Every safeguard has been provided, so that an
accident of any kind is practically impossible. Should the machinery
break, the cables snap or track spread, an ingenious automatic device
would stop the cars at once. A passenger car and baggage car are
attached to each end of double cables which pass around immense drums
located at the top of the incline. While one train rises the other
descends, passing each other midway. By this arrangement trains
carrying from seventy-five to one hundred passengers can be run in
each direction every fifteen minutes when necessary, the time required
for a trip being only ten minutes. This is a vast improvement over the
old way of making the ascent of the mountains by stage, as it reduces
the time fully one and a half hours, besides adding greatly to the
pleasure of the trip. The ride up the mountains on the incline railway
is a novel and delightful experience, and is alone worth a visit to
the Catskills. As the train ascends, the magnificent panorama of the
valley of the Hudson, extending for miles and miles, is gradually
unfolded; while the river itself, like a ribbon of silver glistening
in the sun, and the Berkshire Hills in the distance seem to rise to
the view of the passenger.
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