What appears to be a non-descript berm of dirt extending down a hillside and away from the Owego Turnpike near Hawley, PA is actually the remains of an inclined plane belonging to the Pennsylvania Coal Company Gravity Railroad, which ran from Hawley, PA to Scranton. In the days before locomotive technology became truly practical, “trains” of cars were attached to cables and pulled up inclined planes via horses, waterpower, or stationary steam engines. When the cars reached the top of the incline, the cables were disconnected and the cars would then roll freely down the other side of the grade by gravity (hence, the name “gravity railroad”). Upon reaching the bottom of the grade, the cars would be pulled up the next inclined plane and the process would repeat. Due to their inherent design, gravity railroads were “one directional”, which forced the construction of two separate routes in order to maintain bi-directional traffic. The PCC Gravity RR was completed in 1850 and was in operation until 1885. The line was originally constructed as a feeder to the Delaware and Hudson Canal, with the point of interchange at Hawley. However, rate disputes eventually led the PCC to construct a new railroad in 1863 running from Hawley to a connection with the Erie Railroad at Lackawaxen, PA, thereby completely bypassing the D&H Canal. The new line was not another gravity railroad, but rather a regular “steam locomotive powered” railroad. Realizing the limitations of a gravity railroad, the PCC completed the Erie and Wyoming Valley Railroad in 1885, which allowed the abandonment of the gravity. The E&WV paralleled the gravity railroad, but was constructed on an entirely separate right-of-way. The Erie Railroad eventually absorbed the PCC in 1901 and the E&WV became the Erie’s Wyoming Division. The Erie enjoyed substantial coal traffic on this route until the Great Depression. Traffic levels then steadily declined and the section from Hawley to Scranton was finally abandoned shortly after the Erie Lackawanna merger in 1960. The Pennsylvania Coal Company assigned numbers to the inclined planes on its gravity railroad. This was Plane 14 and was used to haul empty cars from Hawley back to the coal mines.

Photographed by Rich Kugel, December 8, 2007.
Added to the photo archive by Rich Kugel, February 20, 2008.
Railroad: Pennsylvania Coal Company Gravity Railroad.

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