Typical of the Mt. Washington locomotives is number 9, the Waumbek, with its slanted forward cab and boiler, which becomes level on the grades, to keep the water level constant over the crown sheet.
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by STEPHAN BOOTHROYD
The Mt. Washington Cog Railway (Part 2)
All photos by Stephen Boothroyd
This month we will take a modern trip up the Mt. Washington Cog Railway emphasizing the many little details which make the current operations of this railroad a unique, yet quaint, engineering marvel existing as it does for the pleasure of tourists and paid for by their patronage.
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(Top left): The Marsfield house serves as a restaurant and souvenir shop.
(Bottom left): The other side of the transfer table. The small tractor acts as power source. A simple table such as this could be a very interesting project on any model railroad.
(Top right): Everyday the locomotives receive a thorough examination, especially the wheels and cogs.
(Bottom right): The engine house and machine shop do all the servicing of the locomotives. Note the simplified transfer table, with its rack and metal sheathed wooden rails.
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(Left) The Mt. Washington, Locomotive #l backing into the stall. Even the Cog Railway has small handcars.
(Below left) The Cog Railway even constructs its own locomotives as this photo taken in 1979 evidences with a new boiler being lowered on the chassis. The cylinders are back to back on each side of the locomotive with the gears and cog between the frames.
(Below) While many of the coaches are wooden of last century origin, the newer coaches are aluminum as is the one on the front of locomotive #3 crossing the Ammonosuc River.
(Above) Locomotive #6 and Coach #4 beginning their upward journey at Base. Coaches are pushed up the mountain and trailed down.
(Left) The coal bunker at Cold Springs Hill is loaded from the side and loads the locomotives from either of two chutes.
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(Above left) Locomotive #6, the Great Gulf has more piping detail than number 9.
(Above right) Unlike #9, the locomotive #2, the Ammonosuc has a slanted boiler which rides level, but a level cab which slants backwards on the grade. Here # 2 is about to be coaled at Cold Springs.
(Below) A view up the mountain from Cold Springs Hill brings the grade of the railroad into sharp perspective.
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Locomotive #2 and Coach #5 on Jacob's Ladder, the trestle which is anchored by steel cables seen here running from the stringers to the ground.
Taking water at Waumbek Tank, but note there is no spout, merely a rubber hose from watertank to tender tank.
(Right) The shelter at Waumbek Tank.
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