Mt. Washington Cog Railway

The "railway to the moon" was built in 1869, making it the first train to climb a mountain. This feat was made possible by the rack and pinion system integrated into the engine and the track. Two cogs on the bottom of the engine lock into the rack in the middle of the tracks. This is where the railway gets the second part of its name. The first part comes from the mountain that it climbs, Mt. Washington. At 6,288 feet tall, Mt. Washington is the second-tallest mountain east of the Mississippi River and the tallest in the northeastern United States. The Cog makes the trip up the mountain at about three miles per hour, and descends at about four miles per hour. Including the one hour spent at the top of the mountain, the entire trip up and down the mountain takes about three hours. Of the three ways to go up and down the mountain (the other two are hiking and driving), the Cog is by far the most fun.