Photo of the Week: 5/6/2011

It is now May, which means summer is coming and tourist lines and museums are opening for the season. One railroad that opened last weekend is the world's first mountain climbing cog railroad, located right here in New Hampshire. I thought I would talk about that today. I have never ridden this railroad, but I want to do that this summer. I hiked Mount Washington last June, and saw the tracks then, but it was 5:00pm by the time I reached the summit and the trains were done running for the day so I did not see any trains. The railroad goes up the west side of the mountain and I was hiking on the east side, so the summit was the only place I saw any bit of the railroad. But here is what I saw:

This is where the Mount Washington Cog Railway finally reach the summit after a 3.2 mile trip from the base station on an average grade of 25%. Jacob's Ladder, a trestle with the ruling grade of 37%, is the steepest railroad grade in the world. The railroad was exclusively steam powered until 2008. A steam engine burns one ton of coal and uses 1000 gallons of water on one round trip. In 2008, the Cog built a few biodiesel locomotives in their shops. These are now the primary motive power, but an 8:30 train from the Base Station is steam powered every day. Other trips may be steam powered, but only the 8:30 is guaranteed. In comparison to the steam engines, the biodiesels only burn 16 gallons of fuel in one round trip.

The Cog was the pet project of Sylvester Marsh, who in 1866 got permission from the state of New Hampshire to build a railroad to the summit of Mount Washington. He was laughed at and was also told that he could build a railroad to the Moon if he really wanted to. Three years later, Marsh proved the state wrong and ran his first train to the summit of the mountain, powered by a vertical boiler steam engine named "Peppersass" because of the way the locomotive resembled a peppersauce bottle. This locomotive is now on static display at the Base Station, victim of a runaway disaster in the 1920s during a ceremonial resteaming of the locomotive.

The Boston & Maine bought the railroad around the turn of the century and extended the line to MEC's Mountain Division, providing an across-the-platform transfer with Maine Central, making it possible to take the train directly from Boston to the summit of Mount Washington. This extension was abandoned about when passenger trains stopped running on the Mountain Division.

In the 1910s, B&M wanted to abandon the Cog and replace it with an 18 mile trolley line with a ruling grade of 6%. The line was all planned out, from the same Base Station to the summit, but circling the mountain several times instead of going straight up to the summit. This project was abandoned when a survey crew near the top of the mountain got lost in a storm and died, adding to the ever-growing list of deaths on the mountain. This was before the weather observatory was built on the summit, so they did not know what the winter conditions were like. I think a trolley line would have been more trouble than it would be worth, as they would have to string new catenary every spring and probably after every storm!

The line continues to operate today as it has operated since 1869, with the exception of the new diesels. I have not ridden it yet, but I plan to this summer. Some of my friends who have ridden it say it is worth it, especially now that the fares have lowered considerably with the new biodiesels. Keep in mind, however, that it may be summer in the valley, but it is likely to snow year round on the mountain, which also holds the world record for wind speed, so dress accordingly!