Heritage Railroads in New Hampshire - Mount Washington Cog Railway, Conway Scenic Railroad, Hobo Railroad, Silver Lake Railroad (Paperback)

Chapters: Mount Washington Cog Railway, Conway Scenic Railroad, Hobo Railroad, Silver Lake Railroad, Wilton Scenic Railroad. Source: Wikipedia. Pages: 31. Not illustrated. Free updates online. Purchase includes a free trial membership in the publisher's book club where you can select from more than a million books without charge. Excerpt: The Mount Washington Cog Railway was the world's first mountain-climbing cog railway (rack-and-pinion railway). It uses a Marsh rack system to climb Mount Washington in New Hampshire, USA. The railway ascends the mountain beginning at an elevation of approximately 2,700 feet (820 m) above sea level and ending at the summit of Mt. Washington at an elevation of 6,288 feet (1,917 m). It is the second steepest rack railway in the world with an average grade of over 25% and a maximum grade of 37.41%. The railway is still in operation, using seven steam locomotives and one biodiesel powered locomotive. The train ascends the mountain at 2.8 miles per hour (4.5 km/h) and descends at 4.6 mph (7.4 km/h), although the diesel can go up in as little as 37 minutes. It takes approximately 65 minutes to ascend and 40 minutes to descend. The railway is approximately 3 miles (4.8 km) long. Most of the Mount Washington Cog Railway is in Thompson and Meserve's Purchase, with the part of the railway nearest to Mt. Washington's summit being in Sargent's Purchase. Track to the summit in 1893The railway was built by Sylvester Marsh of Campton, who came up with the idea while climbing the mountain in 1857. His plan was treated as insane. Local tradition says the state legislature voted permission based on a consensus that harm resulting from operating it was no issue since the design was attempting the impossible but benefits were guaranteed: The $5,000 of his own money he put up, and whatever else he could raise, would be spent largely locally, including building The Fabyan House hotel at nearby Fabyan Station to ...More: http: //booksllc.net/?id=37936