Teague, the colonel's protégé but no relation, became general manager. Ĭontrol by the Teagues began in 1931 when Col. 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. Later designs introduced horizontal boilers, slanted so they remain close to horizontal on the steeply graded track. The early locomotives all had vertical boilers, like many stationary steam engines of the time the boilers were mounted on trunnions allowing them to be held vertically no matter what the gradient of the track. After developing a prototype locomotive and a short demonstration section of track, he found investors and started construction.ĭespite its incomplete state, the first paying customers rode in 1868 the construction reached the summit in 1869. The railway is sometimes called "Railway to the Moon" because one state legislator remarked during the proceedings that Marsh should not only be given a charter up Mount Washington but also to the moon. Local tradition says 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: The $5,000 of his own money he put up, and whatever else he could raise, would be spent largely locally, including building the Fabyan House hotel at nearby Fabyan Station to accommodate the expected tourists. The railway was built by Sylvester Marsh (1803-1884) of Campton, who came up with the idea while climbing the mountain in 1857. Washington's summit being in Sargent's Purchase. Most of the Mount Washington Cog Railway is in Thompson and Meserve's Purchase, with the part of the railway nearest to Mt. The railway is approximately 3 miles (4.8 km) long. It takes approximately 65 minutes to ascend and 40 minutes to descend. 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), although the diesel can go up in as little as 37 minutes. ![]() The railway is still in operation, using one or two steam locomotives and four biodiesel powered locomotives. It is the second steepest rack railway in the world with an average grade of over 25% and a maximum grade of 37.41%. Washington at an elevation of 6,288 feet (1,917 m). ![]() ![]() The railway ascends the mountain beginning at an elevation of approximately 2,700 feet (820 m) above sea level and ending at the summit of Mt. It uses a Marsh rack system to climb Mount Washington in New Hampshire, USA. The Mount Washington Cog Railway is the world's first mountain-climbing cog railway (rack-and-pinion railway). Boston & Maine Railroad to Fabyan ( Carroll)
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