This System is still operating Today

In the top right-hand corner of this trolley car you can see what looks like a

smoke stack. That is because this post card was mailed in 1910 and the incline system that carries this car up Lookout Mountain in Tennessee operated on steam. These two websites have provided the information below: https://www.lookoutmountain.com/incline-railway/ https://ridetheincline.com/history/ The Incline Railway attracts people from around the world and has carried millions of residents and tourists up and down historic Lookout Mountain. The history of the Incline and Lookout Mountain includes Civil War battles, rivalries, and grand hotels. The first Incline up Lookout Mountain opened in 1887. It ran from the 38th Street area in St. Elmo to just below the Point. The second Incline, engineered by John Crass, opened November 16, 1895, and is the Incline that is still in operation today. The success of the second Incline was the primary reason that the first Incline closed in 1899. Originally the cars were made of wood and powered by huge coal-burning steam engines. Electric power was used after 1911, and it now uses two 100 horsepower motors that power the large drums that operate the cable. The cable is made by the company which supplied the cable for the Brooklyn Bridge. Since 1895 the Incline has carried millions of riders up and down the mountain in complete safety. On March 19, 1919, an accidental fire destroyed the upper station and one of the cars causing the Incline to close down for two years while they rebuilt, they also bought new cars at this time for the reopening. The new cars held thirty-two passengers and had heaters under the seats. The incline has had a few famous riders in its time in operation. Teddy Roosevelt rode the incline in 1905 while he was still President of the United States. The famous actress, Elizabeth Taylor, also rode the Incline in the 1950’s. In 1974 Jo Conn Guild Sr. and Linn White, the original designers of today’s Incline, were given the honor of having their engineering marvel be designated as a National Historic Site by the United States of the Interior. Ninety-six years after the Incline’s inaugural journey, the American Society of Mechanical Engineers honored the Incline as its 100th National Historic Mechanical Engineering Landmark in recognition of its innovative design, and the historically significant role that it has played in the development of Lookout Mountain and Chattanooga.

And, rather then write about Lookout Mountain and this incline railway again, (because I have another post card that features this location)I will post a second post card in this blog. This is a distant view of the entire system. This post card was copyrighted in 1955 by the W. M. Cline Company of Chattanooga, Tennessee, the location of this attraction. The back of the post card says,"THE INCLINE UP LOOKOUT MOUNTAIN, Chattanooga, Nenn., is 4750 gee long from St. Elmo at its base to the summit of the mountain. It is the steepest cable incline in the world, reaching a 72.7 percent grade at one point." The picture was taken by Walter Cline, himself!!

The post card, at the top of the blog post like last week’s post card was published by the Detroit Publishing Company using the “Phostint” method of printing.