The Madison Incline: Steepest Railroad Grade in North America

Ride the incline from the bottom to the top

The Madison Incline is the steepest line-haul, standard gauge railroad track in North America. Opened in 1841, the incline has been in existence for nearly 180 years. At 5.89%, this incredible feat of engineering proved to be a challenge for its operators and was last used in 1992. Today, the incline has become a popular hiking trail and can be accessed from dawn until dusk. In this video, Roger Fuehring of the Madison Railroad explains the history of the incline and discusses the current status of the grade as being part of the Madison Heritage Trail.

The rest of the Madison Railroad is still active and is a very successful shortline. Seen in this video, the Madison Railroad no. 3, formerly owned by NASA and affectionally nicknamed "Little Lady", arrives in Madison, Indiana to switch-out MODRoto, a local industry. MODRoto designs and manufactures rotomolded plastic products for the laundry, recycling, material handling, lighting, pool/spa, event decor and other markets using the most sophisticated rotational molding system.