Part II - Meredith, NH: Lake Winnipesaukee, mv Mt. Washington, Conway Scenic Railroad, Mt. Washington Cog Railway
We spent four nights in Meredith, NH on the shores of Lake Winnipesaukee.
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| The m/v Mt. Washington sails from Weirs Beach, just South of Meredith. The hull of the Mt. Washington dates to the late 1800s. Train tracks run right next to the pier, and we'll later ride a dinner train past here. | Hundreds of islands, many very small, dot Lake Winnipesaukee. Most have cabins or homes. Even this one, which is just barely larger than the house. | The destination of our voyage is across the lake to the lovely town of Wolfeboro. | |
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| From the observation deck on the Mt. Washington | Back at her dock in Weirs Beach. | We stayed at the Mill Falls Inn, named because of the falls which flow right through the Inn. | |
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| Our first group train ride is on the Winnipesaukee Scenic Railroad, which runs along the shores of the lake. | Dinner is turkey, carved right at your table. | The train passes the m/v Mt. Washington docked at Weirs Beach. |
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| Our first stop on Thursday is at the Conway Scenic Railroad depot in North Conway, NH. | We're riding on a later train, but we arrived early enough so we could see the steam locomotive coupling to the train for an earlier departure. | The depot at North Conway. If you have a really good memory, you might recall the station from the Doctor Zhivago movie. | The Conway Scenic Railroad has an extensive collection of operating equipment, including this nicely preserved Budd Car. |
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| And that's where the term "Highball!" comes from - a very early method of railroad signaling. | Tour leader Carl is giving us some history of the railroad as we begin working our way up to Crawford Notch. | The colors are beginning to appear a little bit today. We enjoyed lunch in the diner on our train ride today. | Our destination, the station at Crawford Notch. |
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| Our train was pulled by diesel locomotives. | Across the highway from the Notch station. The colors are more vivid at the higher elevations. | This afternoon's train ride is the Cog Railway up Mt. Washington. | There is still one steam departure each day. The boiler is tilted to keep the water mostly level on the steep journey up the hill. |
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| Snapped out the vestibule door, this photo shows the track ahead of us. | The section of steep, elevated track is known as Jacob's Ladder. | Bob and Betsy met up with us in Conway, and joined us on our (very crowded) ride up Mt. Washington. | This is as far as we got....the winds at the summit were said to be gusting to about 80mph, and our train was turned back about 300 yards below the summit. |
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| Even though we didn't make the summit, we still had spectacular views on this very clear day. | Cairns along the Appalachian Trail as it crosses Mt.
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A nice view back down the cog railway to Base Station. | Another train working its way back down the mountain just ahead of us. |
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| A look back at Jacob's Ladder from an open window in our car. | To show how cold it was....look at the icicles on the water tower at the halfway point. | In the museum at Base Station, we saw the Devil's Shingle - a tool said to be used by early workers to slide all the way down the mountain. The sign says you could make the 3-1/2 mile journey in less than 3 minutes by sliding down on this thing. | |
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| Bob and Terry in the museum at Base Station. | B,B,T, and M | Just before celebrating Bob's birthday in Meredith. | |