Most Pittsburghers know that there were once many more inclines than the two we have now; perhaps as many as seventeen running at once. Some of the vanished ones have left visible remains, like the power house for the Mount Oliver Incline. Here is another piece of an incline that most of us have probably never heard of: the Norwood Incline, which as far as old Pa Pitt knows was the only suburban incline. This little structure was a shelter for passengers waiting at the base of the incline.
The Norwood Incline was built to connect the newly developed hilltop suburb of Norwood to the streetcar line at the base of the hill in McKees Rocks. (The connect-the-dots lines on the map represent the streetcars going both ways on Island Avenue.) It was initially free to ride; later a fare of a penny was introduced, giving it the popular name “Penny Incline.”
Near the upper end of the incline was Norwood Hall, where the book of Pittsburgh’s Inclines tells us that “many sports events were held.” We presume that hall is the large frame structure marked “PAVILION” on this map.
“The two little yellow cars ran on only three rails,” we read in an unsourced quotation in Pittsburgh’s Inclines, “causing strangers to fear a mid-hillside collision; but by a deftly devised curve, the cars would suddenly switch out and pass.”
The incline closed in 1923 and was replaced by steps; the steps have since disappeared as well. But this little shelter remains, with its monograms to remind us of its history.
2 responses to “Norwood Incline Shelter, McKees Rocks”
Should Father Pitt or any other readers ever venture down to Chattanooga, they can experience a funicular with only three rails on its upper section, diverging at the mid-point and continuing as two separate tracks to the lower station.
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Lookout_Mountain_Incline_Railway
Also interesting, compared to our remaining Pittsburgh inclines, which run on constant-grade trestles, the track of the LMIC is mostly laid at grade, meaning that there are many portions of the ride where you feel as if you’re going to fall out of your seat and through the window in front of your. This is balanced out by the portions where you are in a trough in the landscape and the cable of the other car rises from the track to slap the windows of your vehicle.
Hi! I’m from the McKees Rocks Historical Society and we would love to talk to you. We appreciate all the work you have done highlighting McKees Rocks and Stowe Township.