OCR Text |
Show COG RAILROAD UP HIGH MOUNTAIN Line from the Dase to the Summit of Mount Washington la Really a Fine Piece cf Engineering Superintendent Telia of the Work Done on One of the Regular Trips la Strikingly Original In Construction. A there l acaitel) a mine lute, . eating rallwa of equal size In tin counlr) thun the three-mile cog mad built from the base to the summit of Ml. Washington, one can leadlly lie lleve that It nfllrlala, mrtl(uturl Its superintendent, must be Interesting, loo, sajs the Huston Olobe. When the cog road Is not III 0ra lion, or when the roadbed Is not u-reiving u-reiving attention bfoi Die beginning and nfter tho nnd of the season, the superintendent. John Home, la bu.lb engaged In the machine ahopa of the Hoaton & Maine at l.akeport. Mr llornn Is never too much occupied to discuss tho Mt. Washington railway and ho knows the subject thoroughly Mr Home ha been connected with the Mt. Washington toad for HI! )oar the last JS as superintendent. Ho la a nntlvo of Yorkshire, Kngland, and Is a man of remarkable mechanical abll It y, which he has found opporlunlt) to demonstrate In many ways during his connection wllh this unique road, A the oldest official of the roaiS Mr. Ilnme 1 reminiscences are moat entertaining and more particularly 4o they Impress 0110 whnn told by him In thn course of conversation, for Mr llorno Is a. most pleasing conversa tloaallst. "Our engine up theie on 111- moun tain," said Mr Home, "have a great deal of work to do, and they work hard, in fact, I have come to regard, them all, I supnoae. aa a ph)lclan la rxgular practice regards his pallet. "They are so different from tho 01 dlnary machine that oven tho betst tnd tlneit engineer I mean those In tcrosted In mechanic from all over tho world, when they arrive at th base of Mt Washington are attracted I j " the little, pulling engine that Is la rry them upward Thn drat engine built for the Mt VXaihlnglon railway luul un upright Ixdler wllh Ho water feeding device, mi that the crew would fill It up when tartlng, go na far aa safety permitted, ami then let the steam down and fill up again. "Tho englnea now In ute have boll era aomewhat shorter than the ordinary ordi-nary locomotive boiler, and the front end la set In the frame 18 Inch lower low-er than the buck, so a to atrlke a medium me-dium bvtween the lower and sharper grade. The tlrat engine was lent to thn II. & O railroad and exhibited at tho Chicago fair In 11.03 At the clow of the egKslllon It was presented to the Hold miiM-um "A IS the pnwir of these englnei, let mo glvo you an Illustration. Tnka fur Initance, a block of granite that, lying on the ground weighs IS tons Now undertake to lift it to the top of ti building S.T00 feet high in "0 in 1 11 utea.'lf you succeed It would be called a great feat. We do that practically every trip up the mountain , "No iteam Is used In coming down the mountain, gravity alone doing Ihe work and tin machinery holding back All Die atoam generated comes from a line stream of water admitted to tho cylinder aa a lubricant, and the com-preMlng com-preMlng air which heat tho walla ot the cylinder causes tho steam. On a rlio of nearly if.bO'i feet tn the mile a tet haa shown that Ihe horse powei transmitted to both cog wheel waa 517 "Thoro were some amall mountain railways built before this on Mt WaahtDgton wa thought of, but thero never was mountain railway that ever claimed construction as original," |