Location(s)

Section No. 37.  The line passes along the side of a steep hill.  Six hundred feet to the head of the inclined plane No 7 thence obliquely down the side of the hill twenty seven hundred feet to the foot of the plane.  Length of the plane, twenty seven hundred feet, descent, or difference of level, between the head and foot of the plane two hundred sixty and a half feet.  Thence along the side of a steep hill twelve hundred feet to the end of the Section.  A large proportion of solid rock, and slate will be found in the excavation.  A heavy embankment will be required on a part of the plane, and about eighteen hundred feet in length of slope wall to support the high embankment.  (Sylvester Welch, engineer, July 1831)

            As Engineer Welch surveyed the eastern slope of the Allegheny Front and prepared the construction specifications for the Allegheny Portage Railroad, he must have wondered, momentarily at least, just how he would ever get this road built.  The work must have seemed daunting.  But the road was built, and if Mr. Welch was ever apprehensive, even just a little, we’ll never know.

            In 1938-39, the Pennsylvania Department of Transportation (PennDOT) performed a survey of the APRR area prior to improvement of the William Penn Highway (now known locally as old Route 22).  Construction included the division of the highway into two lanes each, east and west.  The westbound (uphill) lanes followed the then existing highway; the eastbound (downhill) lanes were to be constructed.  During the survey, the foundation of Engine House 7 was recorded.  It was located near the centerline of the proposed construction.  The plans indicated that the engine house foundation was to be removed, which it apparently was.  A section of Plane 7 is still visible on the south side of the highway, near the Gallitzin Spring.