Mount Washington Cog Railway

Coordinates: 44°16′26″N 71°19′53″W / 44.273783°N 71.331482°W / 44.273783; -71.331482
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For the defunct railway in Los Angeles, see Los Angeles and Mount Washington Railway.
Mount Washington Cog Railway
Track with rack
Overview
LocaleCoos County, New Hampshire, U.S.
History
Opened1868
Technical
Line length3 miles (4.8 km)[1]
Rack systemMarsh rack system
Track gauge4 ft 8 in (1,422 mm)
Electrificationnone
Route map

Legend
 Mount Washington summit
Appalachian Trail
Skyline siding(removed)
Waumbek station and passing loop
 Marshfield station
Boston & Maine Railroad
to Fabyan (removed)(Carroll)
locomotive depot
This diagram:

The Mount Washington Cog Railway, also known as the Cog, is the world's first mountain-climbing cog railway (rack-and-pinion railway). The railway is still in operation, climbing Mount Washington in New Hampshire, USA. It uses a Marsh rack system and one or two steam locomotives and six biodiesel powered locomotives to carry tourists to the top of the mountain. Its track is built to 4 ft 8 in (1,422 mm) gauge, which is technically a narrow gauge, as it is a 1⁄2-inch (12.7 mm) less than 4 ft 8+1⁄2 in (1,435 mm) standard gauge.

It is the second steepest rack railway in the world after the Pilatus Railway in Switzerland,[2] with an average grade of over 25% and a maximum grade of 37.41%. The railway is approximately 3 miles (4.8 km) long and ascends Mount Washington's western slope, beginning at an elevation of approximately 2,700 feet (820 m) above sea level and ending just short of the mountain's summit peak of 6,288 feet (1,917 m). The train ascends the mountain at 2.8 miles per hour (4.5 km/h) and descends at 4.6 mph (7.4 km/h). It takes approximately 65 minutes to ascend and 40 minutes to descend, although the diesel engine can go up in as little as 37 minutes.

Most of the Mount Washington Cog Railway is in Thompson and Meserve's Purchase, with the part of the railway nearest to Mount Washington's summit being in Sargent's Purchase.

History

Track to the summit in 1893

The railway was built by Sylvester Marsh[3] who grew up in Campton. Marsh came up with the idea while climbing the mountain in 1852.[4] His plan was treated as insane. Local tradition says that the state legislature voted permission based on a consensus that harm resulting from operating it was no issue — since the design was attempting the impossible — but benefits were guaranteed. He was putting up $5,000 of his own money, and that, plus whatever else he could raise, would be spent locally, including building the Fabyan House hotel at nearby Fabyan Station to accommodate the expected tourists. The railway is sometimes called "Railway to the Moon", because one state legislator remarked during the proceedings that Marsh should be given a charter, not merely up Mount Washington, but also to the Moon.

Marsh obtained a charter for the road on June 25, 1858, but the American Civil War prevented any action until May 1866.[4] He developed a prototype locomotive and a short demonstration section of track, then found investors and started construction.[citation needed] The route closely followed a mountain trail that had been established earlier in the century by Ethan Allen Crawford.[5]

Despite the railroad's incomplete state, the first paying customers started riding on August 14, 1868, and the construction reached the summit in July 1869.[4] The early locomotives - represented today by the restored display locomotive, #1 Old Peppersass[6] - all had vertical boilers, like many stationary steam engines of the time; the boilers were mounted to the locomotives' frames with twin trunnions, allowing them to pivot as the locomotive and coach climbed the grade, permitting gravity to always keep the boiler vertically oriented, no matter what the gradient of the track. Later designs introduced horizontal boilers, slanted so that they remain close to horizontal on the steeply graded track.

In August 1869, President Ulysses S. Grant visited New England to escape the heat of summer in Washington, D.C. During his tour he rode the cog railway to the top of Mount Washington.[7]

Running the railway

Sylvester Marsh died in 1884 and control of the Cog passed to the Concord & Montreal Railroad, which ran it until 1889 when the Boston & Maine Railroad took over.[8][9]

Control by the Teagues began in 1931 when Col. Henry N. Teague bought the Cog. He died in 1951, and Arthur S. Teague became general manager, then gained ownership in 1961. (Arthur Teague was the colonel's protégé, but no relation.) After he died in 1967, the ownership passed to his wife, Ellen Crawford Teague, who ran the Cog as the world's first woman president of a railway. In 1983, Mrs. Teague sold the railway to a group of New Hampshire businessmen. Since 1986, the Cog Railway has been controlled and owned by Wayne Presby and Joel Bedor of Littleton, New Hampshire. The Bedor and Presby families also owned the Mount Washington Hotel and Resort in Bretton Woods for the period 1991–2006. In 1995, the railway appointed Charles Kenison the General Manager. These individuals were responsible for a complete revitalization of the railroad, with the assistance of Al LaPrade, a mechanical engineer whose career began at the Portsmouth Naval Shipyard.[1][8][10] The Cog has been in continuous operation since 1869, with service interruptions only during the World Wars.

In the summer of 2008, the Cog introduced its first diesel locomotive. The Great Recession and the 2000s energy crisis led to fewer passengers, and the Cog sought to cut costs with the diesel, which could make three round trips for the cost of one steam train round trip. [11]

In December 2016, the owner of the Cog proposed building a 35-room hotel along the line, about a mile below the summit and two miles above the station. They propose to open the facility in 2019 for the 150th anniversary of the train.[12] The proposal quickly drew public opposition due to its location in the alpine zone of the mountain.[13]

  • Leaving the depot c. 1880s
    Leaving the depot c. 1880s
  • Partway up the mountain
    Partway up the mountain
  • Arrival on the summit
    Arrival on the summit
  • "Devil's shingles" down
    "Devil's shingles" down

"Devil's shingle" slideboards

"Devil's shingle" slideboard

In the early days of the railway's construction, the workers wanted to minimize time when climbing and descending the ramp, so they invented slideboards fitting over the cog rack and providing enough room for themselves and their tools. These boards — no two were exactly alike — were approximately 35 in (90 cm) long by 9.8 in (25 cm) wide, made of wood with hand-forged iron and with two long, hardwood handles usually attached at the down-mountain end. The average time for the descent of the mountain using these boards was about 15 minutes. The record was 2:45, an average speed above 62 mph (100 km/h).[1]

The "Devil's shingles" were banned in 1906 after the accidental death of an employee. Later, the design of the rack was changed so that the old braking mechanism could no longer grip.

Accidents

The first of two major accidents in the railway's history occurred in 1929, involving locomotive #1 (first named Hero and later Old Peppersass[6] because of its vertical boiler's resemblance to a pepper sauce bottle). This locomotive was used to build the railway and was lost for many years, as it had been moved about the country and placed on display at numerous exhibitions. The owners of the railway at the time (the Boston & Maine Railroad) decided to restore Old Peppersass and make a commemorative trip for the railway's 60th anniversary. During the ascent, however, the locomotive's front axle broke and the locomotive began descending the mountain at high speed. All but one of its crew jumped to safety (though some suffered broken bones), but one man did not escape and died. The locomotive broke into pieces, but the boiler did not rupture, and the pieces were later reassembled to reconstruct the locomotive for static display. It is now located at the Cog Railway Base Station.[14]

On September 17, 1967, eight passengers were killed and seventy-two injured when Engine #3 derailed at the Skyline switch, about a mile below the summit. The engine rolled off the trestle while the uncoupled passenger car slid several hundred feet into a large rock. An investigation revealed that the Skyline switch had not been properly configured for the descending train. The railway nonetheless has a solid safety record, having taken over five million people to the summit during its existence.[15]

Mechanical design

The cog railway designs and builds all of its locomotives and passenger coaches at the company shops located at the base of Mount Washington.[16]

Each train consists of a locomotive pushing a single passenger car up the mountain, descending the mountain by going in reverse. Both locomotive and car were originally equipped with a ratchet and pawl mechanism engaged during the climb that prevents any roll-back; during descent, both locomotive and car are braked. Recent improvements in design have replaced the ratchet (gear and pawl mechanism) with sprag clutches and disc brake assemblies. Most of the locomotives were made by the Manchester Locomotive Works.[17]

The cog or rack and pinion system that allows the locomotive to climb Mount Washington. Located in the museum.

The rack rail design used is one of Marsh's own inventions, using a ladder-like rack with open bar rungs engaged by the teeth of the cog wheel. This system allows snow and debris to fall through the rack, rather than lodging in it.[18] A similar design, called the Riggenbach rack system, was invented by engineer Niklaus Riggenbach in Switzerland at about the same time. The Swiss Consul to the United States visited Marsh while constructing the railway up Mount Washington, and his enthusiastic reports persuaded the Swiss government to commission Riggenbach to build the Vitznau-Rigi-Bahn on Mount Rigi, which opened on May 21, 1871.[19]

Initially, there was no way for two trains to pass one another on the Mount Washington Cog Railway. In 1941, a nine-motion switch was invented, and two spur sidings were added, each long enough to divert two descending trains so that climbing trains could continue to the summit, enabling more round trips per day.

A switch (transfer table) of Mount Washington Cog Railway

In 2004, work was completed replacing the lower Waumbek Switch and Siding with an 1,800-foot (550 m) passing loop equipped with electric and hydraulically powered automated switches. These switches are powered by batteries and recharged by solar panels. One switch is located at each end of the loop, allowing ascending and descending trains to pass one another.[20]

In 2014, work began on another switch and siding at the summit of Mount Washington. When completed, the new switch will allow trains to pass one another at the summit of the mountain.

In 2008, work began on the first diesel locomotive to be powered with biodiesel, with the assistance of a retired mechanical engineer from the Portsmouth Naval Shipyard.[21] By 2013, the railway had completed the construction of five of these locomotives. Work was completed on a sixth biodiesel in June 2016.

Modern operations

A hiker on the West Side Trail, near the Appalachian Trail, watches the Mount Washington Cog Railway pass by, October 2016.
Railway operators, 2000

The most common trips on the Cog Railway are between the two main stations, one at the summit and the other adjacent to the operators' logistical and repair base.

From 2003 to 2006, "ski trains" ran, stopping at an intermediate station, from which passengers could ski down to the Base Station.

The Cog Railway track crosses a hiking trail a relatively short distance below the summit of Mount Washington, and some hikers wait for the next train in order to moon the passengers. This practice is known as "Mooning the Cog." Several hikers were arrested for performing this act in 2008.

A Cog locomotive ready to push a passenger car up the Mount Washington Cog Railway on a foggy day in October 2012.

Access to the base station by car is by three routes, each culminating with the upper portion of the dead-end Cog Base Road. The advertised, roughly eastbound route uses the Base Road's full length from Bretton Woods. An especially scenic route, initially southbound from U.S. Route 2, follows Jefferson Notch Road, a narrow dirt road with hairpin turns; it rises 1,500 feet (460 m) to the pass, at 3,000 feet (910 m) above sea level, between Mount Jefferson in the Presidential Range and Mount Dartmouth, before descending to its junction with the Base Road. The Jefferson Notch Road is closed to wheeled vehicles in winter—and usually before and after—and used primarily by snowmobiles. The roughly northbound route from U.S. Route 302 in Crawford Notch via Mt. Clinton Road is also closed in the winter to vehicular traffic. Operations of trains all winter began in 2004–2005, and the Cog Base Road is plowed and sanded all winter to allow tourists, skiers, and employees access to the Base Station.

Environmental concerns

The steam locomotives on the railway generate large amounts of smoke, nicknamed Cog Smog.[22] The railway is exempted from the state's air-pollution-control law (RSA 125-C:20),[23] which exempts "any steam locomotives and engines or replacements thereof used in connection with the operation of a railroad or railway which were in operation or on order prior to January 1, 1973, and are located entirely within the state."

Each 3 mi (4.8 km) steam locomotive ride burns 1 short ton (0.91 t) of coal and consumes 1,000 US gallons (3,800 L) of water.[24]

One steam locomotive was converted to oil firing in 2008.[25] The attempt to oil fire the existing steam locomotives failed and in 2008 the railway introduced its first diesel locomotive, designed and built by the railroad staff. Since 2008, four more diesels were completed (M-2 and M-3 in 2009, M-4 in 2011, and M-5 in 2013). All the new diesel hydraulic locomotives are operated on B20 (20% biodiesel blend) during the summer season. The company declared that the primary reason the new diesels were built was to reduce the visual pollution caused by the coal-fired steam locomotives, to lower emissions, and to increase the length of time that passengers could spend at the summit of Mount Washington.[17]

Each 3 mi (4.8 km) diesel locomotive ride burns approximately 18 US gallons (68 L) of B20 (20% biodiesel blend) fuel.

The locomotives push passenger cars that have a capacity of 70 riders.

Locomotives

Number Name Image Builder Type Date Notes
1 Old Peppersass[6] Campbell, Whittier and Company Steam 1866 World's first cog locomotive, originally named Hero. Last operated in 1929, and is now on display at Marshfield Station.
1 Mt. Washington Manchester Locomotive Works Steam 1883 Was the first #7 Falcon; renumbered to 1 following rebuilding after the 1895 fire. Renamed Mt. Washington after 1931. Currently stored out of service at the shops.
2 Ammonoosuc Manchester Locomotive Works Steam 1875 Was second #4 Atlas; renumbered to 2 following rebuilding after the 1895 fire. Named Ammonoosuc after 1931. Still operating.
3 Agiocochook Manchester Locomotive Works Steam 1883 Originally #2 of the Green Mountain Cog Railway. Was the third #5, not named; became the third #3 in 1934. This was the locomotive in the fatal accident of 1967. Renamed Agiocochook in 1995 or 1996. Currently stored serviceable outside the shops.
4 Summit Manchester Locomotive Works Steam 1883 Summit (steel cab) / retired as Chocorua (wood cab). Originally #1 of the Green Mountain Cog Railway. Renamed Chocorua in 1999 / 2000. Engine #4 is currently on display in Twin Mountain at the intersection of U.S. Routes 3 and 302, using the cab and tender of dismantled engine #8.
6 Kancamagus Manchester Locomotive Works Steam 1874 Originally built as first #6 Tip-Top with vertical boiler. Rebuilt into second #6 in 1878 with horizontal boiler. Was named Great Gulf. Currently stored serviceable inside the shops.
8 Moosilauke Mount Washington Cog Railway Shop Steam 1983 Built in 1983 by Mike Kenly at the Cog Shop. At the time was the world's newest steam locomotive. In 2008 a major boiler overhaul was underway when the project was scrapped in favor of building 2 new diesel locomotives. The cab and tender of #8 Tip-Top/Moosilauke now rides on #4 Summit/Chocourua. Currently stored out of service outside the shops.
8 Moosilauke Manchester Locomotive Works Steam 1883 Originally #1 of the Green Mountain Cog Railway, then became Mount Washington Cog Railway #4 Summit. Renamed Chocorua in 1996/97. In 2008 it was renumbered and renamed as #8 Moosilauke, coincident with the retirement of the other locomotive with that name and number. In 2013 the locomotive was donated to the village of Twin Mountain and placed on permanent static display at the intersection of U.S. Route 3 and U.S. Route 302.
9 Waumbek Manchester Locomotive Works Steam 1908 First horizontal boiler engine to have the cab on the same plane as the boiler. For a short time, this locomotive burned biodiesel, but was reconverted to coal. Still operating.
10 Col. Teague Mount Washington Cog Railway Shop Steam 1972 Uses a larger, welded boiler built by Munroe Boiler. Has the cab tilted on the same plane as the boiler. Converted to burn oil for a short time and converted back to coal. Was renamed the KroFlite. Now sits at the intersection of U.S. Route 302 and Base Station Road, bearing its original name as a sign for the entrance to the railway.
M-1 Wajo Nanatassis Mount Washington Cog Railway Shop Diesel 2008 First diesel-hydraulic locomotive. Powered by biodiesel (B20).
M-2 Algonquin Mount Washington Cog Railway Shop Diesel 2009 Second diesel-hydraulic locomotive. Powered by biodiesel (B20)
M-3 Abenaki Mount Washington Cog Railway Shop Diesel 2009 Third diesel-hydraulic locomotive. Powered by biodiesel (B20)
M-4 Agiocochook Mount Washington Cog Railway Shop Diesel 2010 Fourth diesel-hydraulic locomotive, Powered by biodiesel (B20)
M-5 Metallak Mount Washington Cog Railway Shop Diesel 2013 Fifth diesel-hydraulic locomotive, Powered by biodiesel (B20)
M-6 LaPrade Mount Washington Cog Railway Shop Diesel 2016 Sixth diesel-hydraulic locomotive, powered by biodiesel (B20)

The Cog Railway also rosters eight wooden coaches.

See also

References

  1. ^ a b c "History of the Mount Washington Cog Railway". The Heart of New England. Retrieved September 21, 2008.
  2. ^ "#220 Pilatusbahn (1882)". American Society of Mechanical Engineers. Archived from the original on December 26, 2010. Retrieved May 13, 2013.
  3. ^ Coffin, Charles Carleton (May 1885). "Sylvester Marsh 'The Projector of the Mount Washington Railroad'". The Bay State Monthly, A Massachusetts Magazine. 3 (2).[page needed]
  4. ^ a b c One or more of the preceding sentences incorporates text from a publication now in the public domain: Wilson, J. G.; Fiske, J., eds. (1900). "Marsh, Sylvester" . Appletons' Cyclopædia of American Biography. Vol. 4. New York: D. Appleton. p. 219.
  5. ^ Johnson, Christopher (2006). This Grand & Magnificent Place: The Wilderness Heritage of the White Mountains. UPNE. p. 54. ISBN 978-1-58465-461-2.
  6. ^ a b c "The Mount Washington Cog Railway - About The Cog - Mount Washington Cog Railway History". thecog.com. The Mount Washington Cog Railway. 2018. Retrieved March 4, 2018. Undaunted and driven by his contemporaries' skepticism, Marsh began the task of building his mountain climbing railway, along with inventors Herrick and Walter Aiken, a father-and-son team from Franklin, New Hampshire...on July 3, 1869, Old Peppersass became the first cog-driven train to climb 6,288-foot Mount Washington.
  7. ^ "Six New England Presidential Visits and the Stories Behind Them". New England Historical Society. Retrieved February 23, 2017. On Aug. 27, 1869, the Grant family climbed Mount Washington. They took the three-year-old cog railway, the first cog railway in the world.
  8. ^ a b "Historical Timeline". Mount Washington Railway Company.
  9. ^ See also Burt, F. Allen. The Story of Mount Washington.[full citation needed] Mt. Washington Cog Railway. Mt. Washington Cog Railway. 1964.[full citation needed] and Mt. Washington Cog Railway. Mt. Washington Cog Railway. 1975.[full citation needed]
  10. ^ Teague, Ellen Crawford (1982). I Conquered My Mountain: The Autobiography of Ellen Crawford Teague. Caanan, NH: Phoenix Publishing.[page needed]
  11. ^ "Top 10 railroad stories of 2008". Trains News Wire. December 31, 2008. Retrieved January 9, 2009.
  12. ^ "Cog Railway owners propose hotel". Concord Monitor.
  13. ^ "Plans for luxury hotel below Mt. Washington summit prompt outcry". The Boston Globe. Retrieved February 2, 2017.
  14. ^ Howe, Nicholas (2000). Not Without Peril. Appalachian Mountain Club. pp. 118–124.
  15. ^ "Climbing Jacob's Ladder, Scared Stiff". New Hampshire Public Television. Retrieved May 31, 2015.
  16. ^ Presby, Wayne. "The Mount Washington Cog Railway Goes Green" (PDF). The Mount Washington Cog Railway. Retrieved April 10, 2014.
  17. ^ a b While much is made of the ecological significance of the biodiesel-fueled locomotives, it should be noted that — as is the case with most biodiesel — the fuel is a blend containing only a small fraction of biodiesel and the rest conventional petroleum-based diesel fuel; 1⁄5 biodiesel in the case of the Mount Washington locomotives. Zimmermann, Karl (May 2011). "A New Moon over New Hampshire" (PDF). Trains. Kalmsbach Publishing Co. Retrieved March 11, 2014.
  18. ^ Bermudes, Robert W., Jr. (2014). "Mount Washington Railway Company". Cog Railway. WhiteMountainHistory.org. Retrieved March 11, 2014.{{cite web}}: CS1 maint: multiple names: authors list (link)
  19. ^ Jehan, David (2003). Rack Railways of Australia (2nd ed.). Illawarra Light Railway Museum Society. ISBN 0-9750452-0-2.
  20. ^ "Technology". Mount Washington Cog Railway. Retrieved November 23, 2005.
  21. ^ "From the Shipyard to the Railyard—Al Laprade Important Cog". Website. Mount Washington Cog Railway. 2008. Retrieved April 23, 2014.
  22. ^ Kalasky, William (August 31, 2008). "The historic Cog Railway is vanishing". New Hampshire Union Leader. Retrieved September 20, 2010.
  23. ^ "Chapter 125-C Air Pollution Control". State of New Hampshire. Retrieved April 14, 2008.
  24. ^ "Cog Railway: Engines". Mount Washington Cog Railway. Archived from the original on October 11, 2007. Retrieved April 14, 2008. {{cite web}}: Unknown parameter |deadurl= ignored (|url-status= suggested) (help)
  25. ^ "Cog Railway gets new biodiesel locomotive". Nashua Telegraph. Associated Press. September 7, 2008. Retrieved September 10, 2008.

External links

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44°16′26″N 71°19′53″W / 44.273783°N 71.331482°W / 44.273783; -71.331482

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