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Mount Washington Cog Railway

© Christina Coruth

It was a beautiful day in August of 1857. Sylvester Marsh anticipated the stunning view from the summit of Mount Washington, as he and his friend began their hike to the top of the highest peak in the Northeast. Mount Washington, which is in the White Mountains, is 6,288 feet above sea level. Before the day was over, they learned that Mount Washington was, and still is, home of "the world's worst weather". After passing the tree line the sunshine quickly dissipated into a storm with freezing rain and hurricane force winds. Long after dark the hikers barely managed to make their way to the safety of Tip Top House, a summit cabin.

Marsh, a successful civil mechanical engineer, got to thinking about his harrowing trip. He decided there should be a better, faster way up the mountain. And so was born the idea that would result in the construction and operation of the world's first cog railway -- better known as the Mount Washington Cog Railway.

Marsh worked on the design through the winter. When he had a workable model, he applied to the NH State Legislature for a charter to build his cog railway. Many of the legislators openly laughed at his outlandish proposal. Some thought he was crazy to attempt to build a railway up Mount Washington and told him he could have a charter all the way to the moon for all the good it would do. Marsh wasn't bothered by the naysayers. He got what he wanted -- the rights to build his railway ascending approximately 3,000 feet along a western spur of the mountain.

On August 29, 1866 the first steam locomotive, Hero, was ready to make a demonstration run up the six hundred feet of track that had been laid for that purpose. When completed, the track would run for 3.1 miles. However, Marsh only needed to prove that a cog system rail train could climb a steep incline pushing a passenger coach. Hero was a bare bones prototype which had no tender or fuel storage. Those would be added later. A boiler was the only structure on the engine platform. One of the observers commented that it looked like a huge bottle of pepper sauce and the name stuck. Old Peppersass passed her first test with flying colors.

The world's first mountain climbing cog railway officially went into operation on July 3, 1869. Among the first passengers to be pushed up Mount Washington were President Ulysses S Grant and his family.

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