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Exploring the Back Roads of the Northeast

 

Mount Washington Cog Railway

Bretton Woods, New Hampshire

After business-tycoon-turned-adventurist Sylvester Marsh nearly perished in 1852 while trying to ascend perilous Mount Washington, the highest peak in New Hampshire as well as the entire Northeast, he envisioned a new type of railway that could haul passengers to the 6,288-foot summit. When he proposed the idea to the state legislature, the representatives granted Marsh permission but mockingly added that he may as well have a charter to the moon.

Marsh had the last laugh. His mountain-climbing cog railway, the world’s first, began operation in 1868. “That name actually stuck,” said Becky Metcalf, assistant marketing director for the Mount Washington Cog Railway. “It’s still called the ‘railway to the moon.’”

Today, five biodiesel trains haul 70-seat passenger cars to the summit — for those with vintage sensibilities, an old-fashioned steam train is available as the first run each day — and brakemen give a history of the cog railway and a guided tour along the way up the White Mountains. Visitors get about an hour to spend at the peak, where they can tour the Sherman Adams Summit Building, which has an exhibit describing the mountain’s infamous extreme weather.

www.thecog.com