Saluda Grade

Saluda Grade is the steepest standard-gauge mainline railway grade in the United States. Owned by the Norfolk Southern Railway as part of its W Line, Saluda Grade in Polk County, North Carolina, gains 606 feet in elevation in less than three miles between Melrose and Saluda. Average grade is 4.24 percent for 2.6 miles and maximum is 4.9% for about 300 feet .

Captain Charles W. Pearson was assigned to select a route for the Spartanburg and Asheville Railroad to ascend the Blue Ridge front; the area where the rolling hills of the Piedmont end at the foot of the Blue Ridge Mountains. Despite numerous surveys, no route was available for a railroad to ascend the mountains at a tolerable grade, and the best route followed the Pacolet River valley and gorge. The line begins its climb at the bottom of Melrose Mountain, where Tryon is today, at 1,081 feet , and continues on the south side of the Pacolet valley. At Melrose, the Saluda Grade begins and climbs to the town of Saluda, cresting in the center of town at an elevation of 2,097 feet .

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