Mount Washington Cog Railway

The Mount Washington Cog Railway was the first railway in the world built to climb a mountain. Since 3 July 1869 its trains have pushed their way up the western slope of Mount Washington, in New Hampshire's White Mountains, from Marshfield Base Station at 2,700 ft to the 6,288 ft summit, the highest point in the northeastern United States. The line is about three miles long, almost all of it on trestle, and it climbs at an average of 25 %, which makes it the second-steepest rack railway anywhere, after Pilatus in Switzerland.

A cog wheel under each locomotive engages a ladder-like rack between the rails and hauls the train up. Each train is a single coach, pushed from below by its engine: most are biodiesel locomotives built in the railway's own shops, and in summer two coal-fired steam engines of 1875 and 1908, with boilers slanted to sit level on the grade, still make the climb.

The round trip takes about three hours, with an hour at the top. In winter the trains turn at Waumbek Station, about 4,000 ft up.

Trains leave Marshfield Base Station from platforms lined up side by side; when several depart together, the steam train is always last in line. A brakeman rides on the front platform of the coach on the way up, watching the track and signalling to the engineer across the switches, and narrates the trip. The train crosses a steel bridge over the Ammonoosuc River, and the engineer opens up to the line's top speed: 5 mph.

The first climb is Cold Springs Hill, at nearly 35 % the second-steepest part of the railway, through dense forest. Then comes the Waumbek passing loop, 2,100 ft of double track worked by two solar-powered switches, which lets up to seven trains run on the mountain at once. Steam engines stop here at the Waumbek Tank to top up their tenders. Back on single track, the line follows a narrow ridge past Halfway House, a level old shelter for track workers at 4,300 ft that shows, by contrast, how steeply the coach is tilted.

Jacob's Ladder and the summit cone

Past Profile Rock the forest falls away and the train comes out onto Jacob's Ladder, a curving trestle nearly 300 ft long and up to 25 ft above the rock, climbing at 37.41 %. It is the steepest part of the railway, and the difference in height between the two ends of the coach is about 14 ft. To the right, across the Ammonoosuc Ravine, the Lakes of the Clouds hut sits in the saddle below Mount Monroe.

Beyond the trestle the train is at the tree line, about 5,000 ft up, and climbs along the flank of the summit cone through Skyline. The Gulfside Trail, part of the Appalachian Trail, runs beside the tracks, and to the north stand Mounts Clay, Jefferson, Adams and Madison. The biodiesels reach the summit in about 45 minutes; a steam train takes nearer an hour, including its water stop. On the way down the brakeman moves to the brake wheels at the other end of the coach.

The engines

The two steam locomotives in service are No. 2 Ammonoosuc, built by the Manchester Locomotive Works in 1875, and No. 9 Waumbek, from the same works in 1908. Their boilers are mounted at an angle so that they stay close to level on the grade, and each trip up the mountain burns about a ton of coal and 1,000 gallons of water. The biodiesels, seven of them built at the base between 2008 and 2019, carry names such as Wajo Nanatassis, Abenaki for "mountain hummingbird", and Agiocochook, an Indigenous name for the mountain itself.

The railway runs all year. From 2 May to 25 October 2026 the trains go to the summit; from 26 October 2026 to early May 2027 they turn at Waumbek Station, about 4,000 ft up, because the state park's buildings on the summit are closed for the winter. Every trip is a round trip from Marshfield Base Station.

In the last days of October the summit trips run every 90 minutes from 09:00 to 15:00, with 30 to 40 minutes at the top instead of an hour. On three summer mornings a year a sunrise train climbs to the summit in the dark; in 2026 they ran on 24 July, 14 August and 12 September.

Good to know:

• Steam sells out first, often months ahead in summer. During the autumn foliage season the steam trains go only as far as Waumbek.
• Arrive 45 minutes early. Boarding starts 15 minutes before departure, and trains leave on time. Some GPS apps send drivers to the east side of the mountain, 50 miles away; the base station is off Route 302 at Bretton Woods.
• Weather decides the destination. When the summit is closed by wind or ice, trains stop at Skyline, about 5,500 ft, or at Waumbek, and part of the fare is refunded.

Departures as of September 2026, from the railway's booking system (30 September, 3, 14 and 22 October and 1 November 2026) and its website for the summer steam trains. Confirm before travelling on thecog.com (opens in a new tab).

Every seat is reserved, and fares change with the date and the departure. In October 2026 a biodiesel round trip to the summit costs $102 to $119 for adults and $92 to $109 for children aged 4 to 12, falling to $96 and $86 on the late-October trips; under-4s ride free on a lap. The autumn steam trips to Waumbek are $69 and $59, and winter trips to Waumbek from $54. Tickets can be bought at the base station, but trains sell out routinely, steam first, so book online.

Moving a booking costs $15 a ticket; cancelling more than three months ahead is free, between three months and 15 days costs $15 a ticket, and after that nothing is refunded. Fares checked September 2026 at thecog.com (opens in a new tab); US dollars.

No rail pass covers the Cog. The Mount Washington Railway Company is privately owned and sells its own tickets; Amtrak's USA Rail Pass is valid only on Amtrak's own services, and Interrail and Eurail do not apply anywhere in the United States.

The concessions the railway does offer are fixed ones: children under 4 ride free on a ticketed adult's lap, and on selected Memorial Day and Veterans Day departures a veteran rides free with a full-price adult ticket. For everyone else the answer is simple: buy the ticket for the train you want, and book early for steam.

Checked September 2026 against thecog.com (opens in a new tab).

The railway starts at the end of a six-mile road off Route 302, in the heart of the White Mountains. Around it lie the grand hotel at Bretton Woods, the cliffs and waterfalls of Crawford Notch, the trails that climb to the high lakes of the Presidential Range, and the river town of Littleton.

In summer and autumn the first trains leave at 08:00 and you need to be at the base station 45 minutes before, so it pays to sleep nearby. These are two places close to the foot of Base Station Road: the grand hotel at Bretton Woods, and a hikers' lodge at the head of Crawford Notch.

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