The New Bloomfield, Pa. times. (New Bloomfield, Pa.) 1877-188?, 1878-10-08

planes Were numbered eastWardly from
Johnstown, and the ascent from that
place to the summit was 1171 5S-100 feet
in 26 $1,000 miles, and the descent from
the summit to Holidaysburg was 1893
71-1OO feet in 10 1O-1OO miles. Almost
the only part of the Portage Railroad
now In use is the Horseshoe bend via
duct, used by the Pennsylvania railroad
as part of its main line. 1t was built
at cost of about sos 900.
Mr.. Roberts gave many details of the
work of construction and incidents at
tending the operations. The road was
graded for double track, and all the
culverts and bridges were built of stone.
The writer had the western half under
his charge, w. Milnor Roberts had
charge of the eastern. The first track
and turnouts were laid in April, 1882,
but the second track was not completed
until 1886. The rail used on both tracks
were imported from England, and had
to be hauled up the Alleghanies by horse
power, slow and laborious process. In
locating the line, our leveling instru-
ments were good, but the instruments
for running curves were poor, and the
work was mainly done by surveyors
compass. At that time the Importance
of straightness on railroad was not APP
preciated.
At the staple bend of the Conemaugh
river, four miles from Johnstown,a "a tun-
oI Of
mountain, near which the stream makes
bend of nearly two and q half miles
The length of the tunnel was 901 feet,
and it was 20 feet wide and 10 feet high
within the arch. The cost was $27 800.
The road was intended as great, dura-
BILE highway, and with this view, stone
sills were used instead of wooden sills
were used instead of wooden tiles. Yet
it had to be superseded in twenty years.
On the 26th of November, 1888, about
two years and half from the begin
ming of the work, the first car passed
over the road, carrying a committee
from Philadelphia representing the
Board of Trade, who were returning
|
when canal navigation opened, the Por-
tage railroad was opened for public use
as public highway, the State furnish
ing the motive power on the inclined
planes only The experiment of MAX
ing the road public highway was very
unsatisfactory. individuals and firms
employed their own drivers with their
own horses and cars. The cars were
small, had four wheels and each would
carry about seven thousand pounds of
freight. Usually four cars made train,
and that number could be taken up, and
as many let down an inclined plane at
one time, and from six to ten such trips
could be made in an hour. The drivers.
were a rough class, and as it was not
practicable to make them work by @
time table, the consequence was that
there was much confusion when there
was only one track through the drivers
meeting each other at points where there
were no turnouts.
The matter finally became so bad that,
after much opposition, the Legislature
passed an act allowing locomotives to be
used the road, and the first one used was
the Boston, constructed in the city of
that name, before the days of heavy
locomotives to climb steep grades. The
number of locomotives was gradually
increased, and in 1884 Mr.. w. Baldwin,
of Philadelphia built three. The busi-
ness of the road in 1885 amounted to
10000 tons of freight and 10000 passen-
gers. The cost of the road at the end of
the year 1885 was 81 ,634 ,357.49 at the
contract prices.
The Pennsylvania Railroad was or
ganized in 1S47, and in September, 1850,
opened for travel from Harrisburg to O
point of connection with the Portage
Railroad at Duncansville. In 1854 the
company ceased to make use of the State
road, as they had constructed summit
tunnel and did not use inclined planes.
After a protracted negotiation the State
sold its line to the Company, and in
August, 1857, the Governor transferred
the main line of canals and the Portage
Railroad Company. Shortly thereafter
the Portage went out of use.