined Plane by digging a deep trench for new tracks south of downtown Aiken. Like construction of the railroad, this work was done by enslaved men. The Inclined Plane was abandoned when the Aiken Cut was completed in 1852. The next year, SCRR built a railroad bridge across the Savannah River. It was connected to the Georgia Railroad in 1859.,

"The new way was cut through the sold hills. It has a grade of sixty feet to the mile for five miles, and passes through the very heart of Aiken by a cut so deep that passengers can see very little of the place." , - Promotional Pamphlet by E.J.C. Wood, 1871, "The risk countered by the large accumulation of goods and produce necessarily detained at Aiken by this obstruction is also a matter for grave consideration. It is fresh within the recollection of all, that cotton and cars to the amount of $10,000 were a few years ago destroyed by fire at the head of the Plane, for which the Company were responsible; and there is no security against the recurrence of similar disasters." , - Report for the Committee of Inspection, May 2nd, 1848

, Did You Know? , There were reports of fires destroying goods that had come up the Inclined Plane and were waiting to be transferred to trains heading to Charleston. ,