Incline Railways at Niagara Falls

There have been several different funicular railways, locally called incline railways, built at the Niagara Falls, on the border between Canada and the United States.

These lines include:

  • The Prospect Park Incline Railway was built in 1845 on the United States side of the falls at Prospect Point Park. An accident in 1907 claimed a single life and lead to the closure of this ride. The entire ride was removed in 1908 and replaced with an elevator in 1910. In 1960 the elevator was closed and replaced with the current Prospect Point Observation Tower in 1961.
  • The Leander Colt Incline was built on the Canadian side of the falls in 1869 near the Whirlpool Rapids Bridge. The incline railway was damaged in 1889 and abandoned.
  • The Whirlpool Rapids Incline appeared in 1876 near the Leander Colt site. It was damaged by a fire in 1934 and replaced with an elevator ride called Great Gorge Trip, which was in turn renamed the Great Gorge Adventure in 1989.
  • The Clifton Incline was built to serve the Canadian boat dock of the Maid of the Mist in 1894. It was closed in 1976 and resumed operations as the Maid of the Mist Incline in 1977. It ceased operations in 1990.
  • The Falls Incline Railway, originally known as the Horsehoe Falls Incline, was built on the Canadian side of the Horseshoe Falls in 1966. It is still in operation.

Famous quotes containing the words incline, railways, niagara and/or falls:

    “We took advantage of [the Indians’] ignorance and inexperience to incline them the more easily toward treachery, lewdness, avarice, and every sort of inhumanity and cruelty, after the example and pattern of our ways.”
    —Michel de Montaigne (1533–1592)

    “There is nothing in machinery, there is nothing in embankments and railways and iron bridges and engineering devices to oblige them to be ugly. Ugliness is the measure of imperfection.”
    —H.G. (Herbert George)

    “From a drop of water a logician could infer the possibility of an Atlantic or a Niagara without having seen or heard of one or the other.”
    —Sir Arthur Conan Doyle (1859–1930)

    “A man that is born falls into a dream like a man who falls into the sea. If he tries to climb out into the air as inexperienced people endeavour to do, he drowns.”
    —Joseph Conrad (1857–1924)