On the Duquesne Heights Incline's 127th birthday yesterday, the public for the first time could get a close-up view of the giant wheels and cables that have kept the historic landmark going strong in its second century of operations.

	A staircase to the new public viewing platform at the Duquesne Heights Incline in Mount Washington offers this spectacular view of a departing car and the Downtown skyline. The platform, unveiled yesterday on the incline's 127th birthday, allows visitors to see the machinery that pulls the incline cars up and down the hillside. (Darrell Sapp, Post-Gazette)

After a small ribbon-cutting ceremony, David and Ruth Miller of the nonprofit Society for the Preservation of the Duquesne Heights Incline led visitors through a tight turnstile, down a new stairway and onto a new interior platform where the incline's inner workings now are on display.

For almost 44 years, as long as he has worked to preserve the incline, 83-year-old David Miller has waited for the day when he could show the public how the machinery works.

"I get so many questions that can only be answered by bringing people in here," said Miller, a retired engineer who grew up in Mount Washington and can answer every question about the workings of the incline.

From the platform, the public can see the motor, driving gear and giant cast-iron drum that pulls two thick steel-wire cables that move the incline cable cars.

Ruth Miller said new signs, explaining the process, soon will be installed on the walls and there will be some tours.

The equipment-viewing platform, new stairs and an elevator for the handicapped were built with $600,000 in state and federal grant money, the first government grant money to come to the incline. The money also was used to relocate the incline office into a new extension of the building.

Two girls are framed in a window of one of the cars of the Duquesne Incline as it leaves the station on Mount Washington yesterday.(Darrell Sapp, Post Gazette)

The platform will be open during most hours that the incline operates, but not in early mornings or late evenings. Admission to the platform is 50 cents for adults.

The incline, which opened May 20, 1877, is owned by the Port Authority, but operated by the society.

It runs Mondays through Saturdays 5:30 a.m. to 12:45 a.m., and Sundays and holidays 7 a.m. to 12:45 a.m. The last car departs from both the upper and lower stations at 12:45 a.m.

The fare for adults is $1.75 each way.

The Society for the Preservation of the Duquesne Heights Incline was formed in 1964. More information about the incline can be found on its Web site, www.incline.cc.