Mt Washington trip

[railsider]

Rich .......

I hope you and your young lady had a great time. I'm also in my mid-70's, living in the West now, and last rode the Mt. Washington Cog Railway about 60 years ago. I still remember the whole trip vividly and fondly.

Diesels? Oh, the price pf progress! Old Peppersass was the only way to go, with that funny tilted boiler.

Incidentally, does anyone -- anyone! -- know where one can find HO, HOn or even N scale locos for such a cog railway?? I would love to build one just for fun. A real cog drive would probably be necessary to achieve the 10% and 15% grades. An alternative might be a cable-car arrangement, with a string below the surface. Any thoughts from anyone who's done it???

Railsider

[richg]

Hi railsider

Probably be really difficult to find a steam loco. The steamer has four small cylinders. Would be a real challenge to scratch build.
Maybe a box cab to simulate the diesel. No doubt at HO scale you would need a string under the layout with a stiff thin wire up through a slot next the the "cog".
A plastic loco would be really light.
The max angle at Jacobs Ladder is 37.41 degrees.
My girlfriend and I stood at the rear of the car and we could feet the heat from the loco.
To keep steam up, the fireman has to maintain a volcano like fire.
The passing siding now has two hydraulic turnouts powered by solar cells.
The turnout near the top still is the nine step manual process. This one is for the stub end siding near the top.
A diesel starts first, unloads, backs down to the siding, the steamer comes up behind and stops at the top for nearly an hour. Another diesel comes up and unloads. It then picks up the first batch of people and starts down.
Meantime a third diesel has started up the mountain and they meet at the passing siding.
A lot of coordination is needed to get max people up and down.

I can send you email with photos and videos if interested.
I found the diesels interesting. They are much easier to operate and much more efficient than the steamer. Each day there is one steamer and three diesels operating.

The photo in the below link will give people a good idea of what it is like at this angle.

http://www.steamphotos.com/Railroad-Photos/Mount-Washington-Cog-Railway/5279674_SHPwX#321634982_W2n94

There are a lot of Mt Washington links on the 'Net and loads of You Tube videos that are a lot better than mine which include the new diesels.

Rich

[richg]

I have not found a video of the brakeman in action when on the way down.
Normally, the loco is not connected to the car. It just pushes against a plate on the end of the car.
At the top, I did notice a piece of chain connecting the loco and car. Since the car was right at the top on level track, the loco had to pull the car a short way until gravity took over. The loco stopped, the fireman disconnected the chain and we were on our way down. You have to remember, gravity is not a good idea, it is the law.
The loco is not holding the car back until near the bottom. The brakeman is constantly busy and there is a lot of vibration as we travel down faster that going up.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=7XxdEhf-Ir0

Rich

[J3a-614]

Some random links on the subject of cog or rack railroads in HO scale:

http://www.morop.eu/en/normes/nem121_e.pdf

http://books.google.com/books?id=i98DAAAAMBAJ&pg=PA190&lpg=PA190&dq=ho+cog+railroad+equipment&source=bl&ots=L_lcnYQhTr&sig=JyKa7tW8_XhJQ7hXZABZWUc8P80&hl=en&ei=ZEyZTKrsOYS8lQfEr_VT&sa=X&oi=book_result&ct=result&resnum=8&ved=0CDYQ6AEwBw#v=onepage&q=ho%20cog%20railroad%20equipment&f=false

LGB offers equipment and rack in large scale:

http://www.google.com/#sclient=psy&hl=en&q=lgb+rack+railway&aq=f&aqi=g3g-m2&aql=&oq=&gs_rfai=&pbx=1&fp=8ce9e1c25799f52d

http://www.trainweb.org/jlsrr/product-reviews/brunig/brunig.htm

Here is a video clip from the famous Minatur Wunderland exhibit in Germany, featuring what would be a "rack and adhesion" line.  They had to get that equipment from somewhere. . .

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=NwTRW3fIlgA&feature=channel

I'll look some more, there should be something out there. . .

[J3a-614]

A little more looking:

http://www.eurorailhobbies.com/erh_detail.asp?mn=5&ca=1&sc=HO&stock=FL-403401

Try not to have a heart attack at some of the prices; looks like a lot more used to be available than is currently around.

http://www.reynaulds.com/search.aspx?term=rack&submit=Search

http://www.roco.com/products/Fleischmann/403401.aspx

http://www.roco.com/products/Fleischmann/6411.aspx

http://www.roco.com/products/Fleischmann/6412.aspx

http://www.roco.com/index.aspx

Good luck on this one:

http://www.fleischmann.de/

That's about as good as I can do; hope it helps.

[J3a-614]

This came up at Railway Preservation News recently, and I thought some here might be interested:

http://server.rypn.org/forums/viewtopic.php?f=1&t=30204

Direct link to the RyPN subject matter in the above post:

http://www.archive.org/details/brake_free_1970

Enjoy!

[richg]

Ok, drifting off topic a tad.
Not a railroad but it runs on two tracks. Girlfriend sat in front of me on this little four wheel car.
Hey, you got to have fun when you get to geezerhood, the oppostie of childhood.
Look at You Tube for mountain coaster.

http://www.themeparkreview.com/parks/photo.php?pageid=325&linkid=2988

Rich

[Doneldon]

rich-

Oh, yeah.  These are a ton of fun.  Just don't run into a moose.

                                                            -- D