Engine House No. 6 Exhibit Shelter

Engine House No. 6 Exhibit Shelter

NPS

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Historical/Interpretive Information/Exhibits, Wheelchair Accessible

This building is a reproduction meant to show what the 10 engine houses of the Portage Railroad were like. It is built over the foundation of the original Engine House 6 and helps to protect its remains from the elements. The machinery housed inside is also a reproduction of the many wheels, gears, boilers, and brakes of the stationary steam engine and its accessories that raised and lowered rail cars and canal boats on the incline. Engine houses were very dangerous places to work with all of this machinery in motion, fires and scalding hot water in the boilers and many cars going back and forth along the rails. In 1852, the boilers actually exploded and killed several of the workers. The glass-walled “discovery room” contains several hands-on exhibits that help to further explain the workings of an inclined plane on the Allegheny Portage Railroad. The building is open daily from 9:00 am to 5:00 pm.