Some things are just too good to do just once. Although I didn’t feel the need to ride the train to the summit again, I did want to see the steam locomotive in action. It was burning some coal and puffing a bit on my first visit but it didn’t go anywhere. So with an early morning wake-up call I made a point to get back for the 8:30 train. The good thing…I made it in plenty of time. The bad part…I forgot the sign I need for the photo contest.
Here’s what I got from the 2nd visit. It was sunny too even though by noontime it had clouded over. But it didn’t matter, the steam train was done for the day.
Kind of amazing how much smoke that little engine puts out. I could see the fireman shovelling coal like crazy. I wouldn’t want that job.
The Steam engines at the Cog were first powered by wood. Then as technology progressed the wood burning engines were converted to coal. Now the main fleet of engines is all biodiesel to be environmentally friendly. When you see that smoke and steam blowing over the forest you can see why it was important to convert the fuel to be more environmentally responsible. This one trip a day is the only nod to the past.
The pictures posted here are the clearest although I had some where the smoke was so thick you couldn’t even see the train at all. It’s really quite something to see. I’m not sure I’d want to be in those passenger cars surrounded by all that smoke!
In the early days it took 6 hours to reach the summit! 6 hours of smoky air! WOW! I’m thankful for the advancements in technology in this case. 🙂