Allegheny Portage Railroad National Historic Site

I absolutely love walking the grounds here. I don’t come up often when it snows to see how well the paths are maintained, but I really appreciate the effort I noticed put in these past two summers to maintain and make new paths. My dogs fully enjoy the walks up there as well. One of my favorite places to go clear my head.

Trains are cool right? (At least if you’re a dork like me they are.)
History is cool right? (See above comment.)
So then you would think that putting both together under the loving stewardship of the NPS would make a great National Park right? Not so much.
Basically your history in a nutshell goes like this:
PA was losing out on trade because neighboring states had a better canal system.
It was finally authorized to build a canal from Philadelphia to Pittsburgh that would chop travel time for people and goods from around two weeks to 4 – 5 days. The one problem was the Allegheny Mountains. Enter the crazy idea of an inclined railroad.
The Allegheny Portage had a good twenty year run but then was made obsolete by the PRR when they came up with the Galliztin Tunnel and the Horseshoe Curve.
The actual site itself has a nice series of walking trails (to a point what worth while NPS site doesn’t have that?) but past that there are only two buildings and the visitors center.
The visitors center is where you watch the twenty minute movie that gives you a rough outline of the railroad in terms of who, what, when and why while there are also a few displays along with a replica locomotive in the center as well.
Next you move over to Engine House #6 which is a reproduction of one of the ten that stood during the railroad’s twenty year heyday. Inside they have a nice reproduction of what they think everything looked like just like outside they have a reproduction of how the tracks likely looked going up the hill, into the engine house and out the other side.
Finally you move over the Lemon House to see some displays on period clothing, kids toys and how the Lemon’s house looked with different rooms furnished for the restaurant, parlor, and bar that the Lemon family ran.
I guess the thing that I dislike the most about this place is everything is pretty much a reproduction, little is original and in the case of the Lemon House almost nothing exists about when it was built, it’s exact history or even how it was furnished so it’s all just the NPS’s best guess.
Also their part of the NPS website says that they have Daily Summer Programs that go on but this past Sunday they had nada and we were there for about three and a half hours. I’m assuming that this, like many things on the NPS website, was written pre-​sequester.
Overall this place is tough to figure out.
It’s located in the middle of nowhere so if you want to come and see it you’ve got to WANT to come to see it but what you’ll see is a lot of NPS guess work/​reproductions coupled with a story that I’m not so sure is really even worth being a National Park.
But I guess I’m wrong because supposedly 100K+ come here annually yet the day we were we saw no more than 8 – 10 in three plus hours.
If you go, Allegheny Portage is open daily 9 – 5, pets are allowed, there is no charge to walk the grounds and admission is $ 4.00 per person 16 and over unless you are there on a fee free day or purchase one of the local or national passes.
(If it seems like déjà vu with the rangers that’s because the same group staff both this location and the Johnstown Flood location.)

Yes, Susan the Procrastinator is finally getting around to writing a review of the Allegheny Portage Railroad National Historic Site. My husband and I along with my Cousin Cindy & her husband Bob visited here last week on a beautiful Saturday. Fear not, those of you who have no interest in railroads! This is not a railway museum. Rather, it’s an important collection of historical artifacts from the early industrial revolution.
The Allegheny Portage Railroad dates back to the early 1820s. After the State of New York vastly improved its transportation system by building the Erie Canal, trade within the Commonwealth of Pennsylvania dropped noticeably. In 1826 the Mainline of Public Works was authorized to begin the construction of canals which would connect Philadelphia to Pittsburgh. There was only one problem. The Allegheny Mountains. A series of canals could obviously not be built across a mountain range. The Mainline of Public Works decided to build a series of 10 inclined planes, 5 ascending and 5 descending the mountain. These inclined planes were very similar to the Monongahela and Duquesne Inclines in Pittsburgh. At the top of each inclined plane were stationary engines, which moved endless ropes to pull the railroad cars up the mountain. This system was used because regular steam train locomotives were not powerful enough to pull the cars up the steep mountains, however in level terrain, they were used. The Portage Railroad opened on March 18, 1834 and it was very successful. Travel between Pittsburgh and Philadelphia was reduced to a mere four days!
However twenty years later the Pennsylvania Railroad constructed its line between the two cities and the Allegheny Portage Railroad became obsolete. Eventually the Main Line of Public Works sold the APRR to the Pennsylvania. A few relics of the old inclined planes remained, eventually becoming part of the National Historic Site. The Site is more than just a few relics though. It’s recreational trails, historic houses, an evening concert and lecture series, and a visitor’s center, which should be a starting point for your visit. We began our tour there with a 20 minute film on the Allegheny Portage Railroad. No mere narration with still pictures – this movie is a dramatic interpretation of what it was like to work and travel on the railroad. A fictional character named Edgar West guides us along our journey, reading accounts by authors such as Charles Dickens (I’ve read the book he quotes from – «American Notes»).
Once you leave the Visitor’s Center, it’s an easy walk over to Engine House 6. This is a restored building in which the engines pulling the lift rope were located. It’s little more than a shed offering protection for the machinery, including wheels, gears, pistons, etc. No drawings or plans for these engine houses remain. They were rebuilt using the foundations that remained in place. The Lemon House is also located nearby, as well as an observation deck. If you want to go beyond, I suggest you strap on your hiking shoes because it’s a strenuous and lengthy hike to the remaining sites. I’ve reviewed a lot of them separately including the 6 to 10 trail.
All in all though, this is a great site for anyone interested in Pennsylvania history. And because it’s located in the Blair Gap, it’s beauty is breathtaking in places.

This railroad connected Hollidaysburg with Johnstown back in the day. now it’s just a museum that is currently open 7 days a week. There is a Museum and has the Lemon House, some railroad tracks, a hiking trail and a Bridge. It explains how the trains were taken up the mountain and what safety precautions prevented them from falling back down. You can go through the house which dates from the 1800’s and check out how the people lived and what they wore, etc.
There was an entrance fee of 4 dollars per person, plenty of parking and the rangers there were very friendly. It was soemthing neat to check out because we were in the area, but other than that it was actually pretty boring. and I like trains and historical places.