Climbing the Mountain
THROUGH THE 1800S, the escarpment was a formidable obstacle for the city’s growth. But on June 11, 1892, that changed when the Hamilton and Barton incline railway opened. It was followed three years later by the Mount Hamilton Incline Railway that later became known as the Wentworth Street Incline Railway. They both closed in the 1930s, as people turned to automobiles on newly improved roads as the most efficient way to climb the Mountain.
Significance
HAMILTON’S INCLINE railways were a major step in expanding the city onto the Mountain. People suddenly had an easy and inexpensive way to travel to the city’s second tier. It encouraged people to live there and enterprises such as the Summers Theatre at the top of the Wentworth Street Incline flourished. The incline railways are interesting today because many think re-establishing one would be a great feature in Hamilton’s transportation network as well as a potential tourist draw.
The Hamilton and Barton Incline Railway
Also known as: The James Street Incline Route: The top of James Street South to Upper James Street June 11, 1892: Opened, running six days per week from 6:30 a.m. to 10 p.m. 1932: Abandoned 1934: Seized for nonpayment of taxes 1942: Track dismantled for metal contributed to the Second World War effort 1947: Stations dismantled Fare in 1900: One cent THE SERVICE CONSISTED of two 10-ton cars running on a 213metre track at a 31-per-cent grade. Unlike other incline railways, where cars were interconnected by cables so they balance each other, each car of the James Street Incline was independently powered by a separate 125-horsepower steam engine.
The cars carried passengers and wagons 60 metres to the top of the escarpment to a four-storey brick building which held the steam engines, a 1,500-gallon water tank, cable storage, ticket office, waiting room, and residence for the operating engineer and his family.
Construction began in 1890, and the first official trip in June 1892 carried city and company officials up the Mountain in exactly 75 seconds.
By 1919 the line was in financial trouble as the construction of new roads up the escarpment cut into revenues. Fares were raised from 50 cents to $1.25 but the red ink continued.
By 1931, the situation had become desperate and, after a proposal to sell the line to the city was rejected by voters, the line was shut down on Dec. 26, 1931. It reopened March 1, 1932, when the city agreed to pick up the operating loss of up to $1,000 per year, but in May of that year it was shut down permanently. Sporadic attempts to reopen failed.
Mount Hamilton Incline Railway
Also known as: The Wentworth Street Incline Railway and also the EastEnd Incline Route: Wentworth Street to the old community of Mount Hamilton, near Concession Street and Mountain Park Avenue August 1895: Opened and service began August 1936: Ceased operating 1949: Dismantled THE INCLINE RAILWAY consisted of two cars that ran at a 40 per cent grade on a 244-metre track. The trip took 90 seconds.
Unlike the Hamilton and Barton line, which operated on elevated rails, the Mount Hamilton lines were laid on the ground. That proved to be a problem in November 1913 when a rock slide badly damaged the incline structure, putting it out of operation until April of the next year.
The MHIR suffered its first accident four days after it opened when the brake on the downward car failed to properly engage, allowing the heavily loaded car to speed downhill, hitting the bottom with a crash.
The line reopened Aug. 26 with free rides all day for an estimated 5,000 people.
After the railway closed, local residents pressed the city to take over the company’s debts, but the city refused.