People planning to ride the Monongahela Incline on Wednesday were turned away disappointed.
But they were treated to an unusual sight.
“When incline cars fly,” said Jeff Conroy, of Interstate Equipment Corp., one of three contractors working to remove the Monongahela Incline cars from the rails.
Workers scaled the incline track between West Carson Street and Mount Washington and attached one of the cars to a crane, which swung it nearly 270 degrees counterclockwise some 50 feet in the air onto the back of a flatbed truck. It’s the first tangible step in a 12-week, $3.5 million rehabilitation project that will see the cars refurbished and the track upgraded, Port Authority spokesman Jim Ritchie said.
The cars will be transported to Rices Landing in Greene County, where the undercarriage will be rehabilitated, the interiors and exteriors painted, and new door operating mechanisms installed, Mr. Ritchie said.
These are the first major improvements to the incline in more than 20 years. According to the Port Authority website, much of the incline was upgraded in 1994, when electrical, motor and braking systems were rebuilt and the cars became wheelchair accessible, in addition to other work.
The Monongahela Incline — the oldest continuously operating funicular railway in the United States — opened on May 28, 1870, and travels along a 635-foot track at a 35-degree incline.
Crews were supposed to remove both cars from the tracks Wednesday, but a delay in the start time forced workers to return this morning.
Other than the late start, work went smoothly Wednesday. Some workers cheered as the nearly 8-ton incline car settled into place on a flatbed truck parked on the side of West Carson Street.
One of the workers, Paul McGrew of NexGen Industrial Contractors, was covered from head to toe in grease from working around and under the incline car. But he said he was glad to take part.
“This is a historical project,” he said. “Not a lot of people ever get to do this in their lifetime.”
Mr. McGrew was one of several men who attached the car to the crane and cut it loose from the wire holding it to the tracks — a nightmare scenario for anyone who’s ever taken a ride up or down the incline.
But this was done completely safely. “We prepare,” said Brian Gilkey of Mosites Construction Co.
As far as preparation goes, residents of Mount Washington and others who frequent the incline must now make alternative arrangements until it reopens in the days or weeks before Light Up Night in November, Mr. Conroy said.
While those people on Wednesday may have been upset that they couldn’t ride the incline, Port Authority offers a shuttle to the top of the mountain.
The shuttle stop has been moved from next to the incline station to the nearby T station on the same side of the street.
Andrew Goldstein: agoldstein@post-gazette.com or 412-263-1352.
First Published: September 10, 2015, 4:00 a.m.
