The Mount Beacon Incline Railway was a

narrow gauge A narrow-gauge railway (narrow-gauge railroad in the US) is a railway with a track gauge (distance between the rails) narrower than . Most narrow-gauge railways are between and . Since narrow-gauge railways are usually built with Minimum railw ...

incline railway A cable railway is a railway that uses a cable, rope or chain to haul trains. It is a specific type of cable transportation. The most common use for a cable railway is to move vehicles on a steeply graded line that is too steep for conventional ...

Beacon Mountain Beacon Mountain, locally Mount Beacon, is the highest peak of Hudson Highlands, located south of Beacon, New York, City of Beacon, New York (state), New York, in the Fishkill (town), New York, Town of Fishkill. Its two summits rise above the Hud ...

near

Beacon, New York Beacon is a Administrative divisions of New York#City, city located on the Hudson River in Dutchess County, New York, United States. As of the 2020 United States census, 2020 census, the city's population was 13,769. Beacon is part of the Kiryas ...

. A popular local

tourist attraction A tourist attraction is a place of interest that tourists visit, typically for its inherent or exhibited natural or cultural value, historical significance, natural or built beauty, offering leisure and amusement. Types Places of natural beaut ...

, it operated for much of the 20th century, providing sweeping views of the

Hudson River Valley The Hudson Valley or Hudson River Valley comprises the valley of the Hudson River and its adjacent communities in the U.S. state of New York. The region stretches from the Capital District including Albany and Troy south to Yonkers in Westch ...

. Efforts to restore it have been discontinued. The

Otis Elevator Company Otis Worldwide Corporation (trade name, branded as the Otis Elevator Company, its former legal name) styled as OTIS is an American company that develops, manufactures and markets elevators, escalators, moving walkways, and related equipment. ...

and Mohawk Construction opened the 2,200' gauge railway on

Memorial Day Memorial Day (originally known as Decoration Day) is a federal holiday in the United States for mourning the U.S. military personnel who died while serving in the United States Armed Forces. It is observed on the last Monday of May. It i ...

, 1902. Sixty thousand

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s were sold in its first year; two decades later that had almost doubled. Riders were often day visitors from

New York City New York, often called New York City (NYC), is the most populous city in the United States, located at the southern tip of New York State on one of the world's largest natural harbors. The city comprises five boroughs, each coextensive w ...

who came up the

Hudson River The Hudson River, historically the North River, is a river that flows from north to south largely through eastern New York (state), New York state. It originates in the Adirondack Mountains at Henderson Lake (New York), Henderson Lake in the ...

steamboat A steamboat is a boat that is marine propulsion, propelled primarily by marine steam engine, steam power, typically driving propellers or Paddle steamer, paddlewheels. The term ''steamboat'' is used to refer to small steam-powered vessels worki ...

Newburgh Newburgh (''"new"'' + the English/Scots word ''"burgh"'') may refer to: Places Scotland *Newburgh, Fife, a former royal burgh *Newburgh, Aberdeenshire, a village England *Newburgh, Lancashire, a village * Newburgh, North Yorkshire, a village ...

and then took the Newburgh-Beacon Ferry across the river. After a trolley trip to the base station on Wolcott Avenue (today NY 9D), the railway would take them up to the northern summit via an average gradient of 65% (33°) and a maximum

gradient In vector calculus, the gradient of a scalar-valued differentiable function f of several variables is the vector field (or vector-valued function) \nabla f whose value at a point p gives the direction and the rate of fastest increase. The g ...

of 74% (36.5°), the steepest in existence while the railroad operated. As was the case of so many other period incline railways, the Beacon funicular was in reality a means to a larger end. The panoramic views from the summit of Beacon Mountain and natural setting would be the lures to get tourists to the doorstep of several profitable attractions the railway's backers built atop the mountain, including the Beaconcrest Hotel, a Casino, and a private cottage community following land sales. The hotel and casino were in place by 1926, which proved a banner year, with 110,000 passengers riding to the top. Tragedy struck the next year, with fire consuming both the hotel and casino. Though they were rebuilt within a year, this proved the turning point in the rail's history, with the tourism-dampening Great Depression and World War II to follow. Thanks to the automobile replacing historic mass transit to the area - which had brought passengers en masse up the river in excursion boats, via the railroad, and thence trolley right to the base of the lift - recreational patterns changed and the Beacon attraction never regained its popularity. Financial problems and more fires plagued the concern, which was unable to maintain necessary maintenance on either the railway or the summit attractions. In 1978 the railway ceased operations. In 1982 it was added to the

National Register of Historic Places The National Register of Historic Places (NRHP) is the Federal government of the United States, United States federal government's official United States National Register of Historic Places listings, list of sites, buildings, structures, Hist ...

. A fire attributed to vandalism the next year completely destroyed the trackway and consumed the lower station, following which the only remaining structure at the top, the powerhouse, was razed. The route still remains and is visible from much of the city. A 501(c)(3) non-profit, the Mount Beacon Incline Railway Restoration Society, worked from 1996-2022 to restore the attraction, but disbanded without accomplishing its mission. Image:MtBeaconInclinedRR.JPG, From a 1907 post card File:Mt Beacon Postcard 06.jpg, The railway's two cars passing each other in this circa 1905 postcard File:Mount Beacon Incline Railway Track.jpg, Derelict track at the former lower station File:Mount Beacon Incline Railway Powerhouse.jpg, Abandoned powerhouse at the former casino

References

External links

Mount Beacon Incline Railway Restoration Society
{{Rail trails in New York Defunct funicular railways in the United States Transport infrastructure completed in 1902 Hudson River Beacon, New York National Register of Historic Places in Dutchess County, New York 3 ft gauge railways in the United States Railway inclines in the United States Cableways on the National Register of Historic Places Rail infrastructure on the National Register of Historic Places in New York (state)

See also

References

External links