Mauch Chunk Switchback Railway
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Mauch Chunk and Summit Hill Switchback Railroad
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Looking down at the Lehigh Canal landing, circa 1870.
Pisgah Mountain and the topology of the Summit Hill and Mauch Chunk Railroad
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| Location | Between Ludlow St. in Summit Hill and F.A.P. 209 in Jim Thorpe, Carbon County, Pennsylvania |
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| Coordinates | 40°52′10″N 75°44′59″W / 40.86944°N 75.74972°WCoordinates: 40°52′10″N 75°44′59″W / 40.86944°N 75.74972°W |
| Area | 47 acres (19 ha) |
| Built | 1827, Improved 1830s |
| Built by | Lehigh Coal & Navigation Co. (LC&N) |
| Architect | Josiah White |
| NRHP Reference # | 76001616 |
| Significant dates | |
| Added to NRHP | June 3, 1976 |
| Designated PHMC | May 25, 1971 |
The 3 ft 6 in (1,067 mm) narrow-gauge Mauch Chunk Switchback Railway, or Mauch Chunk & Summit Hill Railway, was built in 1827 by the Lehigh Coal & Navigation Company (LC&N) on top of their 9 miles (14 km)-constant-descent-graded wagon road and would run for over a hundred years until the middle days of the Great Depression.
Pennsylvania's first railroad and first anthracite carrier opened on Saturday, May 5th, 1827, when seven cars of coal passed from the Summit Hill mines of the L.C.&N. Company to their canal at Mauch Chunk, descending 936 feet in the nine-mile trip.
It was the second operational (permanent) United States railroad, the first over five miles long, and like the better known contemporary, B&O Railroad, it began using humble animal power to draw its consists—the mules were sent down in the last batch of cars and the return trip required 4-5 hours. It was part of what is credited by economists as the first American company to utilize vertical integration—providing raw materials, shipping, processing and final goods. In its last five decades of operation, shortly after the opening of the Hauto Tunnel in 1872, it was converted to primarily be (continue) as a tourist attraction and common mixed services carrier used by commuting locals, the postal service and for general freight.
The area had been given a rough survey by Josiah White and Hazard around 1815 when they initially contemplated leasing the rights of the Lehigh Coal Mine Company. Determining the river could be improved, the coal mined effectively, and they'd schemed out a means it could be shipped to the river, the two moved to obtain the rights, began soliciting investors, and lobbying the legislature for rights to improve the Lehigh River. Before spring of 1818, allowed construction of the Lehigh Canal as their rights were granted, the descending path of the 9 miles (14 km) route-to-be was surveyed by White and construction of mining facilities (1818-1819) and the modest beginning as a mule trail managed by Erskine Hazard as the two industry giants struggled to bring coal to energy-starved Philadelphia. In spring 1827, during a mere week—so well organized was their preparation, sleepers and rails were laid down on this path, which was already graded mild enough that brakemen only had to check the trains' speed over the sometimes swooping descents and speed reducing ascents.
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