Skip to main content

Hello Tinplate world :

1896 Carlisle & Finch of Cincinnati offers a humble 4 wheel  electric  trolley  with a loop of track for $3.00. There is still a question if it was 3 rail as pictured or 2 rail as all remaining examples so far found.  Business must have been good as C&F expanded in 1897   with an eight wheel trolley , mining train and an "Incline Railway" .  

Nearest big market to Cincinnati is Pittsburgh ... so Incline may have been patterned after the Price Hill Incline    in Cincinnati operational 1874-1943 see link for more info

http://www.cincywhimsy.com/201...l-incline-climb.html

Regretfully no known surviving examples  of the C&F Incline have surfaced (yet..it only been 120 years ).  About 10 years ago a talented builder decided the fill the void of the lack of the C&F incline in the world.   Two examples were built using the only known illustration found in the 1897 C&F catalog ....and using period C&F technology and building skills ( save the electric motor relay inside).   One example may be in a museum in Cincinnati ...?  However here is the other one alive and well serving very small customers daily who have a need for vertical assistance.   

The Incline will be worked into the 2" layout once built .   This is a BIG accessory... 42" deep and about 28" to the top of chimney.   The size and delicate nature of the attaching the incline ramp may have been the down fall to survival and or original sales. 

The graphics on the Incline station are patterned after the C&F  ( Terra-ferma) station of the period .

So sit back and take a ride up and down , with the simple pleasures from 120 years ago

Guaranteed to amuse children by the hour ......oh for the days before smart phones ...

 

Cheers Carey

 Price Hill Incline photoincline catalog cut1897 adalex side front.

 

 

Attachments

Images (4)
  • Price Hill Incline photo
  • incline catalog cut
  • 1897 ad
  • alex side front
Videos (1)
IMG_1884
Original Post

Replies sorted oldest to newest

Hello those inclined ...  thank you for your kind words..  this does require a fair bit of real-estate to set you ..just saying . This one was done as a labor of love ... I'm very grateful to have it .   This little video will show you the guts of the operation  ....  originally (1897)  there would not have been a can motor and relay ..  so old school would have been a mechanical reverse unit ..that the rising car would have to hit to reverse motor  ..problem with the standard C&F  reverse unit is 180 degree travel is needed ... ... better minds than mine can brain storm the solution ..  I had though a slot between the rails near the top with a rod attached to one end of reverse unit  mounted below ... but you'll only get about 90 degree at best of reverse travel ... so ball is in your court ..this works and it's great ..the drum at the top is pulled back and forth with the dog attached to the shaft of the motor ..the free turn action allows the car to stop and the top/ bottom..... which helps the effect .. no doubt the customers appreciate the delay for debarking / loading ...... once on the layout ...plans to copy the upper station and add another at the base  to give it balance .

Cheers Carey

oops video too long ..sorry ... I'll re-shoot  a shorter one and post in a day or so sorry ...

spoiler alert there is a motor and a drum ..

 

 

Add Reply

Post
×
×
×
×
Link copied to your clipboard.
×
×