DULUTH — A dozen hikers gathered at the Skyline Parkway on Saturday with a common curiosity to learn more about the history of Duluth's Incline Railway .

Led by Doug Stevens , the group set out on the brisk, sunny afternoon stroll down the hillside along the path of what once was the most famous feature of the Duluth streetcar system.

Other than a few pieces of isolated sidewalk that followed the incline, there are no remaining traces of the forgotten railway today. Now occupied by neighborhood developments, it is difficult to imagine the two separate tracks running a half-mile up the hill, rising to more than 500 feet above Lake Superior.

For those interested in traveling back in time to the streetcar era of Duluth, Historian Aaron Isaacs paints a vivid picture in several publications about Duluth's Incline Railway, which served as a resource for this article.

Because the hillside was too steep for a regular rail line, the Highland Improvement Company built the incline railway in 1890 to transport people and horses up and down the hill. It was opened by the Duluth Street Railway Company on the right-of-way of Seventh Avenue West in December the following year.

The incline railway served hillside residents by stopping at five intermediate stations and connecting at the top with the isolated highland streetcar line. The original trolley cars could either transport four teams of horses with a wagon, or up to 250 people per car.

The trolleys ran every 15 minutes, with a one-way trip taking about the same amount of time. Once passengers were seated, the conductor would telephone the engineer at the top of the incline to start the trip. Once the bottom car left the station, the other car from the top would make its way down to counter-weight each other. An overhead wire powered the brakes and lights for the cars.

Half of its passengers used the incline railway for transportation; the other half rode to the top for the panoramic view, a popular tourist attraction to this day. Sidewalks, with stairways for steep parts, ran alongside the incline.

On July 4, 1892, the Beacon Hill pavilion at the top of the incline opened. The site featured a restaurant and theater, as well as hot-air balloon launches.

A fire broke out in the powerhouse engine room at the top of the hill on May 28, 1901 and spread to the pavilion. Miraculously, no one was injured when the heat from the fire melted a cable, causing one of the cars to be released down the hill before crashing into the ticket house on Superior Street.

The incline railroad was out of service for six months. On Jan. 1, 1902, it resumed partial operation with a single 22-by-8 foot vehicle running every 30 minutes on the west track, while being counter-weighted on the east track.

More modifications came in 1911 with two new larger cars operated by conductors, which ran on an electric hoist controlled by an engineer at the top of the incline. The intermediate stations were redesigned so cars would stop simultaneously at them.

At speeds of 6 miles per hour, the cars ran every 15 minutes, with eight-minute trips one-way. By 1925, there was an average of 2,170 weekday passengers.

Incline railway service in Duluth ceased on Labor Day, Sept. 4, 1939. Eventually, the tracks were dismantled and sold for scrap to benefit the war effort, and the incline railroad and highland streetcar were replaced by two new bus routes.

Pedestrians are still able to explore modest steps that remain on the city right-of-way, although many segments are not original to the incline railway. It is not eligible to be on the National Register of Historic Structures, but the planning department suggested looking into local landmark status, Stevens said.

While the path is not an official recreational hiking trail, Stevens said the Friends of the Incline Steps group hope to gain support for the installation of signage along the historic route. Potential partners for way-finding signage, clearing and maintenance include the Duluth Preservation Alliance , Historic Preservation Commission , Duluth City Council and Mayor Emily Larson .

"They don't really have this on the map, which is kind of sad. It's not on any of the current maps because I think basically they just wanted to forget it," Stevens said. "The parks department is underfunded and they have no staff to maintain this, so I can understand why they don't want to do it. But at the same time, we're going to lose all this history. This is 131 years of history. This is the only thing left of the incline railway."