 The Johnstown Inclined Plane was designed by Hungarian engineer Samuel <unk> , who had also designed the Duquesne , Castle Shannon and Fort Pitt Inclines in Pittsburgh . The funicular consists of a parallel set of 8 ft ( 2 @,@ 440 mm ) broad gauge railroad tracks with a 70 @.@ 9 percent grade or an angle of 35 degrees and 28 minutes from the horizontal . The incline is 896 @.@ 5 feet ( 273 @.@ 3 m ) long and ascends 502 @.@ 2 feet ( 153 @.@ 1 m ) vertically to the top of Yoder Hill and the borough of Westmont , the station of which is at an elevation of 1 @,@ 693 @.@ 5 feet ( 516 @.@ 2 m ) above sea level . The rails are supported by 720 14 @-@ foot @-@ long ( 4 m ) railroad ties made from Southern Yellow Pine . The incline is lit at night by 114 high @-@ pressure sodium @-@ vapor lamps mounted along the sides of tracks . There used to be a stairway between the two tracks with 966 steps , but these were removed circa 1963 . 
