{"id":8745,"date":"2011-07-05T17:37:17","date_gmt":"2011-07-05T22:37:17","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/www.howderfamily.com\/blog\/?p=8745"},"modified":"2022-04-15T07:19:25","modified_gmt":"2022-04-15T12:19:25","slug":"cog-railways","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.howderfamily.com\/blog\/cog-railways\/","title":{"rendered":"Cog Railways"},"content":{"rendered":"\n

Many years ago my fianc\u00e9 (now wife) and I traveled through northern New England for two weeks. That was long ago. We actually tent-camped our way through a string of rustic state parks with few amenities. It changed to Bed-and-Breakfasts Inns after our marriage. Then it changed again to whatever hotel happened to have an indoor pool and a free breakfast buffet once the kids came along. Imagine though, a time when I once trampled through the wilderness without regard to creature comforts.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\"Mount<\/a><\/figure>\n\n\n\n

One of our stops delivered us to the top of Mount Washington<\/a>, the highest point in the state of New Hampshire (map<\/a>). Indeed it’s higher than anywhere else in the northeastern United States: 1,917 metres (6,288 feet). There, the observatory atop the mountain claims to be the “Home of the World\u2019s Worst Weather”. Even so it didn’t live up to its fierce reputation during our visit. We found the summit picture postcard perfect. Not that this has anything to do with today’s subject.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\n\n\n\n

Encountering the Cog<\/h2>\n\n\n\n

We saw a terrible column of black smoke rising from the valley. What could possibly burn on the barren rock above the tree line? It moved closer. Soon enough we saw that it belching from an ancient machine. A mighty hissing steam engine pushed a passenger car.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

And that’s when we discovered the Mount Washington Cog Railway<\/a><\/p>\n\n\n\n

\"Mount
Here’s what appeared<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n\n\n\n

I didn\u2019t know anything about the cog railway prior to our visit. I will take a ride if I ever return, now wiser and lazier after the passage of more years than I’d like to admit.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

The Washington Mountain Cog Railway is an institution. It was the very first mountain cog railway ever constructed. So of course it continues to be the oldest by definition. Tourists started taking the railway safely to the summit of Mount Washington in 1869, pushed along nearly unimaginable gradients up to 37%.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\n\n\n\n

How it Works<\/h2>\n\n\n\n
\"Rack<\/a>
Pretty simple in theory<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n\n\n\n

Generically it\u2019s a “rack and pinion” railway, a technology particularly suited to steep mountainous terrain. The rack is a toothed track strung along a rail bed. The pinion is a cog wheel that aligns with the rack. It\u2019s easier to picture than describe. They\u2019ve been deployed worldwide in places where ordinary trains would spin their wheels on their tracks.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\n\n\n\n

United Kingdom<\/h2>\n\n\n\n
\"Snowdon<\/a>
Notice the “rack” – the toothed track at Snowdon<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n\n\n\n

A rack and pinion design has worked efficiently for over a century at Snowdon, the highest peak in the British Isles outside of Scotland (map<\/a>). The Snowdon Mountain Railway<\/a> rises to a 1,085 m (3,560 ft) summit from Llanberis, a village in Gwynedd, North Wales. It is the only example of a cog railway in the United Kingdom.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Reputedly the SMR served as an inspiration for the fictional Culdee Fell Railway, which in turn spun off into the whole Thomas the Tank Engine phenomenon<\/a>. That probably doesn’t matter much to you unless your household went through a Thomas the Tank Engine phase, as mine did when our kids were younger.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\n\n\n\n

Australia<\/h2>\n\n\n\n