Meeting on the Mountain. After dealing with a minor derailment at Skyline Switch, MWRC #9 and her orange coach are safely in the hole, allowing MWRC #2 and her 11AM Train to proceed to the summit. In the hey-day of steam operations on the Mt. Washington Railway, meets such as this one were commonplace. The single-track railroad had a couple of spur tracks to allow ascending trains to pass descending trains. One was located at Waumbek Tank, about 1/3rd of the way up the hill and the second was this one, at Skyline, about 2/3rds of the way to the top and 5,600 ft of elevation. Typically, the descending trains would take the siding and give way to the trains headed for the summit. During peak fall foliage season, there were often multiple sections on the hourly trains, and that meant these sidings had to be built to accommodate multiple trains. Historic photos show four or more trains congregating here. Alas, photos of mountain steam meets like this one are just no longer possible. Since the line dieselized in mid-2009, the fleet of active steam locomotives has diminished from 7 down to just 2, and you'll virtually never see more than one in operation at any time. In addition, the switch and spur track you see here are no more. The only passing facilities left are at Waumbek tank and the summit. The speed with which the new diesel-hydraulics can make the summit means that there are just fewer trains on the line at any particular time.
