Has anyone seen this photo? The photographer seems to think that steam may be on the outs at Mt. Washington.

http://www.railpictures.net/viewphoto.p ... 48&nseq=66

It has been reported in the railfan press (Trains NewsWire, Railpace, etc) that yes the Mount Washington Cog Railway intends to dieselize. They will be building one diesel hydraulic each year until steam is banished to the ocassional special. MWCR claims that they are paying $240 a ton for delivered coal and that these diesels will run three trips to the top for the cost of one steam powered trip and at a third of the time. To say the least, unless they cut their fares by two thirds, I will never ride the Cog again. However, a positive is happening at the Manitou and Pikes Peak, yes... they are rebuilding one of their steamers. Howver it will not be able to run to the top because of the lack of water facilities.

My wife and I were vacationing in New England a few years ago and wanted to include the cog railway as a stop on our trip..(we had never been before).. I looked up their webpage before the trip, and saw $60 each for tickets, we said "forget it"..

now, with diesels, I will likely never ride.. :(
too bad..it probably (was) a great experience.

Scot

well..I guess I shouldnt be so hard on them..
it is a business afterall, and sometimes hard decisions have to be made.
but still..steam on Mt. Washington is an icon..sad to see it go.

Here is a second view of the new critter:

http://www.railpictures.net/viewphoto.p ... 61&nseq=36

Scot

anybody know which JD engine it employs? 600 HP is ONE BIG engine!!!

To me it's clear that non-railfan visitors of all ages like to experience the 'old' stuff, as smelly and sooty as it is. Clearly the Cog has tried to preserve steam operation, and economics will dictate what they have to do.
However, could it be that such an ugly critter will depress ridership simply because of the subconscious reaction of their customers?
How many visitors will arrive expecting a 19th century experience, take one look at the diesel, then the ticket price, and leave without riding? If getting to the top is their goal, there is a road.
Given the run up in the price of oil, maybe they will have to reconsider switching to diesel power anyway. Or go to electric power, which I believe is popular in Europe.

I'd really hate to see them go wholesale diesel. Nigel Day was well on the way to improving their steamers which are in many ways at a pre-1850 level of sophistication (saturated, fixed cutoff, low boiler pressure, tiny steam passages, no water treatment, etc.). SLM (now DLM) was able to prove the superior economics of modern steam vs. modern diesels on mountain rack railways in Europe. These superior economics were a combination of improving the overall performance of steam and the increased ridership that steam generated.

Let's hope Mt. Washington is just looking at diesels for low ridership periods and as a backup to steam during the normal season.

One, it would be nice to assume that, like several other operations I am aware of, they may charge different/cheaper prices for the diesel run than the steam run if both are even offered--either as a result of "passing on the savings" or simply to prevent having to raise the prices even further.

Second, the Mt. Washington Auto Road charges $20 per car and driver and $7 per passenger--just in case anyone thought the alternative was "free".

It's a 12.5 liter "H" series engine.

here's the info form JD...

http://www.deere.com/en_US/rg/productse ... index.html

And now you know why I finished my steam project there and came home. I dont do politics.

Is it just me or after seeing this ugly picture did anyone else first think this was a joke. The way this awful photo was taken it looks like they photo shopped a diesel right in there! I was planning last year to go up there but never found the time to do so, now with a diesel, forget it!!! I hope they loose well over 2/3rd's of their ridership to make them change their mind.



Adam

They mention the new diesel on their website.

http://www.thecog.com/cog_technology.php

Not only regrettable, but very esthetically unpleasant. Hard to imagine a less attractive "evil diesel" and I work on mining and industrial power.

Funny how the car roof membrane gathers at the downhill end.........digress.

Before we condemn the Cog management out of hand, it would be useful to consider the real economic data that encouraged them to pursue this option rather than continue to improve steam with Nigel's technological advances. They may not like the change any more than we do, but could have had no other rational business option.

I do believe the majority of their market is riding for the view rather than for the steam experience. It will be interesting to see how this proves out, although the current economy has a lot of other unfortunate variables in action. Knowing what to blame will be difficult.

dave

Why bother?

Why not just get a nice multiple-unit cog train from Europe? Clean, huge capacity, ultra safe. They had no problem bringing switch technology from Europe.

Of course, the real issue is the cost of the fireman (training and wages), and are they able to get decent summer labor anymore? Don't forget the ski train, whose riders really are not there for the steam or the nostalgia.

They still have environmental issues with smoke too.

P.S. after first posting it occurred to me that currency exchange rates make a European purchase prohibitive. However, imagine if they could get one of those MU trains with a glass roof. Imagine the views to the rear ascending Jacob's Ladder. I think that would be dramatic ride, even without steam.

If they are going to go diesel, how about at least going classy.