Mount Washington Cog Railway

Thats great news!

Picked up my copy of Railfan/Railroad for September, 2010 and on page 22 under Railnews: Mount Washington
"The company has nearly completed its fourth diesel in its shops and some reports say that when the current coal supply is
exhausted, steam power on the mountain will be a thing of the past"
Anybody care to comment on this?
Noel Weaver

Noel Weaver wrote:Picked up my copy of Railfan/Railroad for September, 2010 and on page 22 under Railnews: Mount Washington
"The company has nearly completed its fourth diesel in its shops and some reports say that when the durrent coal supply is
exhausted, steam power on the mountain will be a thing of the past"
Anybody care to comment on this?
Noel Weaver

Sure.

-It's plausible
-Economically, it makes sense
-Kind of tragic if it happens
-Glad I rode it 4 times while it was steam only
-Will tickets be cheaper when they DO go full diesel?

-Will tickets be cheaper when they DO go full diesel?

Not likely. Sad very sad. Glad I rode it when it was all steam.

Anybody know which has more torque going up the mountain- the steam or diesel ?

Noel Weaver wrote:Picked up my copy of Railfan/Railroad for September, 2010 and on page 22 under Railnews: Mount Washington
"The company has nearly completed its fourth diesel in its shops and some reports say that when the current coal supply is
exhausted, steam power on the mountain will be a thing of the past"
Anybody care to comment on this?
Noel Weaver

I saw this also. This would be a shame, although not unexpected.

Is the 4th diesel actually in operation yet? If not, is there a possibility that the on-duty steamer might make more than one ascent per day during the fall foliage season? I see on the website that they are basically adding B-sections to just about every train. With only 3 diesels, I would think that extra power would be needed to handle that kind of ops tempo.

If I thought the steam engine would run multiple trips, I'd be there in a heartbeat. My MO is to ride the 8AM train and hike around taking pictures thereafter. I did it numerous times back during the steam era, but my last ride was in June of 2009. I went up there during Labor Day of 2009 with the same intention, but the ticket office folks swore up and down that there would be only ONE steam trip that day. They basically talked me out of a ticket. The steamer ran 4 trips that day and the wx was gorgeous all day. Would love to do it again, if I could see a few steam trips on the moutain....even if it was just one last time.

Anyone with inside info?

And a parting shot: http://www.railpictures.net/viewphoto.p ... 3&nseq=224 How can you not love it?

I certainly hope that this will not happen, but as we all know, all good things come to an end. I am somewhat suprised because it seemed that the plan was to have that 9am trip be a steam and then distibute the other locomotives around to various museums and such.

I put this in the Mount Washington thread but will post it here for those who did not read the thread.

We stayed at the Shakespeare Inn. $57 each night near Twin Mountain on Rt 3. Basic, quiet. Nothing spacial but we did not plan to stay in the room much. Beautiful weather and did not need the AC.
I searched the 'Net for motels in Bretton Woods and came up with many possibilities.
The Cog was about 12 minutes away on Rt 302.
Fabyan's Station and Restaurant had a great dinner there the last night. Pricey but very good.

Had a great trip. THREE CLEAR DAYS at Mt Washington. Amazing.
My girl friend and I stood at the rear of the passenger car on the way up. Most of the time we were leaning against the back. Max angle is around 37 degrees. Noisy with a lot of vibration.
We were being pushed by the steam loco.
Each day, one steam loco and three bio-diesels were working the mountain.
Someone in another forum said the steamer runs only at 9am but we saw it running most of the day.

The steam loco uses 1 ton of coal and 1000 gals of water with a water stop part way up the mountain. I had one arm out the window of the car with the camera and coal particles were rapidly collecting on my arm. No clearance issues with this railroad.

The bio-diesel uses 15 to 18 gal of fuel with very little pollution.
The trip takes about three hours with almost an hour at the top. There was about a 12mph breeze with a temp of about 50 degrees.
The Waumbek


Steamer leaving behind the bio diesel
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=dsCnhT9i7xQ

At the passing track
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=538xGmcPC84

Brakeman at work
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=7XxdEhf-Ir0
You can find better vidos if you search You Tube.

The trip we took at the Conway Scenic railroad was lame compared to this trip.

The Notch trip would be very good as we drove to North Conway three times and the railroad track though the Notch looks fascinating hanging on the side of a cliff.

Last thing, take a ride on a Zip Line. That is a “Trip” you will not forget. You might say a railroad of sorts.

Rich

Merry Christmas!

CHRISTMAS AT THE COG

T'was nigh onto Christmas
...And all through the shop,
The machines long since
Had come to a stop.

The sound of the wind
Outside did moan;
And the cold crept in
To chill to the bone.

No fire in the stove,
No other voice to hear;
How lonely he felt,
With no one near!

How the rafters above
so groaned and creaked;
And snow wisped in
Where the boards all leaked.

The caretaker thought
To check the shed;
Where the engines all stood
cold and dead.

With lamp in hand,
He stepped through the door;
And saw, in stall one,
Old number four

Through the stygian vault
The rays did stab,
And revealed a face
Within the cab.

Framed in red
With beard all white,
Was it a ghost
He saw that night?

He threw his flask
Upon the floor,
And swore to himself:
"I'll drink no more!"

Out into the night,
He fled so quick;
Then whispered to the wind:
"T'was old Saint Nick!"

by
Donald H. Bray

The May 2011 issue of Trains has a great article on the Mount Washington Cog Railway.

Great article about the Cog. I didn't like the quote from the owner when ask how long steam will last with a statement of "as long as the coal pile hold outs, two to three year" or something like that.

As pointed out here before most paying riders don't know and don't care how they get up the mountain as long as there's no burned coal in their hair and they get a hour at the summit over twenty minutes. I'll take the coal and the short stay for steam anyday.

If the plan is to retire steam altogether, then I need to get up there and ride the 9am steam run before it’s gone for good. I’ve only been up the Cog once which was back in August of 1995, so I think I’m over due for one. Given the fate of the steam program it will probably be my last, unless I can squeeze a second one in before the steam is gone for good. I’ve seen the new engines up close and I personally don’t care for them. I understand it’s a business decision and agree that it’s a sound business decision but I’m not going to spend my money on something that will be no different than hopping in a van and going up the Auto Road.

b&m 1566 wrote:If the plan is to retire steam altogether, then I need to get up there and ride the 9am steam run before it’s gone for good. I’ve only been up the Cog once which was back in August of 1995, so I think I’m over due for one. Given the fate of the steam program it will probably be my last, unless I can squeeze a second one in before the steam is gone for good. I’ve seen the new engines up close and I personally don’t care for them. I understand it’s a business decision and agree that it’s a sound business decision but I’m not going to spend my money on something that will be no different than hopping in a van and going up the Auto Road.

As a railroader (retired) and an enthusiast (still), I agree with you BUT most riders probably do not care whether there is a diesel or a steam engine providing the push.
I would probably use the road as well if there was no steam because I could go and come as I want and it would probably be cheaper as well. The last time I did the cog was in 1996 and the road was sometime previous to that.
The Trains article was somewhat inconclusive as to what the future is for steam here but I suspect it is not too great, maybe another couple of years or so but then watch out. You might see steam drop down to special occasions only, who knows.
Noel Weaver

Here is some history I learned about the Cog


It all started in 1852 when New Hampshire native, Sylvester Marsh was lost near the summit of Mt. Washington. As the highest peak in the Northeast with a 6, 288 foot summit, Marsh believed that there should be a better way for people to navigate to the top of Mt. Washington.

Following his experience on Mt. Washington Marsh decided to start building a mountain climbing cog railway up Mt. Washington. After making his fortune in the meatpacking industry in Chicago, Marsh came back to New Hampshire to start the railway.

Almost twenty years after the original idea for the project the first cog-driven train, “Old Peppersass,” climbed Mt. Washington on July 3, 1869.

Today the Mt. Washington Cog Railway is a National Historic Engineering Landmark and is a part of the American heritage.

Wood-fired boilers powered the train for the first 40 years of the railway’s operation. Coal was introduced to the railway around 1910. With the advancement of technology the Mt. Washington Cog Railway started using biodiesel locomotives in 2008. The very first biodiesel locomotive was Wajo Nanatasis. The use of the biodiesel locomotives reduces emissions and conserves fossil fuels.

The Mt. Washington Cog Railway is the second steepest mountain climbing train in the world, with a three-mile trestle with a maximum gradient of over 37 percent. It is also the only mountain climbing train in the world that is built completely on a trestle.

How did the Cog Railway do with Irene? I assume they too were closed? Any damage?