Part 1 - The Cog

Part one of my adventure this week, The Cog Railway.

Richard and I decided to take the Cog railway up to the top of the Rockpile here in NH as a means to a way to the top. We could have driven but apparently my "Well, we can drop my car off at my girlfriends house and YOU can drive to the top" was not what he wanted to hear, which was "Sure, we can drop YOUR car off and drive MINE to the top..." Yeah, right. I was not driving my car to the top and if any of you know me well enough, you know why :)...



So, the Cog railway it is. Now, being a resident of NH for basically my entire life (except for the 2.5 years I lived in Maine, and the 45 days I lived in Arizona) you would THINK that I had already been there and done that when it comes to Mt. Washington. But, I had never been to the top whether via rail, car or foot so this was going to be a good time.



The price of the ticket to the top of the Cog was steep....just like the ride. For $59 you get a round trip ride, which includes a... WHOLE 20 MINUTES at the top. Wow. That was just about enough time for the old folks to get off the train, make their way to the bathroom, and get back on. Luckily for us, we were only going one way but the catch was...you can only buy a one way ticket (for $42) DOWN.



So, we got our tickets and hopped on the train. It was an interesting ride, although I think our conductors were a little burnt out on answering the same questions..over and over all summer, can you blame them? So, if YOU have any questions about the railway feel free to go HERE.

My favorite part of the trip was when we crossed over hikers crossing and the anticipation of being mooned by the hikers...although it didn't happen, the CHANCE that I could see a sweaty, hairy butt was almost more than I could bear, and I am sure the rest of the tourists on the train felt the same way.

One concern that did come to mind as we were riding up the train was the environmental impact that this train and its coal has on the delicate alpine environment. As we were going up I noticed I began to be covered with coal dust, and looking out the window you could see the accumulation of it all along the tracks. Coal is also a non-renewable resources and the removing of it from the earth as well as the burning is a big contributor to global warming. A couple of folks on the train did bring up this point to the conductor. He told us that they do have a diesel engine in service, and they have tried alternative means of getting to the top but, get this, the tourists complained that there was no "Choo-Choo" sound. *sigh*
Not only that, but this train is one of the biggest money makers for the AMC.

Either way it was a pretty neat way to get to the top, and it only took an hour.