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Mount Washington Cog Railway
PDF package contents
Geared to the MountainsBy Lincoln Warren and H. S. WalkerPages 28-34, June 1941
Railway to the CloudsBy Stephen BogartPages 28-31, June 1946
Steep but SlowBy S. S. WorthenPages 38-42, July 1956
Steam . . . at Sea Level and 6288 Feet UpBy David P. MorganPages 22-26, June 1957
The Strange Case of the Celebration Train That Got Out of GearBy George W. Pettengill Jr.Pages 46-51, July 1959
New Steam on the MountainBy Randall PefferPages 41-45, May 1973
Climb Every MountainBy Charles MorrillPages 64-71, May 2000
© 2011 Kalmbach Publishing Co. This material may not be reproduced in any form without permission from the publisher. www.TrainsMag.com
Geared to ike Mountains
* Mount Washington Cog Railway is oldest
or its hind, the highest pike
in the East.
By Lmcolnin Warren and H. S. Walker.
F^very railroad has its own characteristics
''of length, brevity, odd rolling stock, own
ership, and route; but for a really unusual
pike you can't beat a scenic mountain
climber.
The first cog road in the world is also the
steepest in existence today. It is the4'-7"
gauge Mount Washington Cog Railway, 3.17
miles in length, at Marshfield, N. H., opened
in 1869, when the big news of the day con
cerned the completion of the Pacific Railroad
to California. To date the Mount Washington
Railway, highest in the East, has a 100 per
cent safety record.
A cog road gets its name from a
geared rack or third rail located be
tween the two running rails. This is
engaged by a gear underneath the lo
comotive. In this way the engine has
almost perfect traction even on the
steepest parts of the railroad. In the
United States there are still two rack
railroads, the Mount Washington line
and the Manitou & Pike's Peak in Col
orado. In Europe there are quite a
number, some of them operated elec
trically.
We climb aboard at Base Station.
The coach rests against a roller
mounted on the front of the engine
frame and a chain is thrown around
an upright on the car frame. Suddenly
there is a vibration and shaking that
would dislodge a weak person's diges
tive tract. It is only the hogger helpinghimself to a handful of throttle. The
fireman waves his scoop and with a
blasting of exhaust we're off, ulti
mately attaining the dizzy, hair-raising speed
of three miles per hour. The car, with 40 to
50 passengers aboard, is quite a load to push,
so the whole engine shakes fit to fall apart.
Ammonoosuc River flows down the raoun-
The
a rolle
ol the
tain past Base Station, and over this the train
passes on a well built trestle. More than one
passenger wonders if the train will stall al
together. Sitting at the hot end of the car, we
can watch the boiler end change color due to
the exhaust pressure. Soot rains down on the
roof, platforms, and right of way.
Trees have been cleared for some distance
on each side of the trestle, and we can see
skunks, rabbits, woodchucks, and snakes in
the grass (reptiles; there are no humans on
the site) .
We reach Waumbek Tank about a third of
the way up the mountain. The name comes
from the old Indian"Waumbekket-methna,"
which means "WhiteMountains."
Here we
alight and board an
other train of the same
makeup which has de
scended from above. It
has already refueled at
the tank and coal bin
adjacent to the track.
The brakeman calls
attention to the steepest
section of the trestle,
Jacob's Ladder, with a
grade of 37 per cent.
The average grade is 25
per cent. As we ride the
platform we look down
and decide to hang on a
bit harder, for the jag
ged rocks 20 feet below
are most uninviting.
The changing vegeta
tion reveals that in a
distance of less than two
miles we have gone
from the temperate to
the arctic zone. Here have been found 126
species of sub-arctic plants and 63 arctic
plants, many of the latter having no other
home this side of Labrador. In time we reach
timber line, above which nothing grows.
coaclie
Lincoln Warren.
5 are pushed bythe pilot beam
^d locomotive.
TRAINS 29 JUNE
1
.aM.-7-IkivtIIl..L
I-
W Washington C05 fly. |
Linn H. Westcott.
The cog railroad is three miles lon^.
Base Station was once connected with the Maine Central by a standard gauge branch line, but autos
now take travelers to the start of the mountain trip. Mount Washington is the highest peak in the East.
At Gulf Tank, two-thirds of the way up, we
stop again, repeating the same procedure as
before. As the sturdy little kettle of this third
train blasts her way upward we pass a small,
natural freak a profile of a man and, far
ther on, two graves. One is the cairn of Lizzie
Bourne, 23, who died in 1855 attempting to
reach the summit.
At last we round a long curve and pull up
Approaching'
Jacob's Ladder.
Another train can be seen in the distance. Notice
the cog rail or rack in the center of the track.
directly before Summit House. This, the third
building on the site, was opened in 1915. We
have reached an altitude of 6284 feet. The
building is called Mount Washington Club,
and contains a post office, spacious lobby,
huge fireplace, dining room, modern bath
rooms and steam-heated bed rooms to ac
commodate 140 guests. Fresh water is
pumped by steam up the mountain at a pres
sure of over 1800 pounds per square inch.
At the end of the trestle is the weather
bureau building. To withstand Winter storms
it is secured to the mountain by two stout
cables thrown over the roof and made fast to
cement anchors. The wind is very great at
times, the highest velocity recorded being 231
miles per hour (April 12, 1934).
The entire surrounding view is well worth
the trip. On a clear day visibility is as much
as 130 miles, including, at times, a glimpse of
New York and Canada. As we ascended we
saw the Presidential peaks of Jefferson,
Madison, and Adams. To the east we see
Androscoggin River and across Pinkham
Notch rises the grand Carter Dome with
Wildcat Range to the right. A little to the
south is a great view of Saco Valley, North
Conway, Intervale Range and Sandwich
Range, with the beautiful peaks of Chocorua,
Pangus, Passaconaway, Whiteface, Tripyra-
mid, and Sandwich Dome.
When the house bell rings we pile back into
the cars. The brakie gives something that
passes for a highball and we start down back
ward. The engineer uses stopping steam
while the brakes are set on both engine and
cars.
Courtesy Mount Washington Cog Railway.
TRAINS 30 JUNE
From the collection ot H. S. Walker, 10 Winthrop Ave., Marblehead. Mass.
Generally, in the course of a round trip,
one takes five different trains. Three are
kept shuttling back and forth on the moun
tain at once due to a lack of sidings. However,
this time it is different. Along the entire
trestle runs a telephone line. As no train is
waiting the brakeman gets off with a portable
phone box, attaches the transmitter, cranks
the handle and receives orders to proceed to
Waumbek Tank.
Those riding the rear platform have by this
time been liberally showered with cinders.
Since I have no use for a seat on any trip like
this, I get my fair share of dirt.
The railroad also handles small quantities
of supplies to the summit. On the ascent we
carried a sack of mail, three suitcases and a
crate of strawberries.
In due course the Ammonoosuc is recrossed
and we stop at Base Station. The fireman
looks very much like a young Ammonoosuc
himself after keeping the fire going to the
tune of shoveling a whole ton of coal during
the ascent.
P^irst of the locomotives was old Peppersass,*
which had an upright boiler swung on
trunnions; there was no cab. Invented by
Sylvester Marsh, it was built by Campbell &
Whittier, Boston, in 1886. The George Steph
enson was the second, built by Walter Aiken
at Franklin, N. H., with an upright boiler, one
cog wheel and a pair of cylinders. Aiken then
built four more. After they had run a few
years Aiken redesigned them, fitting horizon
tal boilers and an extra pair of cylinders.
Sidtt-s. the eighties.in
Trains and passengers pose by the summit hotel
during the great travel boom of the late nine
teenth century. Below is first No. 5, Cloud, built
by Walter Aiken in 1870 with upright boiler and
two10"xl6"
cylinders; rebuilt at Manchester in
1876 with horizontal boiler and four8"
x12"
cylinders. It was scrapped after a fire in 1895.
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H. S. Walker collection.
Peppersass has long since been discarded, buta likeness of it was built in the twenties for
publicity purposes. This second Peppersass
ran off the trestle in 1929.
Names of locomotives in the early days
were very interesting. There was Hero (Peppersass was its nickname), George Stephen
son, Eagle. Hercules, Atlas, Cloud, Tiptop,
trains 31 JUNE
Top, H. S. Walker collection; left, Lincoln Warren, Howe PI., Bronxville, N. Y.; right, Jim Morley, Etna St., Berkeley, Calif.
Locomotives nave tipped boilers, or is it a tipped frame?
So that the water level will be properly maintained throughout the journey, boilers are mounted to
run horizontally on inclined track; on level track they nose down. Summit is one of the modern engines,
relatively speaking. Notice hose for water supply. Below are two views of trains crossing Ammon
oosuc River just above Marshfield. Trees have been cleared at either side of the tracks to allow a better
view until timber line is reached. Since there is a dearth of sidings on the line, passengers are relayed
from train to train as they make the climb, each train doing shuttle service like the subway between
Grand Central Station and Times Square, but of course slower, steeper, and much more scenic. Engines
include such modern touches as the turbo-generator for car lighting, but still have ancient brass domes.
TRAINS Q2 JUNE
Falcon, and Pilgrim. Al
though most of these were
built with two cylinders,
many were converted with
four, and the size of the cyl
inders decreased at the
same time. Peppersass had8"xl2"
cylinders and
Stephenson10"
x16"
cylin
ders. All the four-cylinder
engines had8"
x12"
cylin
ders. When this rebuilding
was made the boilers were
all changed from vertical to
horizontal. Most of the con
version work was done at
Manchester in the late sev
enties. In 1895 there was a
great fire in Lyndonville
Shop of the Boston & Maine
Railroad, and Eagle, Atlas,
Cloud, and Falcon, which
were in this shop for repairs,
were destroyed. Eagle and
Cloud, were scrapped and
the others rebuilt and re
numbered so that the roster
after 1895 was: Peppersass,
Falcon, Atlas, Hercules, No.
4, No. 5, Tiptop, No. 7, Pil
grim, No. 9 all with8"
x
12"
cylinders.
No. 4 and No. 5 were in
teresting because they came
from the Green Mountain
Railway. This was an even
steeper cog road located on
M o u n t Desert Island in
Maine. It ran from Eagle
Lake to a hotel on the top
of Green Mountain (now
called Cadillac Mountain) .
Rails were bolted directly
to the rocks on this railroad.
It started operating in 1883,
but was strangled by lack of
business before 1895.
Present engines are tiny
0-4-0 types which have hor
izontal boilers tilted forward
to keep the water more or
less level and to prevent the
fire from spilling out of the
fire box while climbing.
They are compound engines
Top and bottom, courtesy Boston & Maine; center, H. S. Walker collection.
Mount "Washington events.
Autos can drive right to Base Station or to Marshfield, where there
are stores, night accommodations and a view of the mountain. Topview shows start of trip; the Ammonoosuc is crossed just beyond the
building. Center picture shows early construction train pushed byAtlas on Jacob's Ladder. Notice white top hats! Below, passengers
change cars at Gulf Tank. Gulf Tank is named for a great ice-worn
chasm called Great Gulf just a few feet north of the track. Water
for the tank must be pumped at great pressure from streams below.
TRAINS 33 JUNE
with two cylinders on each
side, each cylinder operating
one of the drivers which, in
turn, drive the big cog
mounted on an axle under
the chassis. Despite the huge
inverted-bowl-like screens
atop the stacks, some sparks
get by.
It may be a cinch being a
fireman on a modern line-
haul locomotive, but not on
this road. The tallow pot
wields a No. 4 banjo as hard
as he can swing it for about
70 minutes. The coal leaves
the scoop and is burned,
seemingly, without touching
the bed. Soot is blown up
the stack under terrific pres
sure.
'"TT'he Mount Washington
*-
Railway preceded by
over a decade the great
number of scenic railroads
built in the eighties. Con
struction was started in 1886
and it was opened to the
summit three years later in
July. For a while there was
no connection between Base
Station and the railroads of
the rest of the country, but
in 1876 a branch line of the
Boston, Concord & Montreal
Railroad was built from
Fabyan to Bay Station, 6.70
miles, with a grade of about
250 feet to the mile. (Its
construction was authorized
in 1869) . This was operated
with a little Mogul, No. 29,
named Mount Washington.
When the railroad became
part of the Concord & Mon
treal in 1890 the engine was
renumbered 82, but five
years later the Boston &
Maine leased the line and
again changed the number,
to 782. Service between
Fabyan and Base Station
was abandoned officially in
1932.
H. S. Walker collection.
In days or old.
Above, the second Peppersass was built for publicity purposes as a
copy of the first locomotive on the cog road. Fate didn't favor the
idea, or perhaps Peppersass I haunted the scene, and P II tumbled
over a trestle in July, 1929. Center, Mount Washington, a standard
gauge Mogul used to do shuttle service between Base Station, shown
here, and Fabyan, where it connected with Maine Central. Bottom,
an early train at the very same point where the bottom pictures on
page 32 were taken. Notice lack of vertical curves at this early date.
TRAINS 34 JUNE
© 2011 Kalmbach Publishing Co. This material may not be reproduced in any form without permission from the publisher. www.TrainsMag.com
cJiir anqels didn't operate the "Railway to
theClouds''
but they surely must have kept
close watch over it. for the Mount Washington
Railway can boast that no passenger was ever
killed or injured while riding the cushions to
the summit of New Hampshire's loftiest peak.
Oddly enough the safest, slowest railway ever
built also operated the fastest and most danger
ous newspaper delivery service in the world!
More will be told of this later.
Railroading at 6293 feet above sea level may
be an old story to Rocky Mountain hoggers but
many a tourist has left the base station of the
Mount Washington Railway on a day apparently
made to order for sightseeing, only to find his
train actually chugging and clanking its way
through a low-lying cumulus curtain which
effectively blocked the 130-mile view he came
to enjoy. Conversely, visitors to the summit are
frequently amazed to find several of New Hampshire's higher mountains sticking their tops
above the clouds, and what looked like a foggy
day at the base turns out to be sunny and bright
after a mere train ride of something like three
miles. Either way the weather doesn't bother
Mount Washington hoggers as there are no
grade crossings, junctions, passing sidings or
signals to worry about. And either way the
trip is always worth while for the passengers
as many interesting varieties of flora and fauna,otherwise found only within the arctic regions,
are visible along the right of way.
When Sylvester Marsh, a Littleton, N. H, in
ventor, conceived the world's first and steepest
mountain-climbing cog railway he found the
public skeptical of his brain child and extremely
wary about advancing him the necessary funds.
It if said thai the staid gentlemen of the legis
lature waggishly voted him a franchise to build
a cog railway to the moon, but Marsh quickly
silenced his hecklers by conducting a successful
public demonstration of cog railroading over a
half-mile test track on August 29, 1866. The
gradient on this test section was even steeper
than the 25 per cent average grade planned for
the road itself.
Financially aided by several railroad com
panies. Marsh completed the cog railway in a
little over three years in July, 1869, to be
exact. Three years to lay three miles of track
isn't exactly a record but one must remember
that, with the exception of the first quarter
mile, the track was not laid on the usual cinder
or stone ballast but was supported by a contin
uous timber trestle varying in height from two
feet above ground level most of the way to some
20 feet on "Jacob'sLadder,"'
at which point the
ruling grade was 36.6 per cent. In addition to
this the track gangs had three rails to lay in
stead of the usual two, for between the running
rails was the"cograil"
or"rack"
to which
Marsh's mountain-climbing railway owed its
success. This cograil consisted of two parallel
lengths of angle iron spaced about ZV2 inches
apart and connected to each other every 2V2
inches with sturdy pieces of round steel bar,
thus forming a rack into which the gears be
neath the locomotives meshed securely. As the
gears were independently connected to the
cylinders it was possible to drive the locomotive
up the steepest grade even though the drivers
themselves were spinning on slippery rail.
(Jiff 1 eppenass, the original Mount Washington
locomotive, had an upright boiler somewhat like
the Baltimore & Ohio's Atlantic but the simi
larity ended there, because builders Aiken,
Campbell and Whittier hung the boiler from a
pivot arrangement which permitted it to remain
vertical regardless of variations in the track
grade. On top of that the old girl made a noise
like no other engine in the world. It was this
noise, the constant, monotonous clatter-clatter
of the ratchet, which gave the Mount Washing
ton its 100 per cent safety record, for these
gears engaged the rack of the center rail, thus
making it possible to hold a train motionless at
any point regardless of slippery track conditions
and independent of the other braking systems
While later engines substituted a horizontal
boiler, raised slightly at the firebox end so as
to remain approximately level on the steep
grade, the rack and pinion has survived.
In actual operation the locomotive pushed
one single-truck car at a time to the summit.
the trip taking about 75 minutes. Starting at
the base station, the train made a stop for pas
sengers at Marsh-Field (said to be the smallest
ticket office in the world) then continued to
Coldspring Hill, where an operating stop was
made. Soon after crossing Jacob's Ladder
timber line was passed and a variety of inter
esting arctic flowers were apparent. After a
second stop at Gulf Tank the train chugged bythe Lizzie Bourne monument, a rough stone
cairn, and finally arrived at the summit. The
return trip, during which the locomotive backed
slowly down in front of the car, took only five
minutes less than the ascent. Car and locomo
tive were never coupled, the idea being that
Trains, June 1946 29
the car could be stopped independently should
there be any locomotive brake failure.
For many years a small newspaper containing
the names of visitors to the summit and other
scintillating chatter was published on Mount
Washington and delivered daily to the hotels
at the base. It was this paper. Among the Clouds,
which frequently provided employees of the
cogroad the opportunity for a more rapid
descent of the mountain than usual. This was
done by the use of"slideboards"
or"shingles,"
toboggan-like gadgets about a yard long and
12 inches wide. These shingles fitted over the
cograil and slid down at roller-coaster speed,
controlled only by friction brakes which the
rider gripped (no doubt tightly!) in a manner
similar to the handholds on a regulation to
boggan. In order to deliver Among the Clouds
to the base station in time to be perused over
breakfast coffee the paper was frequentlycarried down the mountain by slideboard at
60 miles an hour. The all-time record made byPatrick Camden was two minutes and 45 seconds
for the three mile run.
The use of the slideboard was finally banned
after several employees were seriously injured
and another killed while "runningextra."
Slide-
boarding also caused the tragic death of two
19-year-old schoolboys who attempted a roller-
coaster descent of the mountain on a shingle
made of old ties roped together. The impromptu
device ran wild and jumped the track on Jacob's
Ladder, plunging to the rocks below.
In 1904 Old Peppersass disappeared from view
and was generally forgotten. Nearly 25 years
later she was"discovered"
in the B&O station
at Baltimore by Guy Robert, an amateur his
torian of Whitefield, N. H.
On July 20, 1929, a gay homecoming com
plete with bunting and speeches was arranged.
and B&M President George Hannaur formally
presented the 63-year-old engine to the State
of New Hampshire, represented by Governor
Tobey. At the conclusion of the ceremonies
Old Peppersass, fortunately running light, again
clanked and puffed her way to the summit.
The faithful old gal made her run to the
top assmoothlyr
as ever but had barely started
her return trip down the mountain when some
thing threw her out of mesh with the cograil
and she began to pick up speed.
The crew tried unsuccessfully to stop Pep
persass by using the hand brakes but were
forced to jump, leaving the historic locomotive
to run wild down the steep grade, carrying with
her Daniel Rossiter. a photographer who was
killed. Why Rossiter failed to join the birds with
the members of the crew is unknown. When he
did jump from the tender the runaway was
already on the 325 foot long Jacob's Ladder
and ready to leave the rails herself.
Peppersass was hauled from Burt's Ravine
(named for the founder of Among the Clouds)nine days after the accident, completely rebuilt
and returned to the B&O.
During the war service was suspended but
the railway is again in operation this year.
Motorists from all parts of the country are con
verging on the base station for a restful journey
up New England's most unique railroad.
MM*
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If you have an old stereo viewer try it wiih the photo on the opposite page showing Peppersass or its twin brother at
work before ihe line was opened in 1869. Above, approaching the summit the trains pass great chasms called gulfs.
Below, Jacob's Ladder, a trestle 20 feet high and 325 feet long, is considered the most spectacular part of the long climb.
Trains, June 1946 31
© 2011 Kalmbach Publishing Co. This material may not be reproduced in any form without permission from the publisher. www.TrainsMag.com
JACOB'S UDDER
HALFWAY HOUSE
MARSHFIELD
PASSENGER
STATION
AT 2 MILES FROM
BASE STATION,LINE HAS CLIMBED
2380 FT
1510 FT AT I'/i MILES
810 FT AT 1 MILE
MILE
BASE
ELEVATION 2520 FT
SHOPS, SHED,BUNKHOUSE, ETC
ABANDONED
RAILROAD
7 MILES TO
BRETTON WOODS
DASHED LINE IS TRACK PLAN IN PERSPECTIVE
AT AN ELEVATION OF 2500 FEET ABOVE SEA
LEVEL; VERTICAL LINES ARE fe MILE APART
BY S. S. WORTHEN
Photographs by Jim Shaughnessy
the Moon. Nevertheless, Sylvester got
his charter for his railroad to the top
of Mount Washington, plus one to
climb Mount Lafayette, just for good
measure.
The public was just as incredulous.
Money could not be raised for the un
dertaking, so Sylvester paid for the
construction of a short stretch of track
on Cold Spring Hill and for a full-
scale locomotive. There (near the
present Marshfielcl station) on Au
gust 29, 1866, he confounded the unbe
lievers with considerable success. His
basic patent covering the rack-rail
locomotive and special track is dated
September 10, 1861.
The practical demonstration of
Sylvester's idea prompted the general
public to investigate the scheme; a
company was formed and Sylvester
was elected president. Construction
continued rapidly through 1867 to the
extent of one mile. By 1868 the line
39
TRANSFER TABLE at the cnginchousc moves all cars
and locomotives in and out. The railway will soon go mod
ern with a company-built aluminum, roller-bearing car.
PASSING requires moving seven pieces of track and
throwing two switches. No. 8 waits in the hole near a
Waumbek water tank after downbound train has passed.
,^...
had passed beyond the tricky con
struction of Jacob's Ladder, and a for
mal opening to this point was cele
brated on August 14, 1868. The 4-foot
7-inch-gauge line crept upward to the
6293-foot summit in the spring of
1869, and in July the contractors de
clared it finished at a total expendi
ture of $150,000. The waiting list of
distinguished visitors and world trav
elers was headed by President Grant
and his family, who rode serenely to
the top on the world's first cog line to
enjoy the unsurpassed view for a
hundred miles in all directions.
The 31 i-mile railroad was supported
almost entirely on wooden trestle-
work, and much of this timber was cut
from the lower slopes of the mountain.
Ox teams hauled the timber and other
supplies to the base camp. Materials
from iron foundries were brought bythe White Mountains Railroad to Lit
tleton, N. H, and the remaining 22
hard miles were over a dirt road. The
actual right of way of the line con
sisted of rails laid on standard rail
road ties. These ties were carried on
longitudinal timbers, shored up with
shims and braces. On the upper
heights of the line there is no footingon the rocky slopes, which makes a
trestle-type of roadbed most suitable.
The present-day appearance of the
line is probably not much different
fiom that of 80 years ago.
Jl he first locomotive operating on
Sylvester's patented right of way was
an upright-boilere-er curiosity various
ly known as Peppersass, Peppersauce,
Hero, or just plain No. 1. The large
upright boiler was thought to resem
ble a cruet which sometimes contained
a condiment called peppersauce
hence the unusual name. The boiler
was truly vertical and hung on trun-
ions which allowed it to remain level
while climbing the varying grades on
the mountain. The boiler could devel
op 45 horsepower at 50 pounds steam
pressure and was wood-fired. It had
no reverse mechanism and could not
run backward under its own power
when on the level. A woodbox tender
was mounted on the same frame as
the boiler, and the rear wheels under
the tender were larger than the lead
ing wheels, which made the engine
nose forward slightly when it was on
the level.
The whole contraption was pro
pelled by two cylinders placed hori
zontally on each side of the boiler and
bolted to the engine frame. These
connected with a crank shaft working
forward, which was geared directly to
two large gear wheels on the same
shaft as the cog wheel. This cog wheel
and its accompanying special rail was
the whole crux of Sylvester Marsh's
idea.
The engine rode along on the two
outer standard tram rails and simul
taneously the large toothed cog wheel
meshed with the pins in the rack rail
a">d thus the engine literally pulled
itself up the hill in"hand-over-hand"
fashion. The center rack-rail was com
posed of two pieces of angle iron 3
inches wide, placed on their edges
parallel to each other. They were con
nected every 4 inches with strong pins
W-i inches in diameter. The locomotive
pushed a passenger car ahead of it.
The coach was about 25 feet long run
ning on four wheels and was not con
nected to the engine. Instead it had a
roller buffer which allowed free lateral
and vertical motion on the grades.
The engine came down the mountain
in the same position so that there was
no need for turning the train at the
top.
Although Old Peppersass remained
on the line in continuous use for 12
years there came a time when new
engines were required. Walter Aiken
of Franklin, N. H, was most helpful
in developing an improved type. It
was heavier than the 8 tons of Pepper
sass and surpassed her modest cost of
$15,000. The engines also bore such
mundane names as Cloud, Atlas and
George Stephenson.
By the time the wonderful moun
tain railroad had been completed, the
thriving Boston, Concord & Montreal
Railroad completed purchase of the
White Mountains Railroad to Little
ton, N. H. Straightaway it constructed
a line to Bretton Woods in Crawford
Notch. From this point a line of rail
way was completed some 7 mi'es to
the Base Station at the foot of Mount
Washington. This distance was very
heavily graded, and a Mogul locomo-
40 July 1956
OLD PEPPERSASS stands proudly by while a younger
worker waits with the morning train at Marshfield. A ton
of coal and 1000 gallons of water are used on an ascent.
UP AND OVER goes Ammonoosuc with a load of passen
gers. Highest wind velocity ever recorded was here on
Mount Washington in April 1934 231 miles an hour.
tive No. 29 was ordered by the
Boston, Concord & Montreal from the
Manchester Locomotive Works of
Manchester, N. H. For many years
this locomotive hauled the two open
coaches and the combination open
passenger-baggage car loaded with
patrons for the cog railway.
The second type of cog locomotive
was built with an enclosed cab
but retained the upright boiler. A
later and longer-lasting modification
was the horizontal boiler, tilted for
ward at about 10 degrees to the level
of the rail, thus keeping the water-
level in the boiler over the crownsheet
at ail times. Two more cylinders and
an additional cog wheel on an ad
ditional rear axle make up the
mechanical changes which are appar
ent on today's engine.
The location of the right of way is
most direct. Literally, it begins at
the bottom of the mountain and ends
at the top. The locomotive and car
sheds and shops are located about
one eighth of a mile below Marshfield,the passenger station at the foot of the
mountain. Coaches and engines are
housed in stalls in the sheds and
moved in and out on a transfer table.
A short stretch of service track leads
to the coaling platform and the water
plug, and thence up a short, sharp
grade to the comparative level stretch
in front of Marshfield station.
Once the coach is loaded with 48
revenue passengers, the train starts
thundering up the trestle at about 2li
miles an hour. Passing over the Am
monoosuc River, the steep grade up
Cold Spring slows the train to 1.75
miles an hour and leans the passengers
back in their seats. At a distance the
train sounds like the Pennsylvania
crossing the Alleghenies. After ne
gotiating a slight curve to the right,
the track heads up the 30 per cent
grade to Waumbek Tank.
You find there is a siding at this
point, and after taking on a tankful
of water the train may take the sid
ing. If you should happen to ride the
first train up in the morning at 9 a.m.
you would continue on up around a
shoulder of the mountain, slightly to
the right again, and at the 4600-foot
level you would pass the Halfway
House, now a tumbled-down shanty
beside the track. As you swing around
to the left you can see the spidery legs
of Jacob's Ladder above, and it is not
too long (even at 2 miles an hour) be
fore you are struggling onto the ap
proach.
This is the most impressive part
of the whole trip. In order to negoti
ate a slight ravine and attain the flank
of the mountain at a higher level the
railway is built on a wooden trestle
about 30 feet high and ascending a
gradient of 36.6 per cent simultane
ously. It is about 200 feet long and
lifts the train 1 foot (13% inches to be
exact) for every 3 feet of distance.
The trestle was destroyed, together
with much of the exposed trackwork,
during the famous hurricane of 1938,
and the cost of renewing about 1 mile
of line was half the original cost of
the whole line.
Clinging to the northeast side of
the peak, the railway winds along the
ridge overlooking the Great Gulf, a
rocky chasm some 2000 feet deep.
Gaining comparatively level ground
on the northeast portion of the moun
tain, the railway turns southwest, and
with a final steep ascent, puffs to a
stop beside the Summit House. Later
on, the departure of the train is sig
naled by the ringing of an old loco
motive bell.
One of the most interesting features
of the trackwork is the siding arrange
ment. Although the line is single-
tracked all the way, there are two
dead-end sidings which are used to al
low upbound trains to pass down-
bound trips. In order to take the sid
ing it is necessary to move seven
pieces of track and change two
switches. Then when the up train is
in the clear the down train proceeds
over the switch at a very low speed.
Sometimes when two trains meet at
one of the platforms at Waumbek
Tank or Sky Line, the passengers
change trains and the trains reverse
their journeys.
Although mountain climbers have
perished in the unseasonable moun
tain storms as recently as 1932 the
railroad has operated from 1869 with
but a single fatality. In 1929 during a
celebration of the 60th anniversary of
its age Old Peppersass was refur-
Trains 41
&
bished and was operated for the bene
fit of visitors and the press. It oper
ated so well that it was taken up the
mountain to a much higher point than
had been planned originally. As it
return journey carrying some report
ers and photographers a tooth in the
single cog wheel broke and caused
this cog gear to jump out of the rack
rail. The accident happened so unex
pectedly that the safety devices could
not be used. Warned by the shouts
of the engineer all the passengers
started down the steep grade on its jumped off safely before the locomo-
THE BELL on the roof of the Summit House (elevation 6288 feet) announces
departures of the trains. Here at the top clouds are in close proximity.
WORK EXTRA in the hands of No. 9 Waumbek drops down from the topbetween traffic to the "home
stretch,"
just below the top, for some track work.
MEET AT SKY LINE: Nos. 4 and 6 went into the hole for No. 8, blasting
up the mountain. Occasionally trains trade passengers, reverse directions.
tive had attained a breakneck speed.
Unfortunately, a photographer who
was riding in front of the tender did
not hear the shouts and did not
jump. When the old locomotive leaped
off the track at a sharp curve he was
carried to his death in the depths of
the Great Gulf. The locomotive stands
today at Marshfield station, where it
was reassembled after the accident.
In the normal year about 35,000
passengers are pushed up the hill. The
rolling stock and locomotives are in
excellent condition. The trip takes
about 1 hour 10 minutes, but passen
gers may spend as much time as theylike on the top and upper slopes of
the mountain. Safety is of course a
prime consideration, and four sep
arate devices are used to control the
train's speed. Large friction brakes,controlled by a governor and a hand
brake wheel, are installed on the
coaches. These brakes act either au
tomatically or under the control of the
brakeman. The locomotives operate
backward down the mountain so that
the admission of steam to the cylinders
acts as an auxiliary brake. On the
locomotive driving axles there is a
"dog-and-ratchet"
device which could
be made to stop the engine and coach
at once. Two similar devices are placed
on the two coach axles.
Two of the seven locomotives were
acquired from the cog railway which
ran up Cadillac Mountain at Bar Har
bor, Me., many years ago. The re
mainder were purchased by the com
pany. There were nine in all, named
and numbered as follows: No. 1:
Mount Washington; No. 2: Ammo-
noosuc; No. 3: Base Station; No. 4:
Summit; No. 5: Became No. 3, later
was scrapped; No. 6: Great Gulf; No.
7: Scrapped; No. 8: Tip Top; No. 9:
Waumbek.
The coaches are not named but car
ry the numbers 1, 2, 4, 6, 7 and 9.
The color scheme is light gray on the
sides with grass-green trim. The lo
comotives retain their black boilers,with aluminum smokeboxes and
stacks. The cab panels are bright red
with the name of the engine in gold.
The four-wheel tenders are green
with bright-red side and rear panels
matching the cab panels. On the sides
of the tender appears the title
MT. WASHINGTON COG RAILWAY with the
number in the same yellow on the rear
panel.
The whole remarkable operation
prompted President Grant to remark
that "man seems so small when you
look at theUniverse."
A more per
tinent comment came from P. T. Bar-
num. He, with great deference, ad
mitted that it was "the second greatest
show onearth."
© 2011 Kalmbach Publishing Co. This material may not be reproduced in any form without permission from the publisher. www.TrainsMag.com
STEAM IN INDIAN SUMMER 12
at sea level and 6288 feet up
respects to the beetle-browed power of Grand Trunk and takes a chilly ride
into the clouds behind a snorting bone-shaker of a geared 0-2-2-0
Grand Trunk No. 17 Crosses Swing Bridge at Mouth of Back Cove, Me.
Do not pass up except under most unavoidable conditions.
Trains 23
STEAM IN
INDIAN S
2-10-2's that had "drag engine" written all over them when it might better
have emulated CPR's success with
Selkirk 2-10-4's. But most of the
money went for versatile Mountains
and Northerns, free-steaming jobswith drivers of liberal dimension and
lenient axle loading.The engine we watched in Portland,
the 6017, was one of the first a Ca
nadian Locomotive Company productof 1923. Actually, she was not a heavy
engine. With an engine weight of
355,570 pounds, the 6017 rode the
scales at little more than a lightU.S.R.A. 4-8-2 and less than a New
York Central Hudson. Yet she con
cealed this fact nay, she Eliza Doo-
littled her inadequacy of specificationinto an appearance of tremendous
power and ferocity by merely dotingon details.
Such as what? Well, first and fore
most, an Elesco feedwater heater
lending what Al Kalmbach once cited
as the overbearing "John L. Lewis
brow" and giving to a locomotive, I
think, that look of concentration that
a frown gives you or me. Outboard
bearings on the engine truck lent a
touch of excitement, too somewhat
the same racy leaning-into-it appearance the same design gave the nearby4-8-2's of Central Vermont and the
Milwaukee Road F-6 Hudsons. Add
an offset bell behind the steam dome,a Delta trailing truck, an all-weather
Pullman cab, and a big 12-wheel tank,
and you have quite a hunk of 4-8-2.
Canadian National followed the
some tremendous pattern on all of its
early 4-8-4's, the afore-mentioned
2-10-2's, and certain Mikes. More
modern power may have been cleaned
up in over-all design, but it lost the
huge look. Unfortunately, too.
The 6017 had very little to be
ferocious about that September morn
ing . . . just a bit of head-end revenue,
a coach, and a parlor car on a leisure
ly schedule (9 hours 50 minutes for
294.9 miles) to Montreal. At 8:20 a.m.
she eased off, sauntered along Port
land's waterfront, eased onto the low
trestle and swing bridge across the
mouth of Back Cove, then struck out
across Maine for the Dominion. Has
tings and I were, sad to relate, road-
bound. I would have enjoyed riding
No. 17, otherwise. The sight of smoke
drifting back past coach window glassis a rare, rare thing these days much
too rare to pass up except under the
most unavoidable conditions. Say, an
important appointment.Which we had up the pike at Dan
ville Junction. There, standing in the
clear and in weeds, was a gentle Baldwin Mike of pre-World War I con
struction, the 3432. Coupled behind
was a graceful, wooden-sheathed, 12-wheel combine. That constituted the
mixed-train connection for Lewiston,
Me., IV2 miles distant. Like the steam
engine that hauled it, this schedule
was living on borrowed time; todayyou ride a bus.
Study Hastings' photographic evi
dence of this connection at Danville
Junction the waiting mixed, the
mainline train comin' round the bend,
passengers and bystanders moving up
as the 4-8-2 comes striding in with all
of the authority of the Lark in San
Jose. As late as World War II this
kind of activity happened all over the
U. S. and Canada in scores of remote
and unremarked junctions. But nos
talgia, even purest Americana, is no
match for rising costs and authors of
annual reports.
After all, you can't make any coin
running a Mike, a combine, and a full
crew lv-i miles with four or five pa
trons and a box or two of express, justas you can't find a fairer scene in rail
roading than Danville Junction as
haughty No. 17 steams in to make con
nection with the lowly mixed for
Lewiston.
o>ome wise man has said that the
fundamental of layman concern for
the railroad is not the steam locomo
tive nor the metropolitan terminus
nor even the romance of the names
stenciled on 744,000 box cars, but the
very basic fact of the flanged wheel
upon the steel rail. I like that, for it
accounts for a parallel in marginal in
terest in such mechanisms as the sub
way and the el and in those electrified
narrow gauges that go threading a
labyrinth underground to where coal
is dug. It also allows for the 900-series
streetcars that once rocked along
STEAM IS WHERE you find
it, and in July TRAINS we dis
cover it behind a paper mill . . .
at the birthplace of the tomb
stone ... on a dog farm . . .
across the international bound
ary. All manner of steam, too
tank, geared, conventional, live
and dead. Come along with us in
July TRAINS as we look at and
comment on steam in many set
tings and in many strides.
down Preston Street in Louisville and
for the unheralded industrials that
seclude themselves behind the locked
gates and smoky smelters of industry.Also the cog railway, of course
that tourist oddity which discards the
rulebook of ordinary adhesion-type
railroading and really goes uphill,sometimes at the astounding rate of
more than a foot up for each 36 inches
ahead. The one up Pikes Peak dis
posed of its delightful little Baldwins
in favor of buslike diesels before I
got a chance to purchase a ticket, and
as a consequence I did not. But when
Hastings noted that our steam safari
led near Mount Washington, N. H.,and that the summit could be reached
by steam locomotion, I was happy to
sample this unique brand of flanges
(and cogs) on steel rails.
Just to refresh your memory, Mount
Washington is the highest peak in the
northeastern U. S.; a member of the
Presidential Range, Washington rises
to a summit of 6293 feet. The Mount
Washington Railway was opened on
July 3, 1869, and except for cessations
of service in both World Wars, it has
operated continuously ever since.
Jl ake my word for it the ride up
is quite an experience.It is slow . . . the 3/i-mile journey
requires approximately 70 minutes.
It is cold . . . summit temperature
has never exceeded 74 degrees and in
September the climate stifles any
argument the visitor might make
about the claim that the thermometer
once sank to 49 below.
It is well, cinder y . . . Mount
Washington Railway needs air con
ditioning like Electro-Motive needs
blacksmiths, thus quite a bit of the ton
of coal burned on each ascent seeps
inside the coach.
It is noisy . . . each engine has four
cylinders turning over tricycle-size
driving-wheels-plus-cogs, and at 2%
miles per hour the thunder is "Mallets
in the Rockies" and then some, not
to mention the vibration.
It is disarming, not to say outright
Passenger's View of Engine 4 Climbing Jacob's Ladder
Like Electro-Motive needs blacksmiths . . .
Trains 25
STEAM IN
INDIAN SUMMER
frightening ... I was aware that
Mount Washington Railway had suf
fered only a single passenger fatalitysince 1869, that engine and coach are
equipped with several braking de
vices, and that any passenger climbing
3760 feet in 31- miles in anything is
apt to ponder the consequences re
gardless of the odds against them
and yet that one fatality had been a
member of the press, hadn't he?
It is eccentric . . . the gauge is 4 feet
7 inches, the grade hits 36.6 per cent,
the view is extraordinary.
Finally, it is very difficult to ade
quately describe. With a great deal
of huffing and puffing, engine No. 4
Base Station comes roaring up to
the depot at a snail's pace, pushing an
open-platform, 48-seat coach: passen
gers troop aboard: and you're off.
I was first impressed by the engine,
an 0-2-2-0 that looked something like
a mobile sawmill power plant with a
silver smokebox and a huge cab to
mark its calling. The boiler slanted at
10 degrees this to keep the water
MountWashington Engine No. 2 "Ammonoosuc" Approaches Skyline Siding
Now it's off to bi-polars marching over the Bitter Roots.
26 June 1957
over the crownsheet which gave the
little fellow a perpetual appearance of
kneeling, and the locomotive trailed a
ridiculous little four-wheel tender.
And a harder working engine never
held a fire on her grates. Once under
way the coach shakes and vibrates as
No. 4 literally noses against the car
(there are no couplers) and furiously
cogs her way upgrade at 2V? miles
per hour when the grade is easy and
at 1.75 when it is not. The way it
feels, the view . . . oh. well, go there
this summer or next and see, or rather
feel, Mount Washington for yourself.There are scores of incidental mem
ories to be earned watching the crew
throw two switches and move seven
pieces of track each time the train
takes siding to clear the main . . .
leaning way out over hardly anythingat all on Jacob's Ladder (OphirTrestles on Rio Grande Southern were
the only real equivalent for that in my
book) . . . feeling the engine at stops
steam mightily, shove the coach for
ward a mite, then roll back and
joggle to a stop on the brake. Brother!
. . . The feeling at summit of divorce
from the cares of the world, indeed,from the world itself.
Anyway, I've ridden it and I'm
glad. That's one more railroad to be
Approaching Waumbeck Tank
3V4 miles, TO mimttes.
crossed off my list. I suppose any con
firmed train-watcher has such a list.
A ride on a 4-8-4, a reservation on the
Century, the sight of a Shay . . .
Now that "cog railway" is secured,I'm off in planning if not in practice
to ride that Beyer-Garratt in South
Africa, to see the bi-polars marchingover the Bitter Roots, to walk that
loop track under Grand Central.
Where are you bound?
© 2011 Kalmbach Publishing Co. This material may not be reproduced in any form without permission from the publisher. www.TrainsMag.com
th
Old Peppersass Starts Upgrade for the Last Time
The previous outing was the Fair of the Iron Horse.
Illustrated by the author
Peppersass Follows Camera Train from Base Station
Like an elephant kneeling on its front legs.
the Mount Washington Cog Railway63 years earlier.
Some 500 invitations had been is
sued by the Boston & Maine Railroad,which at the time controlled the cog
railway, and most of the invited were
to be present. Hotel space was at a
premium at Bretton Woods, Fabyanand the Mount Pleasant House.
Gov. Charles W. Toby of New
Hampshire and the governors of the
five other New England states were
Bound for the Top: Five Trains and No. 1
A franchise to run on to the moon?
Trains 47
attending, as were Pres. George Han-
nauer and other high officials of the
Boston & Maine. Special guests of
honor were Mrs. F. Patterson Smith
and Mrs. Carl R. Lindstrom, daughtersof Sylvester Marsh, builder of the
Mount Washington Cog Railway.
My part in the proceedings that daywas as a free-lance cameraman for
Kinograms Newsreel, one of the con
temporary movie news services. My
regular territory was the west coast of
Florida, but in the early part of July1929 I had been visiting my parents at
Rumford, Me., and had observed in an
issue of the Boston Post an item about
the forthcoming railroad celebration
at Bretton Woods. N. H. A query to
the newsreel editor in New York had
resulted in my being assigned to work
with a regular New England staff
man. My equipment included a small
35 mm. spring-wound camera in ad
dition to my regular heavy tripod-mounted machine, so I was designatedto make the so-called pickup and cut-
in shots while the other man made the
general "cover" shots.
I had driven over from Rumford on
the afternoon of the 19th and con
tacted my working partner that eve
ning at the Mount Pleasant House,where fortunately I had made an ad
vance reservation. The next morning
we met in the dining room early to
avoid the rush and to possibly get
ahead of the Pathe, International and
Fox cameramen whom we had seen in
the lobby the previous evening. Rival
ry was strong among newsreel men in
those days, and by prearrangement
with the cog railway management I
was to go to the Base Station early to
make my cut-in close-ups of Pepper
sass as Engineer E. C. Frost ran her
back and forth for my special benefit.
I was particularly anxious to get a
shot of the cogwheel and the rest of
the "works." With my small auto
matic camera mounted between the
rails, I would get a shot of Peppersass
approaching and passing directlyoverhead. Naturally, I did not want to
share my carefully made arrange
ments with my competitors.
We had an early breakfast and
made our getaway from the Mount
Pleasant House. After turning off
Highway 302, a drive of a few minutes
along the road toward the Base Sta
tion of the cog railway brought us past
the golf course and the entrance to the
luxurious Mount Washington Hotel.
As the road turned slightly to the
right, we entered the deep forest,
an area of wondrous woodland beauty
which extended the 5 miles to the
Base. Here and there a chattering
chipmunk scampered across the gravel
road through patches of early morning
sunlight filtering softly down through
the treetops. Faintly in the distance
above the sound of the rushing Am-
monoosuc River nearby we heard the
whistle of a train, definitely Boston &
Maine and doubtless one of the spe
cials brine . guests to the cele
bration.
We passed the intersection of the
cross-mountain road from Jefferson
and Randolph, then after a few more
sharp curves and a final bridge the
road climbed suddenly as we entered
the Marshrield clearing and crossed
the tracks of the B&M mountain
branch from Fabyan Junction.
A few hundred yards ahead and to
our left was a motley array of build
ings: engine and car sheds facing each
other across a short transfer table,
machine shops, and an assortment of
tool and section houses. Directly on
our right was the boarding house for
employees of the cog railway.Smoke was curling lazily upward
from all of the tile-pipe smokestacks
of the enginehouse, for six locomotives
would be working today. Already pas
senger car No. 6 was standing on the
main track by the end of the car shed,and as we scrambled down the pathfrom the road one of the regular road
engines with its inclined boiler, look
ing for all the world like an elephant
kneeling on its front legs, was broughtsidewise along the table into line with
the main track. With a few short,
rapid strokes of its pistons it nudgedits buffer up against the coach, pausedfor a moment, then moved up the
track toward the station above. This
train was to make its regular early
morning trip to the summit carrying a
few employees, supplies for the Sum
mit House, and the morning mail. It
would return to the base around
noontime, well before the exercises
which had been scheduled for 2 p.m.
As we turned our attention toward
the enginehouse again there emerged
slowly from the farthest stall the
weirdest contraption imaginable a
locomotive resembling an ordinarysteam hoisting engine, "with a wheel
barrow on behind." This was Old
Peppersass, the world's first cog rail
way locomotive. Its official name had
been Hero, but a certain Yankee wit,as he noticed that the engine in its
general appearance strongly resem
bled the old peppersauce bottle that
graced the tables of most homes of
the 1860's, is reputed to have re
marked, "Huh! Looks like a pepper
sass bottle, don't she!" The remark
seemed to settle her name once and
for all, and Hero was soon forgotten.We cranked away at the camera as
Peppersass was brought toward us on
the table a striking and appropriate
introduction for her to our movie
audiences.
Peppersass was the brainchild of
Sylvester Marsh, a native of Campton,
N. H. Born in 1803. he was an inventor
who had perfected a number of im
portant devices. While he was on a
visit to the White Mountains in 1852,Marsh conceived the idea of buildinga railroad up Mount Washington. In
1858 the New Hampshire Legislature
granted a charter to him for such a
railroad. One of the legislators pro
posed an amendment allowing him
to continue "on to the moon."
Marsh drew the plans for the loco
motive, which was built in the shops
of Campbell & Whittier of Roxbury,
Mass., and on August 29, 1866, he
demonstrated its operation on a short
section of experimental track on Cold
Spring Hill, near the present site of
the Base Station.
The locomotive consisted of an up
right boiler of 45 horsepower at 50
pounds pressure, hung on trunnions.
which allowed it to swing into a ver
tical position on the steep grades.
There were two cylinders connected
to a crankshaft, on which was a small
gear which meshed with a larger gear
on the cogwheel shaft. This cogwheel
engaged the cograil which was cen
tered between the regular running
rails. There was a system of rugged
friction brakes but reverse compres
sion in the cylinders was the main
means of control in descending the
heavy grades. The locomotive cost
$3000 and in running order weighed8 tons.
Peppersass served faithfully in the
construction of the line up the moun
tain and in regular service until 1881,
when she was retired. At the time of
the Columbian Exposition in 1893 she
was placed on exhibition in Chicago,and in 1904 she was displayed at the
Louisiana Purchase Exposition in St.
Louis.
Subsequently Peppersass came into
the ownership of the Baltimore & Ohio
Railroad, and during 1928 she ap
peared at the Fair of the Iron Horse
near Baltimore, Md. It was at this
time that the Boston & Maine, which
by then controlled the Mount Wash
ington Cog Railway, conceived the
idea of bringing her back to her na
tive environment in New Hampshire.As a means of publicizing the rail
road, a gala celebration was plannedon the occasion of the 60th anniver
sary of its opening. The grand climax
would be reached as Peppersass made
a final climb "to the clouds" before be
ing placed on permanent exhibition at
the Bretton Woods station.
As the memorable relic was
brought toward us we noticed the
highly polished brasswork, black and
silver paint of the boiler and other
48 July 1959
mechanical parts, and the bright red
and green paint of the high-sided
tender which had the name peppersass
proudly displayed on each side. The
engine had been recently brought
from the B&M shops at Concord, N. H,
where no efforts had been spared in
restoring her to her original condi
tion.
After a brief word of greeting from
Engineer E. C. Frost and Fireman
W. I. Newsham, who were in charge of
Peppersass this day, we climbed
aboard and moved on up the track to
a point just below the slanting trestle
over the Ammonoosuc stream. On the
way we passed workmen who were
putting the final touches of decoration
on a little sectionhouse on the north
side of the track, erecting a speaker's
platform in front, and arranging chairs
for the spectators. Here at 2 p.m.
would take place the formal exercises
immediately preceding Peppersass'
last climb.
I dismounted from the engine with
my equipment, then clambered down
under the trestle to a point where I
could just reach up through the tim
bers and secure the small automatic
camera to a crosstie between the rails.
Engineer Frost brought Peppersass
slowly onto the trestle and stopped so
that I could check clearance between
the camera and the pinion gears and
cogwheel. Then he backed down the
track a distance and at my signal came
forward as I poked my head up far
enough between the crossties to check
my composition through the view
finder and start the camera motor. I
ducked down quickly before the loco
motive passed directly overhead,
clearing the camera by scant inches
and showering me with a mixture of
ashes and hot water. The resulting
picture was quite effective; and owingto subsequent happenings of the day,the workings of the gears and cog
wheel proved to be of considerable
significance.
The morning was passing rapidly,and since we were due at the Mount
Washington House for lunch at 11:45
I completed my morning filming of
Peppersass with close-ups of whistle
blowing, details of the crossheads and
connecting rods, and a shot of Engineer Frost at the controls.
.Luncheon in the main diningroom at the Mount Washington was a
gay affair, attended by all the im
portant guests. There was the usual
friendly bantering at the press table,from which we excused ourselves
early in order to set up our camera
outside to film the departure from the
hotel of the governors' party aboard
an old Crawford Coach which in years
gone by had transported hundreds of
Peppersass Crosses Ammonoosuc River Trestle
The original price tag was $3000.
Underneath: Cogwheel at Right Engaged Rack
Disengagement spelled tragedy minutes away.
Last View of Peppersass Before Fatal Plunge
For unknown reason the B&M man didn't jump.
Trains 49
passengers to the cog railway. Todaythe historic old vehicle took the dignitaries to the station of the B&M
mountain branch, then two heavilyloaded and gaily decorated open cars
took the party to the cog road station
at the Base.
Exercises commenced promptly at
2 p.m. immediately in front of the lit
tle sectionhouse and they included
brief speeches by officials of the Bos
ton & Maine and the Baltimore & Ohio.
followed by Governor Toby, who in
behalf of the State accepted Peppersass for the recreational interests of
New Hampshire.At the conclusion of the exercises
the old locomotive, having been duly
eulogized and "christened." took her
place at the rear of the parade of
trains which were to carry the official
party and guests to the Summit. Im
mediately preceding Peppersass was
the official press train, consisting of
one of the regular' locomotives, coaches
and a festively decorated trailer car
behind. We movie and still photogra
phers set up our equipment in the lat
ter to photograph Peppersass as she
brought up the rear.
The small trailer car, which was
regularly used to transport baggageand supplies up the mountain, had
rather high sides and was coupled to
the rear (down-mountain end) of the
locomotive by a single slender cou
pling link. To my knowledge there
were no brakes of any sort on this car,
and with 10 or 12 men and their heavymovie equipment occupying it, we
were facing hazards which were typi
cal of our profession in those days.With all the trains fully loaded the
procession started, amid the din of
the whistles of all six locomotives. The
cameras ground away at Peppersass
as she gallantly dug her toes into the
increasing grade over the Ammonoo
suc River trestle and started up Cold
Spring Hill.
Upward we climbed with the loco
motive of each conventional train and
the relic blasting a column of smoke
high into the summer sky as the pro
cession mounted the shoulder of the
Hill approaching Waumbek Tank.
Here each of the trains paused brieflyto take water before proceeding to
ward the hardest part of the climb
ahead.
When the watering was accom
plished, the trains moved onward to
ward the halfway station. Everything
was going according to plan. By this
time the trains had become widely
separated because of the time re
quired for each to take water at
Waumbek. Peppersass and the cam
era train were considerably in the
rear owing to the low gearing of the
old locomotive and to the frequent
stops that were made to afford track-
side photographs and close-up run
ning shots.
As the cavalcade approached the
maximum grade of 36.6 per cent on
Jacob's Ladder, it was agreed that
Peppersass would not be called upon
to stop or start for any further photo
graphs and that the next stop would
be at Gulf Tank just above the Lad
der, where the track leveled out near
the brink of the Great Gulf ravine
with its precipitous drop of over 2000
feet down the side of Mount Clay.
By the time the climb up Jacob's
Ladder had been successfully negoti
ated and Peppei-sass had arrived at
Gulf Tank, only a short distance from
the Summit, it was past midafternoon.
It was decided that the regular trains
of guests and the camera train should
proceed to the Summit, but that be
cause of Peppersass' slower speed she
should start back down the mountain
from this point in order not to delaythe other trains in their descent to the
Base in time for the Governor's ban
quet scheduled at the Mount Wash
ington House that evening.The camera train waited at Gulf
Tank a few extra moments while I got
off and clambered over the rocks to a
point of vantage from which I made a
shot of Peppersass just as she started
toward the top of the Ladder and dis
appeared slowly behind a shoulder of
the mountain. This was beyond a
doubt the last photograph ever taken
of the old locomotive in action.
We resumed our journey to the
Summit, only a short distance away,
where we found the five precedingtrains standing along the platformand the guests milling around the
immediate area. After a few pictureswere taken, the passengers reboarded
the trains; since the photographers'
assignments on the mountain were
complete, we each stowed our gear
and climbed aboard the various trains.
Having lingered over a cup of
coffee in the lunchroom of the Sum
mit House, I boarded one of the last
trains to depart. There were no pass
ing tracks on the Mount Washington
Cog Railway in those days, so the first
train up the mountain had to be the
last one down. I was chatting with
Governor Toby as the train started
and we continued our conversation as
we approached the section of track
which ran parallel with the carriageroad for a short distance. There were
numerous vehicles and a lot of hikers
along here and we waved back and
forth.
Our train stopped a short distance
above the platform at Gulf Tank be
cause there were several other trains
ahead taking water, and for a time we
took no particular notice of the delay.Since the sun was about to set some
of the passengers got out of the car to
enjoy the view. Most of us remained
aboard, content to relax after a stren
uous day, paying no special atten
tion to what was going on outside. We
were asked to stay in the cars since
the train might start soon; but it
didn't. A short while later word came
back to us that there would be a
"slight delay" because the track ahead
had been found in a damaged condi
tion. By now it was nearly dark and
some of the passengers were express
ing uneasiness at the prospect of the
train's having to traverse the ques
tionable track in darkness.
About this time one of the trainmen
announced that there had been a
"slight accident" ahead and that our
train would return to the Summit.
Considerable speculation and dis
quiet filled the atmosphere as we re
traced our journey now in total
darkness. The extent of the bad news
was not revealed to us until the train
had reached the mountaintop once
again. Then we were told that Pep
persass had been wrecked near the
foot of Jacob's Ladder, that one man
had been killed and the rest of the
crew seriously injured. Two or three
unauthorized persons had been on the
old engine when it started down the
mountain.
The newspapermen scurried around
asking questions of the passengers as
each succeeding train came back up.
The last one brought the injured men,
who were in great pain. We movie
men could do nothing, for these were
the days before Tri-X film and photo-flood lamps, and none of us had
brought magnesium flares, then neces
sary for night motion-picture photog
raphy. All of us were shocked by the
impact of what had happened, and
presently we were confronted by the
realization that we probably were ma
rooned on the mountaintop for the
night.The first concern was how to get
adequate medical attention for the in
jured men, which meant getting them
to a hospital somehow.In those days there was a fleet of
powerful high-wheeled Winton tour
ing cars which regularly brought pas
sengers up and down the carriage road
from the Glen House in Pinkham
Notch on the east side of Mount
Washington, and although these cars
did not usually attempt a climb up
around the hairpin curves and steep
grades of the mountain road at night,
arrangements were made by telephoneto the garage at the Glen House for
the entire fleet of rugged machines to
proceed to the summit with all possible speed to take the injured to a
50 July 1959
hospital and to carry as many of the
reporters and photographers as pos
sible down the mountain and around
to Bretton Woods.
I shall never forget that ride down
the mountain that night or the trip
back to Fabyan behind the State
Police motorcycle escort. The re
porters sent in their stories by tele
graph and long distance telephone, but
most of the photographers boarded a
late train for Boston. My partner took
our film and headed for New York,
but we agreed that I should remain
and go up the mountain the next
morning on a relief train to the scene
of the wreck.
TLhere is some dispute as to
whether there was an actual witness
to the wreck other than the crew
members and passengers on the en
gine, but from their account it was
determined that as Peppersass started
down the mountain five persons were
aboard: Engineer Frost; Fireman
Newsham; D. H. Pote, a photographer;
Caleb Frost, son of the engineer; and
Daniel Rossiter, official photographerfor the Boston & Maine. As Pepper
sass reached the steepest grade on the
Ladder a cogwheel suddenly became
disengaged from the cograil and came
down on the timbers of the trestle
structure. Prompt attempted applica
tion of the emergency friction brakes
by Frost and Newsham failed to re
tard the increasing speed of Peppersass and she careened wildly down the
steep incline of the Ladder until she
reached the curve at the bottom. Bythis time all the men except Rossiter,who had been riding up on the tender,
had jumped off; for some unknown
reason he remained. As Peppersass
hit the curve traveling at terrific
speed, Rossiter was thrown off, land
ing on the jagged rocks, and was in
stantly killed. Peppersass flew off the
trestle to the right down into Burt's
Ravine and landed about a quarter of
a mile from the trestle, cutting a wide
swath in the trees as she went. It
was here in the midst of a tangle of
trees and rocks that I found her re
mains next morning. Finding enoughof her to photograph was difficult, but
I eventually located her boiler,twisted frame, wheels and the broken
sides of her tender. Thus ended the
festivities of July 20, 1929.
Sometime later the remains of Pep
persass were tenderly gathered up,
and by careful attention and work she
was reconstructed and placed on dis
play at the Base Station at Marshfield,where she can be seen today a
monument to her ingenious inventor,
Sylvester Marsh, but to some of us
old-timers a sad reminder of a gala
day gone wrong. X
Rescuers Stand at Exact Site of Derailment
Announcement of a "slight accident."
Wreckage Lies a Quarter Mile from Derailment Site
Down the mountain in Winton touring cars.
Rescue Party Reaches One Side of Tank
Thus ended festivities of July 20, 1929.
Trains 51
© 2011 Kalmbach Publishing Co. This material may not be reproduced in any form without permission from the publisher. www.TrainsMag.com
Loring M. Lawrence.
To build a steam locomotive, you need parts...
These three photos, Connecticut Valley Reporter.
...and peopleFrom left: Paul Dunn. Niles LaCoss, and friend.
ing a longer boiler with increased
grate area and larger firetubes on the
frames of the Cog locomotives. Cone
and Dunn agreed that such a boiler
could be built and mounted if the
nose of the smokebox was turned up
to prevent fouling the brake linkage.
Shortly after this assessment, Teague
commissioned D. M. Dillon Steam
Boiler Works of Fitchburg, Mass., to
weld one boiler to his new specifica
tions. The welded boiler was a depar
ture from the riveted construction of
the older boilers, but as Paul Dunn
put it, "No one knows how to rivet
a steam locomotive boiler anymore."The new boiler arrived in 1958 and
waited outside the railway's shop
until 1966, while Teague and the shop
crew struggled to maintain the road's
operational locomotives. Perhaps the
frustration of not having achieved the
mounting of his new boiler forced
Teague to change his plans. In 1966
Teague decided to construct a new
locomotive in his own shops. The
new locomotive would free the rail
way to begin systematic rebuildingof its other locomotives without be
ing caught short of motive power.
Teague ordered a new locomotive
frame from Luken Steel of Coates-
ville, Pa., and pronounced No. 10 an
official railway project.
Unfortunately, Arthur Teague died
in 1967. His plans were clear, how
ever. No. 10 would spring from a set
of blueprints that had lain neglectedin a back room of the shop for 60
years. These prints of the road's
youngest engine, 0-2-2-0 duplexNo. 9, built by Alco-Manchester in
1908, copied the design penned byWalter Aiken about 1875 for Man
chester Locomotive Works. This was
the design of all the railway's opera
tive locomotives; it had steamed
through 80 years of continuous serv
ice. Why change now?
Colonel Teague's new engine would
breathe steam into an old design. A
canted boiler to keep water on the
crown sheet while the locomotive
scales the normal 25 per cent grademeasures 48 inches in diameter and
holds 146 2"x6' firetubes. At 140
pounds, the steam pushes simultane
ously into four 9" x 12" cylinders.These cylinders are mounted in oppo
sition between two 24-inch wheels
on either side of the locomotive and
turn counterbalanced crankshafts at
both ends of the frame by means of
main rods. The crankshafts gear power to the main axles, where a 32-inch
spur gear knuckles into the rack rail
which is spiked in the center of the
4' 8"-gauge track. With a larger boil
er, more than an extra square foot of
grate area (the other engines have 8y2
square feet), and an overall engine-and-tender length of 21' 3", No. 10
weighs a ton more than her 18-ton
Ron Palmquist.
THE INCLINE from the Mt. Washington Cog Railway shops to the coal-loading dock below
Marshfield Base Station is the initial testing ground for No. 10 (above). Reveille at
Marshfield on 10's inauguration day finds her and five sisters ready to push upward (right).
sisters. Her tender, borrowed from
No. 8, packs 746 gallons of water and
a ton of soft coal. No. 10, which has
no superheated steam, feedwater
heater, complex valve gear, or air
brakes (the cog engines have drum
brakes on their crankshafts), claims
America's first full-scale locomotive
a cog engine built by Col. John
Stevens in 1825 as a not-too-distant
The plans for this simple enginewere on the books, but the will to
build No. 10 almost died with Colonel
Teague in 1967. The year was a bad
one for the Cog Railway. Not onlydid its master die but in mid-September a locomotive and a car descendingfrom the summit derailed on an im
properly set switch and stumbled off
a trestle. Eight people were killed.
Obviously, no one gave much thoughtto No. 10; a whole railroad had to be
put back together.The Colonel's widow, Mrs. Ellen
Teague, and the employees who had
kept coming back year after year
showed their loyalty to Arthur
Teague's legacy. In 1968 the employees succeeded in recertifying the rail
road under stiff new state safety re
quirements, and Teague's friends
Paul Dunn and Earl Cone nursed the
No. 10 project along. Over the years
Dunn, assistant vice-president of
B&M, had directed liquidated steam-
locomotive parts and shop equipment
from B&M to the Cog Railway. Cone,
who had retired as chief mechanical
officer of B&M, had joined Teague's
shop crew in 1966 and had helped to
keep the ex-B&M machinery in order;
18-inch and 20-inch lathes and a mill
ing machine had whirred into service,
and Cone had set aside a Pyle Nation
al generator and a Detroit lubricator
for No. 10. The tools and parts were
ready; now they needed a builder.
The builder came in 1968. Niles
LaCoss, a former sawmill operator
and a blacksmith, decided at age 56
that it was time to learn about steam
locomotives. LaCoss hired on as the
railway's full-time master mechanic.
He learned quickly. When you'rearound trains and train people 24
hours a day and you listen, it doesn't
take long to understand their ways
that's how LaCoss sees it. Not onlydid LaCoss assimilate a technical
knowledge of steam railroading, but
he absorbed the dedication the life
time employees felt to Arthur Teagueand his railroad. In 1969, when the
railway celebrated its centennial year
of steam operation, LaCoss and his
crew mounted No. 10's boiler on her
frame and wheels.
Winter blocked further progress on
No. 10. The railway's shop has no
power in the winter because the Cog
Railway generates its own electricitywith a Pelton waterwheel spun bya churning mountain brook and the
brook freezes over between Novem
ber and May. So in mid-October the
shop gang locked No. 10 in the en
ginehouse and abandoned Mt. Wash
ington's gnawing chill for the warmth
of their New England fireplaces.In spring 1970 LaCoss's crew, ready
to assemble No. 10, plowed up to
snowbound Base Station; and after
35 years, Paul Dunn came back to
the Cog Railway to guide No. 10's
construction. All the signs were hope
ful, but a series of everyday mainte-
Richmond Hosley.
nance worries handcuffed the rail
way's mechanics. No. 1 cracked her
frame again; No. 8 had boiler troubles;
No. 2 hardly could crawl up the moun
tain; and No. 4 was catching No. 2's
disease. At the beginning of the sea
son the master mechanic had talked
about loading No. 10's frame on a
flatbed trailer and hauling it 75 miles
to his foundry in Hanover, N. H,
where he hoped to machine, fit, and
balance the running gear and cylinders. However, when No. 2 fell sick,
LaCoss, Dunn, and Cone decided that
2 instead would ride to Hanover for
a complete rebuilding during the win
ter. No. 10 faced another winter in
pieces at the base of the mountain.
If Niles LaCoss had any doubts
about his ability to build a steam
locomotive, they disappeared after
the winter of 1970-1971. A winter's
work on No. 2 was the perfect warm-
up for the master mechanic. He in
stalled new crankshafts, bearings,
pistons, rings, valves, and steam pipeson a new frame; and No. 2 returned
to the rails as the fastest and most
powerful engine on the 1971 roster.
With new confidence plus some
spare time, courtesy of No. 2's strong
performance LaCoss's shop gang
began machining the parts for No.
10's running gear. Again winter caught
up with No. 10's construction, but
this time LaCoss was ready. His crew
had roughed out many of the valves,
pistons, rods, and cylinders, and theyhad jacked No. 10's boiler off her
frame.
No. 10's frame wintered in Hanover
with LaCoss and a young engineerfor the railway, Steve Christy. When
the frame slid from its trailer onto
Trains 43
COL. TEAGUE
MT.WASHINGTON
COG RAILWAY
V ttrurOM>Sdpr ,
^RTTttCK .
Ron Palmquist.
NO. 10 is named after her "father," the late Col. Arthur S. Teague, the cog-railway president who began the locomotive project in 1958.
the rails at Base Station on May 16,
1972, it sported a complete set of cyl
inders, pistons, rods, gears, brakes,and counterbalances. It also showed
off a few personal innovations: Christyhad changed the position of the cylinder cocks so that when the cylinders were cleared the steam would
shoot under the locomotive instead
of onto the feet of bystanders, and
LaCoss had added expandable steel-
mesh exhaust line to absorb the flex
ing of the frame and boiler under dif
ferent temperatures. According to
LaCoss, the work on No. 10's frame
wasn't so difficult. "You just put one
part on another. What you can't buy
you make." Of course, there had been
some tricky moments. Frame bolts
were machined larger than the holes
and then "driven home" with a sledgehammer. "Close tolerances," LaCoss
pointed out, "but that's why we have
micrometers." A job was getting done.
The Cog Railway group itched to
assemble No. 10 during the summer.
LaCoss's crew lowered the boiler on
to the finished frame and installed
arch brick. Dunn escaped from his
office and helped to install flues,
while LaCoss cut, bent, and welded
steam lines between the dome and
cylinders. Throttle, generator, lu
bricator, a borrowed whistle from
No. 4, water lines, smokestack, boil
er jacket, and injectors snapped into
place. Finally, in mid-August, the
shop gang bolted a solid-oak cab, pre-
cut by a local mill, over No. 10's fire
box. Then the boiler was pumped full
of water for hydrostatic tests hard
ly a leak. A bronze builder's plate was
screwed to the smokebox door, and
No. 10 was finished. No one seemed
to mind that her $75,000 price tag was
12 times as much as No. 9's had been
in 1908. The Cog Railway's ledgerswere black, and it had a solution to
its power shortage.
Early in September fireman Robert
Clement fueled No. 8's tender and
tied it in behind No. 10 waiting on
the ready track and smelling of fresh
traditional silver paint on the smoke
box and sunflower stack, black on
the boiler, and green with red and
yellow trim on the cab. When a fun
nel of black haze drifted steadily above
No. 10's spark arrester, and she poppedoff at 140 pounds, engineer-builder
Christy pulled himself onto the right-hand seatbox and wound open the
throttle wheel. Without even breath
ing heavily, No. 10 walked up the 15
per cent grade to the coal bunker at
an easy 4 mph full speed.The next day Dunn wanted to make
sure No. 10 "wouldn't stub her toe"
during her inaugural run planned for
September 24, so Christy and Clement
ran her up to the summit pushingcoach No. 4. Three hours later No.
10 drifted back into Marshfield Sta
tion. She steamed so easily that Clem
ent hardly needed to run the injectors,
and her tender still held several hun
dred pounds of coal. Although Clem
ent saw cold spots in the five-grate
firebox, No. 10 had so much steam
that she popped off even on the steep
37 per cent Jacob's Ladder grade.Clement would lay a lighter fire on
the 24th.
The railroad prepared for the 24th.
Invitations went to state and local
officials, friends of the Teague fam
ily, the press, and railfan groups.
Train crews washed the coaches and
repainted No. 8's tender with the
numerals 10. But on September 14
Paul Dunn received an official no
tice from the New Hampshire Air
Pollution Control Commission: The
Mt. Washington Cog Railway was
ordered to "cease and desist" pollut
ing the air with coal smoke or to
close down. For several uncertain
days it looked as if No. 10's debut
would be off. However, after the ini
tial confusion the railway discovered
that the antipollution mandate al
lowed 60 days to comply. Because of
this 60-day grace period, the CogRailway could finish its 1972 season
and apply during the winter to the
state legislature for a pollution tol
erance permitting operations to con
tinue. No. 10 would have her day.At 8:30 a.m. on September 24, 1972,
more than 20 trainmen milled around
in the ground fog outside Marshfield
Station. They weren't working; theywere taking pictures of tuscan red
44 May 1973
Both photos, Richmond Hosley.
NO. 10 pauses for water at Waumbek tank (above), one-third of the way toward
the summit. No. 2 blasts over a trestle (right) , showing off the new youth given her
by Master Mechanic Niles LaCoss, who in 1971 rebuilt her as practice for No. 10.
coach No. 4 resting at the platformand locomotive No. 10 clearing her
throat 20 yards down the hill beyonda red ribbon hanging across the track.
LaCoss and Engineer Christy took
turns stealing each other's engineer
hats and arranging the red, white,
and blue bow tacked under No. 10's
right cab window. Their games con
tinued killing time like a father
and an escort before a debutante ball.
By 10:30 the escorts' wait was up.
Sherman Adams and several other
former governors of the state, legislators and senators, AppalachianMountain Club members, reporters,
railfans, and children in sweaters,
wool slacks, and fluorescent parkasclustered around the red ribbon
the temperature up on the summit
was 28 degrees. Engine No. 10 was
officially christened Col. Teague. Then
Charlie Teague, the Colonel's son and
brakeman on the train, cut the ribbon
and signaled Christy to run No. 10
up to her coach. As the locomotive
nudged the bumper pad of coach 4
(there are no couplers), a bell in the
depot clanged summoning the VIP's
to board No. 10's train. Christy bent
out of the cab window to catch a few
last instructions from LaCoss and
shushed a cushion of wet steam un
der 10's belly in response to Charlie
Teague's "Proceed."
As No. 10 pushed out one healthychuff after another, applause broke
from the riders in her coach and
spread to the hundreds of people on
the platform. No. 10 had a lot of
friends in New Hampshire, and theywere wishing her a long life. No. 10
bellowed a return salute with two
shrill longs, one short, two longs,and stomped her passengers up the
first steep pitch above Marshfield
Station. Christy looked back to La
Coss and Dunn at the station. Everyone smiled no problems.
In January 1973 the New Hampshire
legislature passed a bill that exempts
all steam locomotives that operatewithin the state from meeting pollution-control standards. No. 10 has a
hundred years ahead of her. X
Ron Palmquist.
NEWEST AND OLDEST: No. 10, built in 1972, steams beside Old Peppersass, billed as the
world's first cog railway engine. First No. 1 was used to build the Mt. Washington Cog Rail
way in 1866. The tender for No. 10 is one borrowed from engine No. 8 and relettered.
Trains 45
© 2011 Kalmbach Publishing Co. This material may not be reproduced in any form without permission from the publisher. www.TrainsMag.com
By Charle
OU WOULD U
25 years of steam railway
enthusiasm I would have remem
bered to bring some matches.
haven't. A firebox full of (
soaked wood, a boiler fullof cold
water, and not a Zippoin sight
or a competent fireman.At 8:30
a.m., engineer Bruce Houck and I already look late for the 1 1
a.m. train. As for mv competence, the shop crew has probably made up their minds on that one. While I have remem
bered all of engine No. 4's grease points, in mv rabid excite
ment I've obviously lost the knack of remaining somewhat
clean while greasing.
Nearly 20 years of absence has clearly taken its toll.
Fortunately for me, someone takes pity and produces a
lighter. Moments later, a nicely roaring fire and its promiseot steam lights the 4's dusty cab with an orange glow. I add
more wood to the firebox and consider switching to coal
when things look a little hotter. Although locomotives can
keep their lires for weeks at a time, No. 4's recent mainte
nance had necessitated a complete shutdown. We start from
cold this day in the traditional manner.
The promise of steam that's whv I've come back to New
Hampshire's Mount Washington Cog Railway and its world
of small, mountain-climbing steam trains. I had worked sev
eral summers for the railway back in the 1970's, and steam
had become a way of life. There was a price to pay, hoyvever.
Like the greasy coal dust all of us scrabbed off each evening,memories of mountains, blue skies, hot fires, and an endless
wooden trestle stubbornly remained.
Leaving No. 4 to cook by itself for awhile, I scavenge the
shop for the small pile of tools and odd items that accompany a road engine. The search proves profitable. I even dis
cover several small, double-ended hooks made from weldingrod with heavy machine screw nuts captured at one end
just the thing to hang on valve handles. They'll stay in placeas the engine works heavy grades.
Cog engines lack springs, so cab vibration can become
intense as a locomotive's four cylinders drive two separate
crankshafts at 300 revolutions per minute.
Crankshaft pinions drive a large bull gear on each of an
engine's two axles. Keyed to each, a large cog gear meshes
with the railway's unusual center rail, called the "rack." It
looks like a miniature iron ladder, which in fact it is. Each of
the line's seven engines pushes a solitary passenger coach up
6288-foot Mount Washington at a statelv 4 mph rung byrung. The 31/4-mile railroad's average grade is 25 percent, or
one foot up for even' four ahead.
Some engines seem to notice each small step.
Managing an explosionBruce comes over Irom the carshop at about 10 a.m. By
this time, No. 4's lire has become a nice inferno and the
steam-pressure-gauge needle begins to rise like some awak
ened clock. I "hook" the fire out with a long iron poker to
spread the burning coal. Steam lines creak and hiss as the
engine slowly conies lo life. At about 10:30, Bruce steps to
the ground and asks me to move the locomotive after the
pressure reaches 60 pounds.It takes about 5 minutes of careful throttle work to repeat
edly nudge the engine ahead oi lew inches before the steam
cylinders stay hoi enough to allow continuous motion. A hil
more throttle after several tries, and No. 4 finally rumbles
across the shop transfer table, Bruce looks for problems as
crankpins omd counterweights slowly revolve to the syn
chronized valve motion.
Satislied, he steps back up and lakes the engineer's seal as
we move steadily oil the table and onto the starl ol the main
line. Moments later we slow, gently contacl our h ain's singlepassenger car, omd starl lo push. Gravity provides the onlv
coupling needed lor Mounl Washington Mains. A machined
roller oit the fronl ol each engine frame pushes a steel plateal ihe hack ol each coach. Passenger coirs always remain
6h
"up-mountain" as trains back downfrom the summit.
The engine feels good and begins to sound loud on the
way up to'the coal bunker. Cog engines mavcrawl along at 4
mph, bul the cab interior sounds like a huge blacksmith
shop run amok. And of course, there's that legendary blast
furnace of a fire. All lour cylinders can exhaust directly up
the smokestack at almost no "cutoff," as cog locomotives
lack any kind of valve gear, so firebox draft borders on the
ridiculous.
On quiet afternoons, a low, booming sound drifts across
the base station as firemen open their firedoors on the hill
over a mile away and thousands of feet above. While pas
sengers often compare cog locomotives to the gentle, sensi
tive "Little Engine That Could," Mount Washington crews
know that the fireman and engineer of Waddy Piper's little
tale had their hands full managing a continuous explosion.
We stop, bunker up, wash out the ash pan, and run up a
few yards to the standpipe for water, where the passengers
board. Suddenly it's time to go.
Bruce looks over and quietly smiles just as he did back in
Fireman Joe Eggleston demonstrates the sure-fire "one-handed" shoveling
method aboard No. 9, shown pushing toward the summit in August 1999.
In 1996, another train claws upward amid the summit's rocky wasteland.
I'k vi\s
1979 when we last worked trains together."You ready?" he asks.Bruce never did go in much for ceremony.
Two shorts on the whistle, and we take off over the small
trestle at the base station, immediately climbing the line's
first 25-percent grade.No time for remembrance of things past, onlv time for the
fire. We'll use 1000 gallons of water and burn about a ton of
soft coal to reach the summit in an hour of actual runningtime not incredible statistics by mainline standards but a
lot for 20 tons of engine and 9 square feet of firebox grate.
As do nisinv Mount Washington firemen, I lire mostly
right-handed, holding each loaded shovel next to ihe blade
wiih slmlt otnd handle luckecl beneath my right arm and
elbow. Mv left hand opens and skinis the firedoor shut-
something vou wanl lo do sis List as possible. You can lose ,i
pound or two ol steam each second ihe door remains open.
and vou need every bit.
You also want lo close ihe door right now for sheer
preservation. II the lire really lakes oil sind becomes while.
arms become sunburned in seconds, clothing can catch lire.
and eves will ache as il you'd looked oil the sun.
\1 w 2000
So far, so good, this trip. The blast stays a whiter shade of
orange, while the smokestack exhaust looks alternately black
and then clear, just what vou want to see. Coal to the left,
coal to the right, check the exhaust, and wait a moment.
Sometimes you don't wait a moment. Sometimes you spin a
third shot to the back of the firebox and the sweat begins to
steam off your blue jeans as the tiredoor lingers open.Time passes quickly, and the pressure holds steady at 150
pounds as the ringing, shaking, diminutive No. 4 leans into
the 30-percent grade of Cold Spring Hill a quarter-mileabove the base. The tender isn't just behind us any more, it's
also some feet below, so I'm firing on a set of stairs.
Mv arm hurts and I don't care. There is absolutely noth
ing like this.
All the right movesBruce has his hands lull playing a kind of roaring me
chanical chess game with 130-year-old rules and one simple
goal: you win il vou get to the summit on schedule. It's easy
to lose. Crack the sidestack valve and lose a pawn, shove the
injector handle closed too soon and lose a queen. You have
an infinite number of moves and one 6288-foot-high oppo
nent.
Here is how to play the game:You manage four items in order of importance: boiler-
water level, steam pressure, speed, and draft. Each one of
these can dramatically affect the other three, so the trick is
to balance them all in relation to each other. It all takes intel
ligence and a certain amount of zen: sometimes the best
thing to do is nothing.The lirst item, water, is the most important. You must
have it. Steam locomotives are quite safe providing that the
engine crews maintain a correct water level. But, if the water
level falls below minimum, fusible plugs will blow out and
the boiler mav even fail.
That stuff in the slender glass water gauge mav look like
water, but you need to see it as liquid gold. But here's the
catch: add loo much and steam pressure drops like a stone.
Less steam pressure means less speed. Checkmate; vou'relate at the summit.
You can keep steam pressure higher bv feeding the boilerwith a smaller amount of water while keeping train speedabsolutely constant with the throttle. Sounds easy, but it's
harder to do in practice. Cog engines mav mn at a fast walk,but railway grades vary from 20 percent to almost nothingwithin a lew feet. You can easily let several tons of train
rocket forward at the next Hat section and lose steam.
Ol course, then vou cut back the throttle too much, too
late. Passengers start to sense a rhythmic tore and aft sway
as the locomotive starts lo run ihe engineer checkmate.
You can also attempt lo maintain sieam pressure bv keeping the "sidestack" valve closed. This will send every last bitol engine exhaust up the smokestack to create magnificent
Mount Washington's fearsome 25 percent grade looms in a view out thefront vestibule as a train begins the climb not far from the base station,
"These guys can fix anything"
ASIT HAS FOR SOME 130 YEARS, to
day's Mount Washington Cog Rail
way in New Hampshire builds every
thing possible in-shop, including new
locomotives and coaches. In "New
Steam on the Mountain" [May 1973
Trains], author Randall Pefferdescribed ihe completion ol the rail
way's new engine No. 10.
Mike Kenly, a young machinist
working in Binghamton, N.Y., read ihe
slorv, decided ihe cog railway looked
interesting, and moved to New Hampshire. He became engine shop lore-
man in Ihe early 1980s. Under his
direction, ihe railway completed si
new No. 8 in 1983, a new No. 9 in
1993, omd oi new No. 2 in 1994, Kenlyworks wiih Cog veteran Charles Kcni-
son, who left si career in foundry man
agement io become general managerin 1996.
Both know ihe demands ol moun
lain railroading and understand steam
machinery. Perhaps jusl as important,both have oi sense ol humor .ind wise
detachment, ihe result of years in a
strangely beautiful place with its own
sel ol rules, jokes, history, and tales of
long-gone managers and employees
who should have staved in the big city.Once, lor example, .i young brake-
man refused to believe ihe 32-volt
specification oi' train electrical sys
tems. Ilts belief changed instantly in
Ihe luminous explosion thai resultedIrom plugging a number o\ nam head
lights into si regular wall outlet.Sometimes employees gel a little
too demanding. Thirty years ago, massive mechanic Harold .Adams wouldslalk such a person in ihe engine shop.quickly attaching their bell to a ropeand hoisting them to the distant ceil
ing lor si while.
I used lo work with Kenisons
father, Frank ("Chub"), before he died.
Once, back in 1979, 1 pestered Chub
68
draft; however, engines run faster if you open the valve to
vent some exhaust to the atmosphere. Ah, but the sidestackis a touchy thing a half turn too much and unburned coal
starts to pile up in the firebox. Steam pressure drops.Checkmate.
Here is one winning scenario:
There vou are, on schedule, roaring up the steepest gradeof Jacob's Ladder at 37.41 percent, where engines have noth
ing left to give. The fireman has a great fire, but steam pres
sure has begun to fall. You do nothing. You remember that20 years ago, engineer Dana Kirkpatrick taught you to slow
the train on the lesser grade ahead by cutting sidestack to
force a bit more draft. As the grade begins to change, you lis
ten for the subtle hint of extra power, slowly cut back a quar
ter-turn, and rehang those heavy nuts on the valve handle to
make it stay put.
Barely ease back on the throttle a few yards later and
gain 5 precious pounds of steam. Leave the feedwater settingwell enough alone.
Feel the balance and win the game.
Each trip to the summit can demand a different balance,
as does each engine. Each trip also requires intimate knowl
edge of the track and the previous memorization of mini
mum water levels lor ihe many, manv grade changes. Engineers must recognize all ol those changes too, whether in
postcard weather or blinding snowstorm, something Mount
Woishinglon can switch between in aboul 10 minutes.
The hand of an artist
Today's trip with Bruce remains picturesque. However,
inside the cab at hallway we have begun to lose steam. The
grade steepens potsl 25 lo 30 percenl and beyond in the run
up lo Jacob's Ladder. As the ground tails away on the Jacob's
trestle, No. 4's steam gauge reads 140 pounds. The enginestill moves well, bul nol lor much longer it this continues.
Bruce has left me wiih plenty ol draft, but the tire burns a
redder shade ol orange.
Perhaps we have buill up clinkers gummy, lava-like
plates ol coagulated coal impurities that choke a lire. Then
again, there is ihe fireman's overall competency ...
Later, 1 come lo suspect thai Bruce had planned this. Jusl
siller Jacob's he shoves the ancient webbed brass injector
The presence of the rack makes "throwing a switch" to enter or leave a
passing track partway up the mountain into a complex, multi-part act.
handle forward to slop the water. He's buill up some extra so
he can let the steam pressure rise without feedwater lor a
couple ot minutes. A hundred Vsirds later were back to 145
pounds as No. 4 works up Mount Washington's last truly
steep grade on the "long trestle." Bruce starts the water once
again and watches the steoim pressure kill while ihe gradelater diminishes. Our speed, controlled mostly bv water sel
ling, remains the same.
This is art.
We pass the down-mountain train on the switeli ol si high
alpine meadow called "Skyline." The rest ol the trip becomes
s: .1 Diiin Ingles
overmuch about repairs to my engine.He smiled quietly, grabbed a hook-
equipped pulley, and slowly ap
proached. 1 opted to help with repairs.Houck and Robert Maclay know
such stories alter years at the cog rail
way. They have also quietly written a
more serious one of their own in
building five larger, safer passengercars that remain faithful to past de
signs. The new coaches carry 70 pas
sengers instead of the previous maxi
mum of 48. and also shelter brakemen
Irom the weather.
"These two guvs are really sit the
heart of the cog railway." said Keni-
son. "They can fix anything, build omv-
thina. weld anything."
Like all railroads. Mount Washington has its share ot persistent problems. According to Kenison, findingnew employees is the toughest. It can
take weeks to train a brakeman and
several seasons ot experience on the
mountain before anyone becomes an
engineer. Fewer seem to wanl the job.
"I think people, especially kids todav.
don't want io get their hands dirty,"said Kenison.
And what a place 20 miles trom
the nearest real town at the base ot the
White Mountains its quite a room
with si view. Where else can vou earn a
competitive salary learning to brake.
fire, and run your own steam train?
And there is plenty oi work lo be
done. The new coaches have letl sev
eral ancient wooden passenger cars,
one Irom the 1870s. without a pur
pose. Thev need attention, along with
the many original buildings of the
18^7 shop area. Near the base and
elsewhere on the mountain, the tracks
need realignment. The two sections lothe shop need some help. However,
management consistently says "when"
in discussing such problems, not
"w hether."
Watching the cog railway pull itself
up bv the bootstraps is an amazing
sight. New trestle and new rack
abound. As 1 walk the tracks I can feel
and see a kind ol solidity not present
in the 1970s.Charles Morrill
\1 o 2 000 69
easier as grades lessen while the views stretch to hundreds of
miles across the mountains and valleys ol northern New
England.I remember one August morning here, years ago, after
100-mph night winds had blown white ice and snow into
otherworld fantastic shapes. Wonderful No. 9 (Alco, 1908)
ran well that day. I had never seen a sky so blue.
Bruce and I climb the final summit hill today on 60
falling pounds of steam. "Hey," says Bruce, "we made it."
It is lucky for most engine crews that uphill trips end
when they do. Most cog locomotives don't have a whole lot
Grace J. B\ni\
left in them when thev reach the summit. Tenders come up
nearly dry. Most of the coal has gone into the lirebox, where
clinkers tend to build up quickly with the reduced draft of
the railway's lesser grades.We will not need much coal or water on the way down,
however, as gravity provides all the motive power anyone
might want and then some. We'll control it by compressingair in the steam cylinders. Meanwhile, a brakeman at the
rear of the coach helps to keep train speed steady by workingthe large mechanical drum brakes of each car. Brakemen
even customarily pull a few inches off an engine on steep
grades, separating the train slightly, although passengers sel
dom notice.
It's oi time-tested design with lots of redundancy, although
learning to brake smoothly also takes brains. Most good en
gineers started out as good brakemen, learning the changing
grades regardless of weather.
We soon leave the summit under graying skies omd lake
the switch for the upcoming train oit Skyline. The trip down
takes less time. Brakeman Phil Beroney knows his stuff, and
our speed stays nice and constant. Aboul 20 minutes later we
pass another upcoming train al the Waumbek siding and
stop for some water oil the lank below the switch.
The descent remains nicely uneventful. We watch the
track and steal ot glance oil the miles ol endless green forest
before rolling back to the base standpipe aboul 21 hours
after the trip began.
A pioneer railwayIt's easy to overlook the signil icance ol this cog railway.It all began with one ol Mount Washington's frequent
storms in 1857. Sylvester Marsh, a wealthy businessman,
had invited his pastor, Rev. Augustus Thompson, foi a hike
70
in the White Mountains. As they approached Mount Wash
ington's summit, they found themselves crawling on the
ground, facing hurricane-forcewinds.
They barely survived, and Marsh became acutely aware of
Mount Washington's danger. It has always lookedlike a fair
ly easy climb, but its severe weatherclaimed lives back in the
1800s and it still can today.
Marsh wanted to solve the problem.
He was the right person in the right place at the right
time. Like many financially successful people of the 1800's,
Marsh constantly embraced new technology and was also
The White Mountains are a majestic background for a train heading down
the mountain in 1999. Another train nears the coaling station toward the
summit; Cog engines are nearly out of fuel by the time they reach the top,
an innovator. He helped establish Chicago's once-huge meat
packing industry and made a fortune in grain processing.Marsh's work appeared twice on the cover of the then-
weekly Scientific American. The first instance involved grain-drying machinery. The second, on March 5, 1864, described
what would become his mosi ambitious project: si mountain
railroad later named the Mount Washington Cog Railway.
The idea seemed radical in the 1850's and '60s. Practical
steam traction had onlv existed for si lew decades when
Marsh asked the New Hampshire state legislature to charter
his project in 1858. Historians s.iv the house erupted in
laughter al the request. Marsh pressed ahead, obtaining the
charter and beginning construction oi the line jusl after theCivil War. Finished in 1869, il was the worlds lirst practicalmountain-climbing railroad, li immediately attracted theattention ol Central Swiss Railway Superintendent NicholasRiggenbach, who consulted Marsh during construction oi
the sinulai 1871 Swiss line on Motml Riei.
fhe Cog Railway became famous .is news .incl pictures ofh proliferated, Americans bought thousands ol stereo view-
cards featuring many scenes ol the cog and rolling slock.
President Ulysses S. Granl even made the trip in 1870 withIns lanulv. Pictures ol the occasion survive. Grant and his
party posed al Waumbek .is the engine look ii\t water, and
later they posed on the summit.
M.n sh died m 1884. and since those years, the railway has
slowlv faded into a quiet temporal backwater with the occasional picture or two in travel articles and brochures. Some
how, the place has remained much the same: 3! - miles oi
mostly wooden trestle and a stable of seven small steam
locomotives remaining essentially faithful to Marsh's designsof the early 1870's. Ownership of the line passed to the
Boston & Maine Railroad in the late 1800's and eventually to
longtime cog manager Arthur Teague and his family in 1962.
Teague liked the tradition of steam but may have quietlywished to dieselize. He probably found the cost too great. In
1955, for example, he decided to build two new aluminum
passenger coaches in the company shops after the Budd
Company priced equivalents at $55,000 each.
Changes on the mountain
Teague's widow, Ellen, sold the cog railway in 1983 to a
consortium of New Hampshire businessmen. Joel Bedor
and Wayne Presby bought out the other two major stock
holders in the mid-1980s, and today thev jointly own the
original Mount Washington Railway Company. Thev also
own the Mount Washington Hotel a few miles away,
the Bretton Woods ski area, and several other near
by properties. For the first time since B&M days,
railway workers have the option of year-round
employment.The new oyvners have made other changes.
"
think the most significant thing we've done for
the cog is the A.C. power line to the base in
1987," said Presby, "and getting the state to
let us use the Mount Clinton Road into the
base over the winter."
Previously, the railway had relied on a
stream-driven water wheel connected to a
D.C. power generator for lighting. Leather
belts and line-shalting connected the same
turbine to machines in the engine shop,while a separate gas or diesel A.C. generator
ran during daylight hours each summer for tasks such as
restaurant refrigeration. A.C, D.C, leather belts: it all
amounted to a quaint kind ol power generation museum
subject to droughts and inoperable during winter. The com
pany had to truck the engine shop out and back Irom rented
locations each year.
"It used lo be crazy," said Presby. "You had only three
months during the winter when you could actually li\ lliings.All the other time was spent moving engines, machinery, and
tools to somewhere else. Now, for the first time, we can work
on engines all winter."
Presbv, w ho has fired trips to the summit, said the railway
recently began an analysis of summer engine breakdowns
with the help of a statistician on the hotel stall. "Here's sin
example. Early on, we found that broken main steam lines
caused 80 percent of all breakdowns. So. we decided to at
tack the problem," he said. As a result, shop crews now rou
tinely replace worn sections of flexible rubber steam hose
(designed for pile drivers) in the main and exhaust lines ot
the locomotives each winter. Engine vibration no longer ripsout rigid steel piping as it had tor decades.
Presby said the cog railway will modernize in coming
years, while preserving its essential character and some older
equipment. "There's a total commitment here to steam, and
not just because we like it," he said. "It nuikes economic
sense, it draws a lot of people." Back in 1982, the line carried
26,000 passengers to the summit. Todsiv the annual total is
more than 76,000. Amazingly, after 130 vears. the railwaystill makes si profit, though Presbv wont say how much.
The future could even bring modern sUMm to ihe slopesof Mount Washington. Seeking ihe latest in sUMm. Presbv
and Bedor recently journeyed ni the Swiss Locomotive s.v
Machine Works in Winterthur, Switzerland, That linn in
1992 resumed building steam locomotives with the delivery
ot three rack engines lo the Austrian Federal Railways. "The
new oil-burning ones are incredibly efficient and better for
the environment." said Presbv. The journey io Europe com
pleted a kind ol circle lor ihe railway begun back in 1869
when Riggenbach visited Mount Washington to keep up wiih
new technology. Sylvester Marsh would certainly approve.
Living treasuresAll who spend some time at ihe cog isiilwsiv
become part ol a distinctly American tradition
that began just alter the Civil War. Pstsi time
seems closer here in ihe While Mountains w here
jobs of the 1920s remain ihe jobs ol today.Some countries designate those who master
past skills as "living treasures." Citizens come
Irom loir and wide lo watch them work, li is not
that way here at a small private railroad compa
ny in northern New Hampshire. \o one watch
es track foreman Dave Moody rebuild nine-partrack switches just below 6000 feet, or sees ma
chinist Joseph Orlando nail tricky stCsim injec
tor tapers. Passengers cannot Wsiich engineerAllan Haggeit set the balance or fireman Joseph
Eggleston sloke si recalcitrant \o. 9 to the sum
mit jusl one more time before Cog ManagerCharles Kenison gets si chance lo lime valve
motions sit ihe shop. There isn't much recog
nition lor such people, just ihe promise oi
Mount Washington steam: .i chance to join
a special kind ol Lunik, learn a unique tradi
tion, and perhaps led ihe timelessness ol it all
on some perfect, cold, blue-white morning.Boick in 1973 I had read about the Cog Railway in ["rains
[see sidebar] and began writing then-Cog R.iilw.iv ManagerEdward Clark, who hired me in 1975 after high-school graduation in Los Angeles. The Greyhound bus let me oil in Lit
tleton, N.H., and 1 spent mv lasi money on .i half-hour taxi
ride to the base station not know ing quite w hat else to do.
This siet unintentionally created .i cog footnote.
Moody remembers my $20 Lire .is il I'd spcni il yesterday"We .ill uilked about that one lor si while,'' lie s.iid lasi
summer. "Why didn'1 vou just call for a ride?"
1 did get rides in future summers and became sin engineerin the season ol 1978, the s.mio \o.ir 1 mel si girl named
Carol who worked at the base station restaurant.
Twenty-one vears later, the bus lets me oil in Littleton sii
ihe Irving service station, and Kenison soon shows up. lie
drives us to the base m his pickup and we talk aboul mv
wile. Carol, the kids, .incl how lite goes well. We silso uilk
aboul ihe recent death ol Ellen Teague. Devout, lough obsti
nate, and silso loving, she ran ihe railway lor vears oilier the
death ol her husband. Arthur, in 19ew.
1 thank Kenison lor si ride at the end ol si hectic day. He
could lisive found someone else lo moike ihe trip."Well, vou know 1 re.illv did sisk Moody," he savs with a
smile. "He said vou ought lo take a cab." 1
CHARLES MORRILL. 43, worked as a newspaper reporter
before becoming an architectural millworker in Charlottesville,\ a., m 1986. He lives in Charlottesville with his wife and fundy. Sources: "They Said it Couldn't he Done. The Mount Wash
ington Cog Railway and lis History." hy Donald H. Bray(Kendall/Hunt, Dubuque, Iowa. 1984); "Railway to the Moon."
he Glen A Kidder (Courier Printing, Littleton, N.H., 1969).
M w 2000 71
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