Otis Elevating Railway (Re: Speaking of inclines...)

Reference was made earlier to the Otis Elevating Railway in New York State, but I think it deserves a fuller examination -- especially since it was narrow gauge!

The Otis connected the Catskill Mountain Railway at Otis Junction (bottom of the incline) with the Catskill & Tannersville at Otis Summit (top), allowing not just the movement of passengers between the two but also the interchange of rolling stock. Though the Otis Railway had no locomotives of its own apart from a pair of stationary Hamilton Corliss winding engines, it did have a couple of boxcars (Otis 1 and 2) and gondolas (Otis 3 and 4) which moved over all three railroads, plus some open coaches and baggage cars and several four-wheel freight cars that were not interchanged.

(The conventional rolling stock that moved over the Otis probably did have some kind of modified couplers or draft gear to hook up to the cable, so it may not count as "unmodified".)



-Philip Marshall



Edited 3 time(s). Last edit at 05/29/2014 10:41AM by philip.marshall.