It all starts here..... There are plenty of photos of the summit terminus of the Mt. Washington Railway, but not so many of the very bottom of the line. All train operations start here...and end here. The set of buildings depicted in this photo are the railway's shops and engine house. The large red building with the patchwork roof is the shop building. Here, the railroad's steam and diesel locomotives are built/rebuilt and maintained. Although some of the steam locomotives trace their origins to other facilities, such as the Manchester Locomotive Works, it is arguable that very little of what is in operation today came from anyplace but here. Certainly, all 5 of the railroad's diesel-hydraulic locomotives were designed and built here. The facility on the right with the green roof is the actual engine house. It is a linear shed (vs. a roundhouse) with stalls for each locomotive. It was formerly filled with steam locomotives, but now, just 3 live there. The rest are diesels. The engine house is served by a transfer table, which can retrieve an engine from its stall and move it onto the main line.
This particular photo was taken on Labor Day Weekend of 2009, which as of now, was my last trip to The Cog. Earlier that summer, hourly steam operations were discontinued, when 3 diesels became available. From that time on, the railroad only planned one steam operation per day, but with multiple steam engines still available with current boiler inspections, they sometimes did run extra sections with steam, when the passenger loads required it. On this particular day, #9 "Waumbek" was the steamer on duty, and she ran 4 trips to the top. As can be seen here, two other locomotives were held as standbys. #6 "Kancamagus" and #10 "Kro-Flite" sit warm in front of the shops. Both could be brought into service quickly if needed. At the end of the 2009 season, the plug was pulled on most of the steam fleet. Of the 6 engines that remained at that time, two were placed on static displays in nearby towns at Fabians (the #10) and Twin Mountain (a lash-up of 4s boiler and 8s cab & tender). #2 "Ammonoosuc" and #9 "Waumbek" are still being maintained in operable condition and alternate in service on the first run of the day. #6 "Kancamagus" is stored theoretically operable in the engine house, but is not used. #3 "Agiocochook" is stored outside in the weather, and is unlikely to ever operate again. Of the original 8 steam locomotives that ran this line, just 4 remain intact on the property.
