Environmental Concerns
The locomotives on the railway generate large amounts of smoke, nicknamed Cog Smog. The railway is exempted from the state's air-pollution-control law (RSA 125-C:20), which exempts "any steam locomotives and engines or replacements thereof used in connection with the operation of a railroad or railway which were in operation or on order prior to January 1, 1973, and are located entirely within the state."
Each 3 mi (4.8 km) ride burns 1 short ton (0.91 t) of coal and consumes 1,000 US gallons (3,800 l) of water.
One steam locomotive was converted to biodiesel in 2008.
All the new diesel hydraulic locomotives are operated on B20 (20% biodiesel blend) during the summer season. The primary reason the new diesels were built was to reduce the visual pollution caused by the coal-fired steam locomotives and to increase the length of time that passengers could have at the summit of Mt. Washington.
Read more about this topic: Mount Washington Cog Railway
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