Wikipedia:Today's featured article/June 1, 2011

The Johnstown Inclined Plane is an 896.5 ft funicular railway in Johnstown, Cambria County, in the U.S. state of Pennsylvania. The funicular is capable of carrying passengers and automobiles up or down a slope with a grade of 70.9 percent. The incline and its two stations connect the city of Johnstown, situated in a valley at the confluence of the Stonycreek and the Little Conemaugh Rivers, to the borough of Westmont on Yoder Hill. The travel time from one station to the other is 90 seconds. After a catastrophic flood in 1889, the Inclined Plane was constructed in 1891 to serve as an escape route for future floods, a task which it has fulfilled twice; once in 1936 and again in 1977. It was operated by Cambria Iron Company and its successor Bethlehem Steel until 1935, when it was sold to the borough of Westmont. The incline was listed on the National Register of Historic Places in 1973 and was designated a Historic Mechanical Engineering Landmark in 1994. It had major renovations in 1962 and from 1983 to 1984. (more...)

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