Mt. Washington New Hampshire
One of my best friends had provided me with a good expectation of what I would see while there. At one time, he was in charge of the development, testing, and production of commercial jet engines for General Electric. They chose the top of Mt. Washington for their program for 3 reasons: elevation, extreme cold, and room for all of the support facilities required. I asked him about the noise they must have generated....he smiled and said " well, it wasn't quiet when we were running engines".
You can get to the top one of two ways. You can drive or you can ride a cog-wheel driven train. I chose to drive. That was a little nerve-racking. As much mountain driving I do, I've been on some pretty dicey roads. But this road had extreme pucker power. In several places, it was really only a one way deal. Twice when going up, I caught a car coming down. The first time, it was at a spot that wasn't that bad. The second time, It almost came down to who was going to try and back up to find a spot with more room. I told my wife to get out of the car and tell how close I was getting to the rocks on the right of the car. When we passed, I had about six inches between me and the rocks. And with both side mirrors folded, the other car and I had less than a foot between us. While in the visitor center at the top, I asked someone at the help station how many cars have ever gone off the road and down the mountain. She said 3, but that there hasn't been one since 1985. It was 2020 when I was there.
joecichjr
Loc: Chicago S. Suburbs, Illinois, USA
black mamba wrote:
One of my best friends had given provided me with a good expectation of what I would see while there. At one time, he was in charge of the development, testing, and production of commercial jet engines for General Electric. They chose the top of Mt. Washington for their program for 3 reasons: elevation, extreme cold, and room for all of the support facilities required. I asked him about the noise they must have generated....he smiled and said " well, it wasn't quiet when we were running engines".
You can get to the top one of two ways. You can drive or you can ride a cog-wheel driven train. I chose to drive. That was a little nerve-racking. As much mountain driving I do, I've been on some pretty dicey roads. But this road had extreme pucker power. In several places, it was really only a one way deal. Twice when going up, I caught a car coming down. The first time, it was at a spot that wasn't that bad. The second time, It almost came down to who was going to try and back up to find a spot with more room. I told my wife to get out of the car and tell how close I was getting to the rocks on the right of the car. When we passed, I had about six inches between me and the rocks. And with both side mirrors folded, the other car and I had less than a foot between us. While in the visitor center at the top, I asked someone at the help station how many cars have ever gone off the road and down the mountain. She said 3, but that there hasn't been one since 1985. It was 2020 when I was there.
One of my best friends had given provided me with ... (
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Awesome shooting 🎖️🏆❤️🏆🎖️
Beautiful set Tom. My wife and I were up there many years ago. It was in the high 70s and sunny when we left the bottom of the mountain. When we reached the top it was in the 30s, very windy and foggy.
Would you be offended if I 'added' several (only slightly) similar images of the Mt. Washington Cog Railroad to your post? Ironically, I'd been looking at and scanning some (minimally) similar images I'd shot (on film) back in the '80's of the same just a few days ago, and the differences are many.
Alternately, I suppose I could just post my alt images in a separate post, though to do so would feel, in effect, sort of copy-cat-ish. Regardless, if you'd prefer I not glom onto your post, I won't. Either way, there's still one shot in particular I'd need to scan/adjust/whatever, but I've yet to find the slide/negative, and at this point I'm not even sure what format I'd shot that shot with (35mm, 645 cm medium format, 4"x5") or whatever format it was that, even after all these years, I'd still consider the penultimate shot.....
black mamba wrote:
One of my best friends had provided me with a good expectation of what I would see while there. At one time, he was in charge of the development, testing, and production of commercial jet engines for General Electric. They chose the top of Mt. Washington for their program for 3 reasons: elevation, extreme cold, and room for all of the support facilities required. I asked him about the noise they must have generated....he smiled and said " well, it wasn't quiet when we were running engines".
You can get to the top one of two ways. You can drive or you can ride a cog-wheel driven train. I chose to drive. That was a little nerve-racking. As much mountain driving I do, I've been on some pretty dicey roads. But this road had extreme pucker power. In several places, it was really only a one way deal. Twice when going up, I caught a car coming down. The first time, it was at a spot that wasn't that bad. The second time, It almost came down to who was going to try and back up to find a spot with more room. I told my wife to get out of the car and tell how close I was getting to the rocks on the right of the car. When we passed, I had about six inches between me and the rocks. And with both side mirrors folded, the other car and I had less than a foot between us. While in the visitor center at the top, I asked someone at the help station how many cars have ever gone off the road and down the mountain. She said 3, but that there hasn't been one since 1985. It was 2020 when I was there.
One of my best friends had provided me with a good... (
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Interesting info Tom and a very good set of photos.
Curmudgeon wrote:
Beautiful set Tom. My wife and I were up there many years ago. It was in the high 70s and sunny when we left the bottom of the mountain. When we reached the top it was in the 30s, very windy and foggy.
Thanks, Jack. I don't remember what the temperature was at the bottom when we were there, but when we got to the top the first thing I did was go to the gift shop and buy something really warm.
Cany143 wrote:
Would you be offended if I 'added' several (only slightly) similar images of the Mt. Washington Cog Railroad to your post? Ironically, I'd been looking at and scanning some (minimally) similar images I'd shot (on film) back in the '80's of the same just a few days ago, and the differences are many.
Alternately, I suppose I could just post my alt images in a separate post, though to do so would feel, in effect, sort of copy-cat-ish. Regardless, if you'd prefer I not glom onto your post, I won't. Either way, there's still one shot in particular I'd need to scan/adjust/whatever, but I've yet to find the slide/negative, and at this point I'm not even sure what format I'd shot that shot with (35mm, 645 cm medium format, 4"x5") or whatever format it was that, even after all these years, I'd still consider the penultimate shot.....
Would you be offended if I 'added' several (only s... (
show quote)
I don't mind. If it's pertinent to this post. you're welcome to add what you have.
Thanks, Brian. If you notice, in the last shot there's 3 people sitting outside at the rear of the car as they start down off of the mountain. If there are no seats available inside the car, they will allow that. Otherwise, they don't. I would think those folks have the best seat in the house for viewing. Probably freeze their butts off, though.
black mamba wrote:
I don't mind. If it's pertinent to this post. you're welcome to add what you have.
Thanks for letting me play along, mamba.
These are (scans from transparencies) shot in October of 1982. Looks like the railway has had an upgrade or two in the meantime....
If you take the cog railway up, while you are walking around they flip all the seats, so that you face forward both directions.
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