It takes about an hour to reach the peak of Mount Washington on your way up, you’ll travel through a of verdant landscape of forest and rolling hills.Īt the summit, there’s an hour break where guests can (weather permitting) take in views reaching across five states. This is hauled up the track using either a steam-powered 1912 locomotive or a newer, more efficient biodiesel engine. It looks much like the coaches used by Victorian-era tourists, but it’s built using the latest methods. Your group’s three-hour Cog journey starts with a custom-built coach. It can simultaneously deliver stunning scenery, an interesting living-history lesson, and an unforgettable experience. The Cog, as it’s affectionately known, is one of New Hampshire’s top tourist draws. But they were quickly proved wrong, as the mighty rack-and-pinion track system provided more than enough grip to haul the locomotive and all its cars upward.Īnd the Mount Washington Cog Railway is still going strong today. Some scoffed, saying that one might as well build a railway to the moon. Since proverbially, trains cannot go uphill, running a rail line to the top of the Mount and back down again may not seem like a viable solution, but in 1869, Sylvester Marsh designed and built a cog railway that became the world’s first mountain-scaling train ride. But the Mount’s elevation – at 6,288 feet, it’s the Northeast’s highest peak – and its reputation for rapid-onset bad weather make the trek daunting.
On a clear day, you can see the Atlantic Ocean on one side and Canada on the other. The view from the top of Mount Washington has always been worth a visit. Helen H.Who says trains can’t go uphill? Mount Washington’s Cog Railway has been doing it for 150 years, and it’s time to celebrate. Conductors David Bolser, left, and Adam Clawson, right, check the time on their pocket watches as they helps get passengers aboard The Broadmoor Manitou and Pikes Peak Cog Railway train in May 2021. But that awe-inspiring experience, it's all the same," Johnston said. "The experience of going to the summit of a 14,000-foot mountain by rail has not changed. Three years later, the railroad is reopened, all year, in any weather conditions. Their rarity forced Colorado engineers to look overseas for help in Switzerland's Stadler Rail, whose trains traverse the alps. Three new trains and a snowblower ready to tackle the hardiest of conditions were also recently added.Īs train transportation has modernized, cog railways and their parts have become few and far between. The tracks were replaced for the first time since they were laid down. And we retrofitted some of our older equipment," Johnston said. The track, the trains, the depot facility that we're at right now. "We looked at everything when we did this project. In 2018, it was shut down for renovations totaling more than $100 million. But much of the railway's infrastructure remained in place for more than 125 years. "We believe that the Broadmoor is kind of the gateway to the American West," said Jack Damioli, president and CEO at The Broadmoor.Īs the years passed, the trains' technology evolved with 20th-century innovation.
The nearby Broadmoor hotel owns the railway today. The cog railway was a groundbreaking system when it was constructed in 1891, as saloons dominated the local landscape. Richardson/MediaNews Group/The Denver Post via Getty Images The Broadmoor Manitou and Pikes Peak Cog Railway train heads towards the summit of Pikes Peak.
A typical railway, they get all their traction and braking through the outside rails," Ted Johnston, assistant general manager of Broadmoor Manitou and Pikes Peak Cog Railway, said. "A cog railway is a railway just like any other railway, but we use a center third rail to get all our traction and braking.
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