Mount Washington Cog Railway

Note to Self: More and more careful reading.

free HBO? View would be unbeatable. What happens when it gets windy?

Call it the Adventure Package and charge customers extra?

When they tie down the train on top of the mountain, they will have to literally tie it down.

The Presbys don't care much about environmental impact and they hate government regulation of anything. At least that is my impression as a frequent visitor from away. Sleepers is a clever idea, it's true. But maybe just one or two.

The railway was more attractive before they, or the previous owners, made a ski trail next to the bottom half of it, added the long double track, and generally cut back the woods. It was more intimate with the woods and the mountain. But I guess this way they can have more pax and make more money and maybe keep afloat, so OK.

Strong inference to make from someone admittedly from away. They very much do care and have made a lot of more environmentally conscious changes than the previous owners. And it is not that they hate government regulation, but it is a unique situation in that it resides in unincorporated places and is a very tricky process to get things done. Now, the railroad also has historical rights and property rights which outside organizations continuously try to void, while they themselves trying to bring more and more people to the upper valley. It makes very much sense for Presby to aggressively protect their rights, because if they had a more lackadaisical approach I can guarantee you the AMC would have the Cog gone by now, meanwhile expanding their own hiker"lodges" in the area, continuing the over crowding of an already crowded trail and road system.

I took my 1st ride up last summer, it was an excellent ride, my only gripe was the constant loud noise from the engine. If only they were able to design the new engines, so the engineers cab was on the other end, I'm sure that would've made it quieter.

Back at the end of July, the Cog Railway was called for assistance to help bring down a hiker, who sadly passed away on the mountain. After attempts to resuscitate and stabilize the individual were unsuccessful, rescuers had to carry the body nearly a mile to reach the tracks. While it's not a story people want to think or talk about, it's one that probably repeats itself more times than we want to know, whether it is to bring down and injured hiker or bring down a deceased individual.
This got me thinking, back when the Cog Railway was owned by the B&M railroad, did the Cog Railway ever operate as a common carrier? I'd assume they sent freight and mail up and down with the hotel being at the top back in the day. If such service did exist when did that stop? Assuming anything needed today, just goes by way of Mt. Washington Auto Road.

The cog is probably faster or safer than the auto road in bad weather which iirc was the case with that rescue. Several other hikers had to have various rescues that day but he was the only one that died. [OT] It's really sad that people get successfully rescued whether it is hypothermia or an actress with smoke inhallation/lung burns and they die afterwards in the ambulance or hospital.

I did not know that the B&M used to own the cog!!

The B&M controlled the Cog from 1889-1931, which is also around the time they abandoned the route between the Cog and Wing Road here in town.

BandA wrote: ↑Mon Aug 15, 2022 2:02 pm The cog is probably faster or safer than the auto road in bad weather which iirc was the case with that rescue....

Weather had nothing to do with using the cog on that one. It's just easier to transport several people, gear, etc. all in one wack, in one cog car.

The Cog and the Auto Road are on different sides of the mountain, too, so if a hiker needs to be evacuated from partway up they could be a mile or two closer to the Cog (or to the Auto Road; I doubt the Cog evacuates people who get hurt on the Alpine Garden trail). I don't know where this hiker was carried from, but if they carried him a mile it probably wasn't from close to the Auto Road. Maybe there'll be an accident report with details in the next Appalachia.

We do. In reality when we need to bring people off the mountain, including gear, support staff etc, it doesn't matter where they are parked or what trail they came up. Transports to vehicles are not the primary concern, and we can make arrangements to get people to where they need to go. Down the Cog and into our ambulances at the base station is the fastest and easiest route, even when considering carrying down the other side. Also, we have access easily to 4 hospitals from that side, compared to the 2 (really 1, Memorial is way to packed with the Valley to be useful) coming down the Auto Road.

And with the number of rescues going on lately, 10 last Saturday, 4 working right now, etc. the faster you can get teams down the better they are rested/available for the next.

There's now a live feed available to watch trains depart/arrive at Base Station:

https://youtu.be/YHWEwBRk6lU

Sad news:

Joe 'Eggy' Eggleston, 59, was hiking Mount Willard in Crawford Notch late Saturday morning with his wife, Kelly, 57, when tragedy struck.

They had just reached the summit and were taking pictures of the views around them when Kelly 'heard her husband yell' and noticed he was dangling off the edge of the mountain, New Hampshire Fish and Game officials say.

Eggleston had worked as a steam engineer for the Mount Washington Cog Railway, onboard a 1908 coal-powered train that trekked the Mount Washington summit to offer tourists views of the largest mountain east of the Mississippi, according to the Yankee Magazine.

https://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/articl ... -hike.html