Switchback Railroad

Switchback Railroad is a Pennsylvania historical marker in Carbon County, dedicated 1971.

SR 3012, 3 miles SW of Jim Thorpe

Get directions ↗Start a road trip Historical trails

A gravity railroad was built along this mountain in 1827 to carry coal from the mines near Summit Hill to the Lehigh Canal at Mauch Chunk. A back-track and two planes were added in 1844 for the return trip by gravity. Railroad crossed the highway here.

TodayHistorical map

Slide toward Today to fade the historical sheet and see the modern map underneath.

David Rumsey Map Collection, Stanford Libraries

Historical maps covering this location

1823 · Pennsylvania. (David Rumsey Map Collection, Stanford Libraries)
1825 · Map Of Pennsylvania And New Jersey. (David Rumsey Map Collection, Stanford Libraries)
1825 · Pennsylvania (David Rumsey Map Collection, Stanford Libraries)
1827 · Pennsylvania. (David Rumsey Map Collection, Stanford Libraries)
1836 · Anthracite Coal Field, Pottsville, Pennsylvania. (David Rumsey Map Collection, Stanford Libraries)

Anthracite Coal Field, Pottsville, Pennsylvania, 1836, covering the location of Switchback Railroad, with a pin at the marker's coordinates — Anthracite Coal Field, Pottsville, Pennsylvania, 1836, covering this location. David Rumsey Map Collection, Stanford Libraries. The pin is ours, placed from the marker's coordinates.

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Marker data: Pennsylvania Historical and Museum Commission via data.pa.gov

Switchback Railroad

Historical maps covering this location

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