h2g2 The Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy: Earth Edition

Mt. Washington Cog Railway – October 4, 2006

“I think I can…I think I can” said the little engine that could.

The Mt. Washington cog railroad was approved by the New Hampshire state legislature in 1866. It was the world’s first cog railroad. Some state legislators hooted and suggested approving an extension to the moon. However, the railway opened in 1869 and President Ulysses S. Grant brought his family to take the ride two months later. A lodge at the top offered the affluent cool summer views.

I stick out my head to snap some pictures and end up with tiny coal chunks in my hair and on my face. These locomotives look like a fire on the mountain from ten miles away. They burn over a ton of soft (bituminous) coal on each ascent. They force a huge amount of air through the burning coal to produce the steam and blow black smoke and coal chunks up though the stack... After a mile we stop to take on water.

The Appalachian trail intersects the rail line near the summit. The New Hampshire segment of the trail is considered the most rugged and difficult for hikers. There are hundreds of stone cairns along the trail here. We see one lone hiker. Hikers have been known to “moon” the trains but this hiker disappoints us.

As we approach the summit visibility drops to 30 feet. Winds today are forecast at 50 to 70 MPH. It is cold. I remember the rule of thumb from flying that the temperature drops two degrees centigrade for every thousand foot of elevation gain.

The coal powered steam cog train grinds to the top at 6.288 feet in just over an hour at an average speed of 3 MPH. We have ridden cog trains in Scotland and Switzerland but nothing with such archaic engines.

At the 20 minute stop at the summit, 75 old men from two trains head for the three urinals and two toilets. Time passes slowly. I can only shudder to consider what the women must be enduring.

Here are some pictures of this unique three mile railway:
http://community.webshots.com/slideshow?ID=554585269

So, how long does it take to ride back down?

They had to paint it purple?

Going down, the average speed picks up to 5 or 6 MPH...they just bank the coals and use the engine as a compression brake...the brakeman in the coach also is quite busy adjusting the coach brakes as the grade changes from 2 to 14 degrees on the way down...there is a stop to throw a very heavy switch so that two trains on the way up can pass the two going down...the whole trip down is about an hour...

Lovely photos as always. Now I have to find out what a cog railway is. A steam engine features in my Day 12 travelogue, but I have no idea if it was a 'cog' railway or not. The scenery wasn't as dramatic as yours.

If I was hiking on the mountain, I'd probably do more than moon those stinking filthy antiques.

I guess the line gets quite steep given that the engine boiler is on an angle when you're at the bottom of the line.

Mt Washington, I was there many years ago now. A few of us drove up through NH after I'd worked the summer on a scout camp over there. We got as close as part way up the drive of the big fancy hotel there.

Hypatia, the steam trains you were on aren't part of a cog (or rack and pinion) railway. The only one in the UK that I know about goes up Snowdon in Wales (never been on it I always walked up to the top of the mountain).

I think the maximum slope is 14 degrees...

Right. I rode on a regular steam train, then. It wasn't the Flying Scotsman, but I did see the Flying Scotsman at York Station.

My dad's truck has a "This vehicle climbed Mt. Washington" bumpersticker on it. He drove up there to meet my brother, my mother and my son, who walked up it on the Appalachian trail in 1999. They were on a two week sojourn in the White Mountains, spent 14 days on the trail and stayed at the hostels that are available there. Pretty amazing.