{"nrhp_refnum":"73001597","name":"Johnstown Inclined Railway","other_names":["Inclined Plane","See Also:Bridge in Johnstown City"],"category":"structure","location":{"address":"Johns St. and Edgehill Dr.","address_restricted":false,"city":"Johnstown","county":"Cambria County","state":"PA","lat":40.32581100200008,"lon":-78.92679403599999,"geom_source":"nps_gis"},"listed_date":"1973-06-18","is_nhl":false,"nhl_designated_date":null,"areas_of_significance":["Engineering","Transportation"],"significance_levels":["national"],"summary":{"what_it_is":"A cable-hauled inclined plane railway linking the Johnstown town center with the Westmont hillside in Johnstown, Cambria County, Pennsylvania. It was built in 1890-1891 by the Cambria Iron Company.","why_significant":"The railway was built as a lifesaving route after the 1889 Johnstown Flood and carried thousands of people to safety during the 1936 flood. It also gave access to the Westmont residential development, which the nomination credits with helping make Westmont one of the nation's first residential suburbs. Its cable-car design is described as copied from the Portage Railroad inclined planes.","narrative":"Built in 1890 and opened on June 1, 1891, the Johnstown Inclined Railway is a cable-hauled incline on the hillside above Johnstown, Pennsylvania. The Cambria Iron Company constructed it at a cost of $133,296 to carry residents of its new Westmont development up Yoder Hill, rising at a 71 percent grade over a 986.5-foot runway. Two cable-driven cars, each weighing 42 tons, were balanced on a single track and hauled by a steam-driven cast iron drum in the engine room. The railway's main public importance lies in the 1889 Johnstown Flood. Its lifesaving role was proven on March 17, 1936, when it carried over 4,000 people to safety from floodwaters in the Conemaugh and Stonycreek valleys. Its convenient access to the business district helped Westmont grow into one of the nation's earliest residential suburbs. It was closed in 1962 and restored that same year.","period_of_significance":"1890-1891","architect_builder":"Cambria Iron Company (builder)","architectural_style":null,"criteria":["A","C"],"status_note":"Altered: the original steam engine was replaced by a 400 horsepower electric motor in 1962, when the railway was restored and reopened.","vacant_flag":false,"machine_generated":true,"model":"claude-haiku-5-5","prompt_version":"v1.1-2026-10-29","generated_at":"2026-10-29 17:11:30.087081-05","source_pdf":"https://s3.amazonaws.com/NARAprodstorage/lz/electronic-records/rg-079/NPS_PA/73001597.pdf"},"photo":{"url_800":"https://nationalhistoricalregister.com/media/73001597/1e70295db4-800.webp","url_1600":"https://nationalhistoricalregister.com/media/73001597/1e70295db4-1600.webp","licence":"CC BY 3.0","author":"Niagara","credit_html":"<a href=\"https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:Johnstown_Inclined_Plane.jpg\" rel=\"noopener\">Niagara</a>, <a href=\"https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/3.0\" rel=\"license noopener\">CC BY 3.0</a>, via Wikimedia Commons","source_page":"https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:Johnstown_Inclined_Plane.jpg"},"district":null,"sources":{"nps_snapshot_date":"2026-05-22","nara_catalog":"https://catalog.archives.gov/id/71995992","wikipedia":"https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Johnstown_Inclined_Plane","wikidata":"https://www.wikidata.org/wiki/Q6268789"},"indexable":true,"url":"https://nationalhistoricalregister.com/pennsylvania/cambria-county/johnstown-inclined-railway-73001597/"}