<P> Despite the railroad 's incomplete state , the first paying customers started riding on August 14 , 1868 , and the construction reached the summit in July 1869 . The early locomotives - represented today by the restored display locomotive , # 1 Old Peppersass - all had vertical boilers , like many stationary steam engines of the time ; the boilers were mounted to the locomotives ' frames with twin trunnions , allowing them to pivot as the locomotive and coach climbed the grade , permitting gravity to always keep the boiler vertically oriented , no matter what the gradient of the track . Later designs introduced horizontal boilers , slanted so that they remain close to horizontal on the steeply graded track . </P>
<P> Despite the railroad 's incomplete state , the first paying customers started riding on August 14 , 1868 , and the construction reached the summit in July 1869 . The early locomotives - represented today by the restored display locomotive , # 1 Old Peppersass - all had vertical boilers , like many stationary steam engines of the time ; the boilers were mounted to the locomotives ' frames with twin trunnions , allowing them to pivot as the locomotive and coach climbed the grade , permitting gravity to always keep the boiler vertically oriented , no matter what the gradient of the track . Later designs introduced horizontal boilers , slanted so that they remain close to horizontal on the steeply graded track . </P>
what powered the original locomotives on mount washington cog railway
what powered the original locomotives on mount washington cog railway
steam engines
steam engines