Seven members of the Switchback Gravity Railroad Foundation, an organization currently researching information for a feasibility study to preserve and potentially restore and improve the summit and access to the summit of Mt. Pisgah along the right-of-way of America's first significant railroad, the Mauch Chunk - Summit Hill Switchback Gravity Railroad, journeyed to Altoona's Horseshoe Curve National Historic Landmark to study its inclined cable rail attraction.

The Mauch Chunk - Summit Hill Switchback Gravity Railroad, commonly called the Switchback, was constructed by Josiah White of the Lehigh Coal & Navigation Company to transport coal from the Great Mine in Summit Hill, nine miles down the mountain to waiting coal boats at the Lehigh River in Mauch Chunk, current Jim Thorpe. Historians call the Switchback the link that closed the gap between the coal mines and the river transportation system and helped fuel the American Industrial Revolution.

The Switchback operated from 1827 until 1933, achieving fame not only as a coal railroad, but also as the first tourist railroad and roller coaster.

The Foundation is currently working with the Delaware & Lehigh National Corridor Commission and the National Park Service to produce a report on the feasibility of preserving and developing the summit of Mt. Pisgah and providing access to the summit. The summit contains the remains of an 1843 backtrack addition. The summit was considered a tourist destination where visitors could view the workings of the engine house with an adjacent water cistern, enjoy views from two overlooks—east to Glen Onoko, and west to the Mauch Chunk Historic District, a pavilion for dances and picnicking, and a tower for even a grander view.

As part of the study, the Foundation is looking into the feasibility of developing a cable-pulled inclined railroad to take visitors to the summit of Mount Pisgah from the Sam Miller Ball Field at the current base of Mt. Pisgah in Upper Jim Thorpe. The ball field is on a section of the Pisgah Plane filled in many years ago during the construction of Rt. 209.

There are four inclined plane rail lines currently operating in Pennsylvania, a state with a rich history, shared only with San Francisco, for its cable-pulled cars. The earliest systems were in eastern Pennsylvania coal lands: the Switchback, the Ashley Planes at Wilkes-Barre, and the Delaware & Hudson between Carbondale and Honesdale. Only three 19th century Pennsylvania inclined railroads survive: two in Pittsburgh - the Duquesne and the Monongahela, and the Johnstown—the world's steepest inclined plane railroad, built to provide evacuation as part of the rebuilding of the city after the flood. In western Pennsylvania, the Allegheny Portage Railroad, a predecessor of both the railroad and the Pennsylvania Turnpike, combined rail and boat transport, taking the boats over the mountains using inclined planes.

The the remaining inclined railroad, located at Altoona's Horseshoe Curve, was installed just 15 years ago, in 1992. Although its cab, built by the Durango and Silverton Narrow Gauge Railroad was designed to have a look similar to cabs of yesteryear. the rest of the cable-pulled rail line features modern power, safety and communications technologies, and because of its modern design, would be most similar to a cable-pulled rail line for Mt. Pisgah.

The Horseshoe Curve Incline is 270 ft. long and rises 100-ft. with a gradient of 37 percent. In contrast, the Mt. Pisgah Plane is 2,322 feet long and rises 664 feet on a 29 percent grade. The Horseshoe Curve rail line, called a funicular, has two 12-passenger cars, for eight standing and four seats - one at each corner. Because the Mt. Pisgah Plane is over eight times longer, more seating would be required.

The two cars, attached by a single continuous cable, run at the same time , counterbalancing one another, in opposite directions. There is a single track on the upper and lower sections, and a double track where the trains cross part way along the run.

The incline runs every half hour, and on a typical summer weekday, they handle 200 passengers. During their season from April to October, they draw an estimated 100,000 riders going up the mountain—with about half that number returning and half walking down the 192-steps.

The Horseshoe Curve dates back to 1854, when John Edgar Thomson opened the Kitanning Gap for the Pennsylvania Railroad to connect its main line from Harrisburg to Pittsburgh. In order to create a grade that the locomotives could climb, he filled in two streams, creating reservoirs for the city of Altoona, and constructed a spiraling curve to the higher grade.

The Horseshoe Curve is 2,375 ft. long over its 220 degree climb of 122-ft., rising 1.8-ft. per 100 ft.

Although the railroads have changed ownership from Pennsylvania, to Penn Central, to Conrail, to Norfolk Southern, the Horseshoe Curve has remained much the same as it did when it was constructed a century and a half ago. The curve became a viewing spot for passing trains early on with the first improvements made to the park in 1879.

In 1957, the railroad transfered park operations to the City of Altoona, and in 1966 it was listed as a National Historic Landmark. In 1989, a cooperative agreement was signed with the National Park Service to develop the site, and in 1992, the Railroaders Memorial Museum in Altoona opened the Horseshoe Curve National Historic Landmark.

"We found a site near Altoona that is a perfect representation of what we would like to see happen in Jim Thorpe," said Switchback Foundation executive director John Drury. "We see this as a community heritage project with the catalyst—the Switchback Gravity Railroad Foundation."