Madison, IN: Pennsy Depot and "Madison Hill," a former 6% inclined railroad

Railroad: (INtransport, Satellite)

Depot: (Satellite, the building is now a museum.)

The 2005 SPV Map labels Madison Hill as 6% and the steepest incline in the USA. I wonder what the incline of the Pikes Peak Railroad is.

Michael Harrison posted seven photos with the comment: "First time going to the Madison incline today. Pictures don't do justice on how steep it is! Its amazing how any steam locomotive could make it up here!"

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Dennis DeBruler commented on Machael's post
1953 Madison West and 1956 Clifty Falls Quadrangles @ 1:24,000

John Stigall commented on Michael's post
Way back when.

Randy Early posted
Madison Indiana abandoned railway. The Madison Incline.
Kenneth Bird: It once was a rack & pinion railway but they could not keep it maintained so they had a special locomotive built for .There is a good video YoubTube About it.
Charles Booker: Definitely a paleontologist area. It's full of fossils. I found a few dozen trilobites in a short walk back in the 80's
Tim Shanahan shared
Doug Nelson

The track there is owned by the Madison railroad and they have a good little video about it on Youtube. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=06F63Fy4lgU

Rick Morwick posted
Along the frozen Madison Incline.
Christopher Lewis: This is the steepest line haul line in standard gauge in the US at 5.89% but however there is a section of former Southern rail line operated by GSMR in Topton NC ( Red Marble Grade ) that 7.0% along with Saluda at 4.7% is the steepest main line even know sections of it hits the 6.2 mark but the over all steepest in the US is Cass railroad with a 11.1%.
Joe Dockrill shared

Two comments by Joe on his share:

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This is the engine that was built of the incline. It is at the Children's Museum in Indianapolis.

In Sept 2020, I got hit with a Double Doomsday. Both Facebook and Google changed their software. I said "changed" instead of "updated" because the new software is not better. In fact, Google's Blogger software is far worse except for a search function that works. For example, it has three bugs concerning photos and their captions. So I'm no longer copying photos and interesting comments from Facebook. I'm just saving the link. Unfortunately, some of the links are to private groups.

Rails Around Indiana posted on Oct 5, 2021
Also crossing the B&O at North Vernon was the PRR’s Madison branch, the predecessor of which was Indiana’s first railroad, the Madison & Indianapolis. The line included a 5.6% grade from North Vernon down to the Ohio River. The PRR purchased two SD7s specifically geared to handle this grade. Both are seen here at Madison in July 1970, working for Penn Central. (William Danforth, photo; Billy Danforth, collection)

A plaque describing the Madison Hill Incline and Cut

Three photos of the locomotive in action

The Reuben Wells is a steam locomotive in the permanent collection of The Children's Museum of Indianapolis, Indiana. Beginning in 1868, it operated for 30 years in Madison, Indiana, pushing train cars up the steepest "standard-gauge main-track grade" in the United States.

Builder: JM&I shops, Jeffersonville, IN

Designer: Reuben Wells Length: 35 ft (10.67 m)

Several people standing in a cut       again, but with a history

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Depot

On the right side, I included the smokestacks of the Cliffy Creek Generating Plant. 

Street View, Sep 2023

Angel Rose posted four photos with the comment: "Four views of the historic Madison Depot in Madison, Indiana. The depot was built in 1895 by the Pittsburg, Cincinnati, Chicago & St. Louis Railway Company and was used for rail service until the 1930s. It was later adapted for reuse as a business office and housed Wilson Brothers Storage Company and Wilco Electric Company. The depot was purchased by the Jefferson County Historical Society in 1986. It was restored back to its c.1900 appearance and is now home to the town's history museum."

Tim Shanahan shared

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I had trouble finding this building because I missed that there was street running down First Street until I looked at the photos. Once I looked more closely at the topo map, I can see the cross lines on First Street that indicates street running.

1953/54 Madison West Quad @ 24,000

Mike Boyle posted 12 photos with the comment: "The former Madison , In. Train depot, which was built by the Pennsylvania RR in 1895. It has an impressive octagonal lobby.  Now used as a Railroad museum and decorated for Christmas. This museum has much railroad  history of Madison, In."

Sam Blensdorf: I always thought the Madison incline was used by the southern railway.

John Rose: Sam Blensdorf The Madison and Indianapolis was eventually absorbed into the Pennsylvania Railroad. In the diesel era they used specially ballasted SD7's on the hill.

Tim Shanahan shared

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This is the rear of the depot.

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The side that faces west, which is the direction the train approached from.

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Railroad tool used to move a freight car.

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Spike driver

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A depot managers office

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The actual clock used to keep the near perfect passenger train time.

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The octagonal depot lobby.

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This north side of the depot is where the train tracks were. The address is now 615 West First Street.

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Looking north toward the Madison Incline and the 2nd street crossing.

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The First St. Crossing. Somewhere near here was the spur track that went to the PRR depot.

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This is the current end of the tracks, however it extended further east along the Ohio River to a large freight station that served Ohio River Steamships.
[I could not determine where this is.]

The building on the left is the depot, and the building on the right behind the caboose is the Jefferson County Historical Society. The two story building on the left peaking out beside the depot is the Lanier Mansion State Historic Site.

Street View, Sep 2023