Gribblenation

When someone thinks of incline railways, you might think of a place like Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania , Johnstown, Pennsylvania or Chattanooga, Tennessee . A bluff in Dubuque, Iowa may not be the first place you think of finding an incline railway, but that is where you will find the Fenelon Place Elevator Company 's incline railway. The Fenelon Place Elevator is described as the world’s shortest, steepest scenic railway. It is 296 feet in length and elevates passengers 189 feet from Fourth Street near downtown Dubuque up the hill to Fenelon Place. At the top, you will find a magnificent view of the business district in historic Dubuque, fantastic bridges and the Mississippi River along with views of the Driftless Area of neighboring Illinois and Wisconsin. The story of how the Fenelon Place Elevator came to be is an ode to the famous meme where Dave Chappelle implies that modern problems require modern solutions, except the beginnings of the Fenelon Place Elevator goes bac...

Recently, I had found out about a neat tunnel called the Brockville Railway Tunnel that was used for trains in Brockville, Ontario, located in the Thousand Islands region of the province. By chance, I decided to visit the tunnel on my way to Ottawa this past weekend. An engineering marvel at 1730 feet in length, the Brockville Railway Tunnel happens to be the first railroad tunnel constructed in present-day Canada. The tunnel was built between 1854 and 1860 for the Brockville and Ottawa Railway to connect the Brockville waterfront on the nearby St. Lawrence River with the Ottawa River near Arnprior, Ontario to the north. Part of the tunnel is lined with brick, whereas natural stone forms the walls of the tunnel around its center portion. It should be noted that the plans to construct the tunnel was not without some public disagreement, as a number of people felt that it would be easier and more cost effective to build the rail line along the riverfront instead of building the tunne...