When it's built, you will be able to get a million dollar view from the top of Mount Beacon in just four minutes. And as Curtis Schick reports, that short trip on a new Mount Beacon Incline could mean millions of dollars for the local economy.

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BEACON, N.Y. -- From the turn of the last century to 1978, the fastest way to the top of Mount Beacon was on rails that carried the Mount Beacon Incline Railway. The organization that is trying to restore this railway says a quick way to those million dollar views will mean millions for the local economy.

Its rails are rusty. Its station is gone. Its final fire in 1983 finished off what years of neglect couldn't. It is what is left of the Mount Beacon Incline Railway and the group that wants to rebuild it says that's plenty to work with.

“It's a tremendous experience. When you look at this railway rising the 1,540 feet, that's taller than the Empire State Building,” said Michael Colarusso, Mount Beacon Incline Railway Chief Operating Officer.

Colarusso helps run the Mount Beacon Incline Railway Restoration Society. He says a new economic impact study commissioned by the group shows a restored railway could means millions for the area's economy.

You might be wondering what happened to the old incline. Well, the first railway, a mountaintop hotel and a casino that housed a restaurant and dance hall but no gambling were all built in 1902. Colarusso says during its first two decades of operation the incline could attract as many as 150,000 people a year.

“But in 1927, things fundamentally changed, there was a fire, the hotel was lost the casino was lost as well,” said Colarusso.

Colarusso says the railway would rebuild, but the mountain top would never see a new hotel. He says ridership declined as the country entered the great depression and then World War II.

“And then after world war two, the way Americans sought leasure was changed and it was changed by the automobile,” said Colarusso.

Colarusso says fewer people were coming but even after multiple fires he says the railway would operate through the 1950-1960s, but, by the 1970s ridership was down to 20 to 30,000 a year. This film shows the incline had become a shell of its former self and in 1978 the owners would close it for good.

“Because they were always battling fire and always having to rebuild, I think it prevented them from having a viable economically successful railway,” said Colarusso.

But, Colarusso says that new study shows a successful railway will mean a $68 million pumped into the area's economy. He says that is with an $18 million investment for the incline and new railroad museum, and he says the project will be LEED certified and unlike the Walkway Over the Hudson will be run by a not-for-profit and not the state.

“To reopen this property is a prosperity engine, just waiting to be tapped and that is something we need right now in our region and in our United States. We need some economic development some economic stimulus,” said Colarusso.

Colarusso says that if everything goes right, you could see the railway up and running by 2013.

The Society will celebrate the railway's 108th birthday on May 30th with a hike to the mountaintop at 10 a.m. For more information, head to www.inclinerailway.org.