An update to the expansion of the cog at the summit. Here is link to the Cog's presentation to the Mt Washington Commission (MWC) .
https://www.nhstateparks.org/getmed...8c92c38b6a3/Commission-Cog-Railway-8-6-19.pdf Note that this was supplied by the cog so should not be considered unbiased. The Berlin Daily Sun has far more details on the site review that the was done with the commission Tuesday morning. Unfortunately the BDS is behind a paywall these days although on occasion the articles are recycled in the Conway Daily Sun.
Some items from the article
The cog is representing this as a "restoration" the MWC calls it and "extension". (note a smaller track structure was abandoned for many years and finally torn down several years ago so the Coos County planning regulations consider this new construction)
The rendering in the attachment is in error. The person under the trestle (which is typical included for a scale reference is out of scale which makes the overall structure look smaller with lower impact that it would have. The elevation of the base of the steel beam is 11' while the figure represents 5'6". The cog agreed to resubmit. The actual platform is 2' above the tracks
One of the commission members asked if rumors were true that a bar car or gift shop could be placed on the tracks at the summit. The owner of the Cog that there is no actual plan but that would not preclude those possibilities in the future.
Even with the new structure, the Cog will not be able to handle all the cog cars at the summit and will have to continue their current practices.
The owner of the autoroad was quoted that the project is a "land grab" at the summit and is "quite a change" to the access to the summit that the autoroad had enjoyed since 1975.
The cog would like to have the project in place by next season.
The MWC ultimately has to recommend to the state that the proposed project is "not unreasonable". They are strictly advisory. The various state departments responsible for the summit need to review and approve before it heads to the Coos County Planning and Zoning board of appeals.
IMHO, given the recent planning board meeting where the auto road was ready with their lawyer to raise objections, the ongoing litigation with the Observatory over non payment of admission fees, withdrawing access to AMC from the base station for helicopter resupply access and encouraging denial of AMCs permission to land elsewhere on WMNF land, the cog does not appear to have a lot friends on the MWC. Not sure how the radio communications company feels. Walter Graf from the AMC appears to be encouraging a update to the summit master plan and given the recent Yankee building replacement recommendation I expect that any changes to the summit may end up being delayed by an overall revision to the master plan. There are also multiple points where the auto road or others could attempt to slow down the process. Add them all up and I do not see a swift and quick resolution to the cog's liking. The cog owner is generally not opposed to using the bully pulpit to express his displeasure but expect for now he has to play nice and keep quiet. He could try to get his "minions" to support his side as a "grass roots" effort and maybe use the anniversary year publicity to try to frame the project in good light but not sure how much that will forward the project.
