Located on the western edge of Wiconisco Township, Pennsylvania, the Lykens Valley Railroad’s “inclined plane” carried railroad cars up and down from the coal mines of the Short Mountain Colliery in Bear Gap.

This plane opened in the early 1850s, carrying anthracite from the Short Mountain Coal Company and Lykens Valley Coal Company operations above the village of Wiconisco to the main railroad line to Millersburg.

Loaded coal cars were lowered down the plane and their weight pulled empty cars back to the mines for loading beneath the breakers.

This operation could be quite dangerous. A relatively thin wire rope was all that kept loaded cars from careening downhill to disaster. During the plane’s operation, there were numerous accidents were railroad employees made narrow escapes and coal cars were smashed to pieces.

The inclined plane was abandoned in 1885. Plane Street in Wiconisco shadows its namesake. Few remnants of the plane exist today.

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