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51-436: The incline was 945 feet (288 m) long and carried streetcars and automobiles . It began carrying horsecars in 1877, and it was later strengthened for use by electric streetcars, which were much heavier. Planning for the incline was underway by 1873. The brick carhouse at the top of the hill was constructed by July 1874. The incline was officially opened as Cincinnati's third inclined railway on March 8, 1876. The incline

102-532: A City requirement not to tear up freshly paved streets to install ground return bonding on their embedded track. Later, as the syndicate that owned Cincinnati Street Railway was buying out other lines to create a monopoly, they may have leveraged alleged complaints about buzzing sounds on phone lines to file suit, through the phone company (which was owned by the same syndicate) against their competetor, Cincinnati Inclined Plane Company (which used traditional single-wire overhead). The costs of extended litigation weakend

153-547: A modern streetcar system, the Cincinnati City Council gave its approval in 2008 to a plan to build a new streetcar line. In 2009 and 2011, the city voted on referendums designed to stop the streetcar project, but in both cases a majority of voters favored the project. Ground was broken for the Downtown ;– Over-the-Rhine line on February 17, 2012, and utility relocation began at that time. In July 2013,

204-570: A single nationwide gauge would be beneficial. Where different gauges meet, there is a " break of gauge ". To overcome that problem, special compromise cars were able to run 4 ft 10 in ( 1,473 mm ) and standard gauge track. Another application was the Ramsey car-transfer apparatus . In Erie, Pennsylvania , the 6 ft ( 1,829 mm ) Erie Railroad terminated while adjacent railroads used 4 ft 10 in ( 1,473 mm ) gauge, also known as "Ohio gauge." That led to

255-562: A year, and generate more than $ 20 million in fare revenue. A popular PCC streetcar on San Francisco's F Market & Wharves line is painted bright yellow with green stripes, in honor of the Cincinnati Street Railway. Proposals to build a new streetcar line began being discussed in about 2001, as a way to energize housing and development in Over-the-Rhine , Downtown Cincinnati , and the "uptown" neighborhoods that surround

306-478: The 6 ft ( 1,829 mm ) railroads that predominated in the first part of the 19th century in New York State , and the 5 ft 6 in ( 1,676 mm ) lines centered on Portland, Maine . Problems began as soon as lines began to meet, and standard gauge was adopted in much of the northeastern U.S. Standard gauge had spread widely across the country by the late 19th century except in some parts of

357-804: The Billerica and Bedford Railroad in 1877, including the Sandy River and Rangeley Lakes Railroad , the Wiscasset, Waterville and Farmington Railway , the Kennebec Central , the Monson Railroad , and the Bridgton and Saco River Railroad . When these railroads ceased operation in the 1930s and 1940s, much of their equipment was transferred to the Edaville Railroad , which, as of 2019, remains in operation as one of

408-687: The Erie Gauge War in 1853–54, when the Erie mayor and citizens temporarily prevented a gauge standardization, because there would then be less trans-shipping work and through passengers would no longer have a stopover at Erie. Break of gauge would prove to be a nightmare during the American Civil War (1861–65), often hindering the Confederacy's ability to move goods efficiently over long distances. The Pacific Railway Act of March 3, 1863, specified that

459-797: The Los Angeles Railway and the San Diego Electric Railway until 1898, and that gauge is still widely used in the U.S. mining industry. 3 ft ( 914 mm ) gauge railways became the dominant narrow gauge throughout the United States from the Boston, Revere Beach and Lynn Railroad of Massachusetts to the Pacific Coast Railway of California . The gauge was also used by the Oahu Railway and Land Company of Hawaii ,

510-725: The Mount Washington Cog Railway in Coos County, New Hampshire — in operation since its opening in 1869 — uses a 4 ft 8 inch (1,422 mm) rail gauge, as designed by Sylvester Marsh , the creator of the Marsh rack system for ensuring firm traction going up and down the slopes of the highest mountain in New England . The San Francisco cable cars use the Cape Gauge of 3 ft 6 in ( 1,067 mm ), as did

561-511: The Rocky Mountains . Similar 600 mm ( 1 ft  11 + 5 ⁄ 8  in ) gauge equipment, which was originally manufactured for the trench railways of World War I , was used on United States military bases in Alabama , Georgia , Indiana , New Jersey , and Oklahoma through World War II ; and sold as military surplus for earth-moving construction through the 1920s. In

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612-591: The United States . Some railways, primarily in the northeast, used standard gauge of 4 ft  8 + 1 ⁄ 2  in ( 1,435 mm ); others used gauges ranging from 2 ft ( 610 mm ) to 6 ft ( 1,829 mm ). As a general rule, southern railroads were built to one or another broad gauge, mostly 5 ft ( 1,524 mm ), while northern railroads that were not standard-gauge tended to be narrow-gauge. The Pacific Railroad Acts of 1863 specified standard gauge. Notable exceptions were

663-458: The University of Cincinnati , after Portland, Oregon , opened a modern streetcar system in 2001 that was credited with generating significant new property development in what had been decaying areas adjacent to downtown. The Cincinnati proposals generated both support and criticism and were studied and revised several times after 2002. Following a 2007 study of the potential benefits of building

714-535: The West End . By the 1850s, the city's population was too large for the basin alone, and people started moving to the city's surrounding hills. Horsecars were the first form of public transportation, with operation beginning on September 14, 1859. Although horsecars had been running in New Orleans since 1835, very few other cities introduced rail transit – in the form or horse- or mule-drawn cars – until

765-603: The White Pass and Yukon Route of Alaska and the East Broad Top Railroad of Pennsylvania , which operates as of 2022. Heritage railroads operate portions of the formerly extensive Colorado system as the Durango and Silverton Narrow Gauge Railroad and Cumbres and Toltec Scenic Railroad . The Angels Flight and Court Flight funicular railways of Los Angeles used 2 ft 6 in ( 762 mm ). The gauge

816-566: The 1850s, and in 1859 Cincinnati was still one of the first few U.S. cities with such transit service. However, horse-drawn vehicles were inadequate because the animals would fatigue and the hills were impossible to climb in bad weather. Cities with hilly terrain such as Cincinnati and San Francisco began adopting cable cars , because they were faster and more reliable than horses. The first cable car routes in Cincinnati were on Gilbert Avenue, Mount Auburn and Vine Street. Cable cars require that

867-700: The 1870s. In the 1960s, the gauge was selected for use in the Bay Area Rapid Transit system, serving the San Francisco Bay Area ; it is the only place in the United States where this gauge is in use. The rapid transit segment of the system covers 109 miles (175 km) of double track in revenue service with additional sidings and maintenance facilities. 5 ft  2 + 1 ⁄ 2  in ( 1,588 mm ) and 5 ft  2 + 1 ⁄ 4  in ( 1,581 mm ) are commonly known as Pennsylvania trolley gauge because it

918-476: The 6 ft lines converted to standard gauge, some having been first dual gauged with a third running rail allowing standard gauge trains to share the track, prior to the removal of the 6 ft rails. Portland gauge of 5 ft 6 in ( 1,676 mm ) was used on the Grand Trunk Railway , Maine Central Railroad , and a system of connecting lines to funnel interior traffic through

969-911: The Avon, Genesee & Mt. Morris, the Albany and Susquehanna (later part of the Delaware and Hudson ), the Elmira, Jefferson & Canandaigua (later the Northern Central, becoming part of the Pennsylvania Railroad), the Rochester & Genesee Valley, the Canandaigua and Niagara Falls (initially Erie controlled, later part of the New York Central railroad's Peanut Route along the shoreline of Lake Ontario ), and even

1020-696: The Cincinnati Incline Plane Company, which was eventually absorbed by CincinnatI Street Railway. The city was also home to one of the country's larger streetcar manufacturers, the Cincinnati Car Company , which produced street-, interurban and rapid transit cars from 1902 until about 1931. The streetcars were used in conjunction with four of Cincinnati's inclined railways , the Mount Adams Incline , Mount Auburn Incline , Bellevue Incline , and Fairview Incline . Except for

1071-594: The City of Cincinnati signed a contract for the construction of the tracks, power system, and maintenance facility. During planning and construction, the new system was called Cincinnati Streetcar, but it was renamed the Cincinnati Bell Connector under a naming rights deal with Cincinnati Bell shortly before the line's opening. The system opened to passengers on September 9, 2016. Pennsylvania trolley gauge Originally, various track gauges were used in

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1122-535: The Erie were soon built, able to interchange freight and passenger cars, forming a true regional six foot gauged railroad network across the southern tier of New York State from the Hudson River to the shores of Lake Erie. Major cities including Rochester, Syracuse, Utica, and Albany all were connected by six foot gauged railroads extending from Elmira and Binghamton on the New York and Erie mainline. These lines included

1173-419: The Erie's promoters and early engineers believed it would be so busy that wider gauged tracks would be required for locomotives much larger (and therefore more powerful) than usual to pull the expected very long and heavy trains. 6 ft gauge was also cited for improved stability, and the New York and Erie eventually had rolling stock with 11 feet (3.35 m) wide loading gauge . Other railroads connecting to

1224-489: The Fairview Incline, these originally conveyed horsecars, but were later equipped to carry electric streetcars. The cars would be driven onto the incline platform, which was level and was equipped with rails and (in most cases) overhead trolley wires. The platform, riding on its own rails, would then be pulled up the hill by the cable, carrying the streetcar. Once reaching the top, the streetcar could simply be driven off of

1275-609: The South, the Illinois Central and the Mobile and Ohio Railroad , converted to standard gauge, increasing pressure on competing and connecting lines to do the same. In 1886, the southern railroads agreed to coordinate changing gauge on all their tracks. After considerable debate and planning, most of the southern rail network was converted from 5 ft ( 1,524 mm ) gauge to 4 ft 9 in ( 1,448 mm ) gauge, then

1326-566: The South; it was adopted there in a two-day changeover on May 31-June 1, 1886. Today, standard gauge is used almost everywhere in the U.S. Non-standard gauges remain in use only for some municipal and regional mass transit systems not requiring interchange of equipment. The New York and Erie Railroad was originally 6 ft ( 1,829 mm ) gauge, and spawned a regional network of other six foot gauge railroads within New York State. Chartered in 1832, its first section opening in 1841,

1377-493: The advent of inexpensive automobiles and improved roads, transit ridership declined in the 20th century and the streetcar system closed in 1951. Construction of a new streetcar system, now known as the Connector , began in 2012. Consisting initially of a single route, the new system opened on September 9, 2016. Cincinnati's first settlers made their home on the large flat basin that now includes downtown , Over-the-Rhine , and

1428-498: The car be pulled by a constantly running cable hidden under the street. Electricity proved to be cheaper and more reliable than cable cars, which required that the cable be replaced periodically. Consequently, starting on August 17, 1889, the first streetcars were introduced, and the existing cable cars were converted to electric streetcars or abandoned. The lines grew until there were 222 miles (357 km) of streetcar tracks in Cincinnati and Northern Kentucky . The track gauge

1479-679: The carhouse atop the hill into a restaurant. These proposals ultimately did not come to fruition, and demolition of the structure began in February 1952. 39°06′23.7″N 84°29′58.6″W  /  39.106583°N 84.499611°W  / 39.106583; -84.499611 Streetcars in Cincinnati Streetcars operated by the Cincinnati Street Railway were the main form of public transportation in Cincinnati , Ohio , at

1530-433: The city to enjoy its benefits. Aided by an anti-rail stance by the City of Cincinnati and suburbs such as Norwood, the streetcars were quickly phased out after the war in favor of buses and trolley buses , and on April 29, 1951, the last streetcars were retired. The Mount Adams Incline closed in 1948, when routine inspection in preparation for repairs revealed that the undergirding timbers were dangerously decayed. This

1581-462: The conversion to standard gauge instigated a large shift of North–South freight traffic away from coastal steamships to all-rail carriage. These effects were especially strong on short routes, where breaks in gauge were more expensive relative to the total cost and duration of carriage. However, the data indicate that the gauge change had no effect on total shipments, likely as a result of anticompetitive conduct by Southern freight carriers that prevented

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1632-445: The early days of rail transport in the United States , railroads tended to be built out of coastal cities into the rural interior and hinterland and systems did not connect. Each railroad was free to choose its own gauge, although the availability of British-built locomotives encouraged some railroads to be built to standard gauge. When American railroad tracks extended to the point that they began to interconnect, it became clear that

1683-404: The end of the 19th century and the start of the 20th century. The first electric streetcars began operation in 1889, and at its maximum, the streetcar system had 222 miles (357 km) of track and carried more than 100 million passengers per year. A very unusual feature of the system was that cars on some of its routes traveled via inclined railways to serve areas on hills near downtown. With

1734-694: The federally funded transcontinental railroad was to use standard gauge, which helped to further popularize it among American railroads, although the standard gauge was already in use on many other lines prior to 1863. Following the Civil War, trade between the South and North grew sufficiently large that the break of gauge became a major economic nuisance, impeding through shipments. Competitive pressures induced most North American railways to convert to standard gauge by 1880, but Southern railroads retained their distinct, 5 ft ( 1,524 mm ) gauge. In 1884 and 1885, two important railroads connecting Chicago to

1785-404: The incline operated at a major loss; they said that in 1947, the incline earned $ 8,407.05 in fares and cost $ 68,617.49 to operate. The announcement led many locals to believe the incline would close permanently, and sparked cries to save the incline. Proposals included having the city take it over from the railway company, establishing a non-profit to operate it as a tourist attraction, or converting

1836-727: The mainline of rival, and future (1960) merger partner, the Delaware, Lackawanna, and Western (The Lackawanna also had a significant portion of its six-foot gauge trackage in Pennsylvania and New Jersey). Other 6 ft gauge lines included the Syracuse, Binghamton & New York (later part of the Lackawanna ), the Walkill Valley railroad (later part of the New York Central), and the Erie's own Newburgh branch. Between 1876 and 1880, most of

1887-674: The most commonly transported good in the South at the time. In the U.S. this gauge was changed to 4 ft 9 in ( 1,448 mm ) in 1886. This gauge remains in use by Pittsburgh's two funicular railways, the Monongahela Incline (the oldest continuously operating funicular in the United States, having opened in 1870) and the Duquesne Incline . Used for the streetcar and radial (and later rapid transit) lines in and around Toronto, Ontario. The 4 ft  10 + 7 ⁄ 8  in ( 1,495 mm ) broad gauge

1938-635: The oldest American heritage railroads . Also as of 2019, the Maine Narrow Gauge Railroad Museum ; Sandy River and Rangeley Lakes Railroad ; Wiscasset, Waterville and Farmington Railway ; and Boothbay Railway Village also continue to operate old Maine 2 ft ( 610 mm ) gauge equipment. The gauge was also used by the Mount Gretna Narrow Gauge Railway in Pennsylvania , and by some mining railways of

1989-518: The platform, onto the fixed-in-place track along city streets. The 1872-opened Mount Adams Incline began carrying horsecars in 1877, and it was later strengthened for use by electric streetcars, which were much heavier. Streetcars remained the main form of public transportation for the city until the growing usage of the automobile caused ridership to wane. With the improvement of local highways beginning before World War II , citizens were able to own more land and still be able to conveniently drive into

2040-551: The port of Portland, Maine , in competition with the standard gauge railway system serving the port of Boston . The Portland Company was formed to build locomotives of this gauge for use on the local rail system. The gauge was known as "Texas gauge" while required by Texas law until 1875, and used by the New Orleans, Opelousas and Great Western Railroad (NOO&GW) until 1872, and by the Texas and New Orleans Railroad until 1876. The New England railways were similarly standard-gauged in

2091-400: The rails served as the return path for the electric current collected via the trolley pole, but this requires proper bonding of the rails to prevent stray current from escaping and interfering with nearby utility lines, such as telephone lines. In Cincinnati, the primary early streetcar operating company, the Cincinnati Street Railway, chose to install double-wire starting in 1889, to comply with

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2142-507: The same gauge. To facilitate the change, the inside spikes had been hammered into place at the new gauge in advance of the change. Rolling stock was altered to fit the new gauge at shops and rendezvous points throughout the South. The final conversion to true standard gauge took place gradually as part of routine track maintenance. Now, the only broad-gauge rail tracks in the United States are on some city transit systems. Using historical freight traffic records, recent research has shown that

2193-634: The standard of the Pennsylvania Railroad , over two days beginning on Monday, May 31, 1886. Over a period of 36 hours, tens of thousands of workers pulled the spikes from the west rail of all the broad gauge lines in the South, moved them 3 in (76 mm) east and spiked them back in place. The new gauge was close enough that standard gauge equipment could run on it without problem. By June 1886, all major railroads in North America, an estimated 11,500 miles (18,500 km), were using approximately

2244-426: The streetcars and inclines without realizing their potential for tourism dollars. In 1947, San Francisco's cable car system was threatened with closure for similar reasons. A plan was put in place that would have replaced the city's cable cars with a new "super bus" system, but a public vote saved the cable cars. Today San Francisco's cable cars are vital to the city's tourism industry, carry 7.5 million passengers

2295-426: Was 5 ft  2 + 1 ⁄ 2  in ( 1,588 mm ) ( Pennsylvania trolley gauge ). Some of the interurban lines serving Cincinnati also used this gauge, while others used standard gauge track. For decades Cincinnati's streetcar system consistently carried over 100 million passengers a year. Comparatively, in 2000 approximately 25 million people rode Cincinnati's Metro bus system . Cincinnati

2346-576: Was adopted to allow passage of non-rail carriages and wagons along the rails instead of along muddy streets. Most of the original track in Ohio was built in 4 ft 10 in ( 1,473 mm ) gauge, the Ohio gauge . The Washington Metro system in the D.C. metropolitan area was built to 4 ft  8 + 1 ⁄ 4  in ( 1,429 mm ) narrow gauge. The world's first operational mountain-climbing cog railway (rack-and-pinion railway),

2397-681: Was also used for the Yosemite Short Line Railway , the Pacific Coast Steamship Company 's horse-powered tramway near Pismo Beach, California , Michigan 's Harbor Springs Railway , and several Hawaiian sugar plantation railways. This became a popular gauge for heritage railways in California, Florida , Hawaii, Minnesota , Montana , Nebraska , Oregon , and Pennsylvania . Several Maine railroads used 2 ft ( 610 mm ) gauge following demonstration on

2448-536: Was closed for six months beginning in November 1879 for renovations to support electric streetcars instead of horse-drawn cars. The incline underwent repairs in 1906 and was closed beginning on May 14. In April 1948, the Cincinnati Street Railway Co. closed the incline for repairs. The following month, they announced that the repairs would take at least a year. With the announcement, they also detailed how

2499-460: Was one of only three cities in North America whose streetcars used double overhead trolley wire (two wires for each track) and twin trolley poles on each streetcar, the only others being Havana , Cuba , and the small Merrill, Wisconsin system. All routes used double trolley wire, the only exception being on route 78, a portion of which outside the city limits had only a single wire for each track. On all other North American streetcar systems

2550-462: Was originally used by railroad lines in the state of Pennsylvania. Unlike other broad gauges, it remains in use in a number of urban rail transit systems. In most of the southern states, the 5 ft ( 1,524 mm ) gauge was preferred (a broad gauge that later was adopted by Russia for its new railroad and became known as Russian gauge ). This configuration allowed for wider rolling stock that could more efficiently accommodate cotton bales,

2601-754: Was the death knell of the incline, following complaints that it was "unsightly," cost too much, caused roadblocks, and was rendered useless by the automobile. At the time it was closed, the Mount Adams Incline was Cincinnati's top tourist attraction. The last five streetcar lines, abandoned on April 29, 1951, were routes 18-North Fairmount, 19-John Street, 21-Westwood-Cheviot, 55-Vine-Clifton and 78-Lockland. They were converted to trolley buses —commonly known as "trolley coaches" at that time—as had happened previously with several other streetcar lines. The city's trolley bus system lasted another 14 years, until June 18, 1965. Cincinnati has been criticized for closing

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