In the homestretch. Most of the heavy lifting is done as Mount Washington Railway Company's #9 "Waumbek" pushes her bright orange, 70-passenger coach the last quarter mile toward the summit of New England's highest peak. We're at 5,970 MSL and with just about 300 vertical feet to go, the train is traversing a long, straight section of track known as the "homestretch flats". Although it is hardly flat, the grade is nothing like what the train has been dealing with for the past hour. Just below the train, the small pyramid of rocks you see is one of the cairns that marks the famous Appalachian Trail, which crosses the cog tracks just behind the rock pile to the left. Just beyond and above the train, you can see a small parking area, where some cars have pulled off the Mt. Washington Auto Road to watch the train's arrival. In just a few moments, this train will hit the final grade to the top...a steep, 100 degree, right-hand turn, which ends on the platform next to the Sherman Adams Summit House.
