Mount Washington Cog Railway

Opened In 1869 By Sylvester Marsh As The First Mountain Climbing Cog Railway In The World, And Designated A National Historic Mechanical Engineering Landmark By The American Society Of Mechanical Engineers. It Climbs About Three Miles Up The West Side Of Mount Washington From The Marshfield Base Station To The Summit. · Bretton Woods, New Hampshire

The world's first mountain-climbing cog railway, opened in 1869 by Sylvester Marsh, and still the only train to the top of the highest peak in the northeastern United States. From the Marshfield base station at about 2,700 feet on the west side of Mount Washington, a single coach pushed by a small locomotive climbs about three miles of track to the 6,288-foot summit, gripping a toothed rack rail between the running rails. The average grade is about 25 percent and the steepest, on the wooden Jacob's Ladder trestle, is about 37 percent, so the cab and boiler are built tilted to stay level on the slope. Most trains now run on biodiesel locomotives built by the railway itself, while a coal-fired steam train still makes the climb on a limited schedule. The ride takes about an hour each way with roughly an hour on top, and it passes from spruce forest through stunted krummholz to open alpine rock in full view of the Presidential Range. In winter the trains run only as far as a mid-mountain station. It is a National Historic Mechanical Engineering Landmark.

3168 Base Station Road, Bretton Woods, New Hampshire, 03589, United States

The railway runs all year, but what it runs changes with the season. From roughly late spring to late autumn, trains climb to the summit on a timed schedule of departures from the base station, most frequent from late June through the foliage weeks of early October, with the first trains around mid-morning and the last in mid-afternoon; confirm the day's timetable before you drive in. From about late November to spring, trains climb only to a mid-mountain station and turn back. Any trip can be shortened or cancelled for high wind, ice or poor visibility on the upper mountain. The base station museum, cafe and shop keep daytime hours tied to the train schedule.

Mount Washington Cog Railway on Spottos · Explore more places on Spottos