Mount Washington Cog Railway

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Mount Washington Cog Railway
Mount Washington Cog Railway
Mount Washington Cog Railway
Route length: total: 4.8 km
Gauge : 1422 mm
Stations and engineering structures
Legend
End station - start of the route
 Mount Washington Summit (mountain station)
Route - straight ahead
 Jacob's ladder
Station without passenger traffic
 Skyline siding 1890 m altitude
Station without passenger traffic
 Waumbek siding 1200 m altitude
   
 Marshfield Station (valley station)
   
 former route to Bretton Woods

The Mount Washington Cog Railway was the world's first cog railway , which - mainly for tourist reasons - was run up a mountain. It is still in operation today.

Geographical location

The car takes on the US -Bundesstaat New Hampshire situated Mount Washington . The valley station, Marshfield Base Station , is 10 km east of Route 302 near Bretton Woods at 823 m. The route runs on the western flank of the highest mountain in Northeast America.

history

"Old Peppersass"

The railway was built according to plans by Sylvester Marsh since 1866 and opened on July 3, 1869.

The first steam locomotive train, already used in track construction since 1866, was called Hero ( "Hero"), but was commonly known as "Old Pepper Sass" (dialect for "pepper sauce") known as their vertical boiler on a bottle of Tabasco sauce reminded. In 1878 it was taken out of service and restored after several exhibitions and several years of storage. During an operation on July 20, 1929, a tooth broke out of the drive wheel while traveling downhill, the machine got out of control and moved downhill without braking. Except for a traveling photographer, all passengers could jump off and save their lives. The debris lying around was later collected and reassembled near the base station , where "Old Peppersass" is still preserved today as a technical monument.

Technical parameters

Infrastructure

Gear mechanism
Wooden superstructure

The single-track line is 4.8 km long and was built in a 4 '8' '(1422 mm) gauge . The information on the track gauge of the route contradicts one another in the primary sources.

The gear technology is very similar to the system patented by Niklaus Riggenbach in 1863 and named after him.

From the valley station, the route overcomes the almost five-kilometer ascent with an altitude difference of approx. 1200 meters with an average gradient of 25%. The superstructure consists of a half - timbered construction ( trestle ) made of tree trunks .

Originally there were no crossing points on the route. The uphill train met the downhill train at about the height of today's passing point at the water tower. The passengers got on the other train and continued their journey. Today there are two crossing points where trains can pass each other. The points required for this were installed in 1941 and had to be changed by hand. In 2003 and 2005 they were replaced by automatic hydraulic switches on a steel girder platform.

The first pass is at an altitude of 1200 m, the second at 1890 m. Further up is the approximately 100-meter-long Jakobsladder , which with a 37.41% gradient is surpassed by cogwheel railways with passenger transport worldwide only by the Pilatusbahn in Switzerland with a steepness of 48%.

vehicles

Steam locomotives

Water intake for "Ammonoosuc"

Originally there were seven steam locomotives with inclined mounted boilers with which the railway was operated. These require around one ton of coal and 3800 liters of water per trip. The locomotive in the train is always set on the valley side, the car and locomotive are not coupled to each other. When driving uphill, the propulsion is only achieved by the rack engagement that takes place via the drive axles. They are then secured against turning back by a locking lever. The other wheels are not driven. When traveling downhill, the locomotive brakes on its own, mainly using the steam pistons (counter-pressure brake).

Today two steam locomotives are still in regular use: No. 2, "Ammonoosuc" (built in 1875), and No. 9, "Waumbek" (built in 1908).

Diesel locomotives

Train with diesel locomotive

On May 31, 2008, the railway company put its first diesel locomotive into operation, which had been built in its own workshop, five more have followed it so far, a seventh is under construction and should go into operation in summer 2018, and an eighth is to follow. The diesel locomotives run on biodiesel . The operating costs are significantly lower than when operating a steam locomotive.

dare

The passenger cars hold 56 to 70 passengers . On the descent, the car is manually braked by a brakeman on board - regardless of the locomotive in front.

business

The train runs between May and October. A locomotive always runs together with a wagon. The journey time is around 60 minutes. In the turnout at an altitude of 1200 m, water is taken again during steam operation.

Most trains are now operated with diesel locomotives, the steam locomotives serve as a reserve. Only the first train of the day at 9:00 am is scheduled to run with steam locomotives. Starting in 2019, two steam trains are scheduled to run daily.

literature

Remarks

  1. ↑ Named after Sylvester Marsh and Darby Field, probably the first white man to climb Mount Washington.
  2. ↑ • The course book of 1893 gives a gauge of 5 feet and 3 inches (1600 mm) ( Travelers' Official Guide of the Railway and Steam Navigation Lines in the United States and Canada . Edition June 1893. New York: National Railway Publication Company . S. VIII).
    • Later course books list the route as standard gauge with 1435 mm ( Official Guide of the Railways and Steam Navigation Lines of the United States, Porto Rico, Canada, Mexico and Cuba . June 1916 edition. New York: National Railway Publication Company. P. XII ).
    • The 1911 Poors Manual of Railroads lists a gauge of 5 feet 7½ inches (1715 mm) (New York, p. 23).
    • The 1931 edition of the same manual gives a track width of 4 feet 7½ inches, 1410 mm (New York, p. 1145.)
    • The 2009 world timetable gives 1397 mm (Thomas Cook Publishing (Ed.):     Overseas Timetable . Summer 2009 , p. 74).
    • The rail company specification is 4 feet 8 inches, 1422 mm.
  3. ↑ The tow locomotives on the Panama Canal that are not intended for passenger traffic use sections of the route with a 50% gradient.

credentials

  1. ↑ deg: New locomotive .
  2. ↑ deg: New locomotive .
  3. ↑ Technology Articles - The Cog Railway's first biodiesel engine was featured in the John Deere Power Systems Publication, “Power Source” in 2008 .
  4. ↑ deg: New locomotive .
  5. ^ Website of the operating company .

Web links

Commons : Mount Washington Cog Railway  - Collection of Images, Videos, and Audio Files

Coordinates: 44 ° 16'26 "  N , 71 ° 19'53"  W.