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 their W Line, the Saluda Grade in Polk County, North Carolina consists of a three-mile section of track that rises over 600 feet in elevation with a highest official grade of 4.7% but reaching 5.1% at one point between the towns of Melrose and Saluda.
Captain Charles W. Pearson was assigned with the task of selecting a route for the Spartanburg and Asheville Railroad to ascend the Blue Ridge front; the area of land where the rolling hills of the piedmont come to an abrupt end at the foot of the Blue Ridge Mountains. Despite numerous surveys of the area, no suitable land was available for a railroad to ascend the mountains at a tolerable grade, and the best route found followed the Pacolet River valley and gorge. The line begins its climb at the bottom of Melrose Mountain, where the town of Tryon can be found today at 1,081 feet, and continue on the southern side of the Pacolet valley. At Melrose, what is known as the Saluda Grade begins and climbs to the town of Saluda, cresting from the steepest grade of 5.1% right in the center of town at an elevation of 2,097 feet.
Norfolk Southern suspended freight traffic over Saluda Grade, between Landrum, South Carolina and Asheville, North Carolina,[1] in December 2001.
