In reserve. Waiting in reserve outside the company's engine shops below Marshfield Station is the Mount Washington Railway Company's other operable steam locomotive, the #9, known as "Waumbek." She hasn't been out much in the last couple of years, as she's been undergoing some heavy mechanical work, mainly on the running gear. I would expect to see her out more in the coming years. Although she was technically built in 1908 by the Manchester Locomotive Works, that's more Wikipedia trivia than anything. Virtually nothing on any of these cog locomotives is original from 1908. They have all been rebuilt many, many times. They don't even have a number plate that survives.
Speaking of trivia, if it weren't so much work for the Admins on RP, I might be tempted to remove all of the "0-2-2-0" designations on all of my photos of these engines. I did it from the beginning to be consistent with other contributors who came before me, and I do it now for consistency, but it is technically not correct at all. The is no Whyte System Classification for these engines. They have no driving wheels. If you look carefully at the photo, you will see that the connecting rods on both right-side cylinders connect to crankshafts, which are geared to cogwheels under the chassis fore and aft. The wheels are unpowered and simply support the weight of the locomotive on the rails. You'll also note that this engine has no coupler. The little protrusion on the front is a rubber bumper that engages a hard point on the rear of the coach. There is never any physical connection between the steam locomotives and the passenger coaches.
One more interesting feature in this photo is the large, gray building behind the locomotive. That is just a small portion of the railroad's new, 35,000 square foot locomotive maintenance facility, which was built in 2021. Named for long-time Shop Foreman, Johnny Suitor, in memory of his dad's gas station in Whitefield, NH, this facility has the space and the equipment to house and maintain all of the railroad's 7 diesel (soon to be 8) and 2 steam locomotives. Unlike most railroad shops, there are no fixed tracks inside. Locomotives are placed on track sections which are mounted on air casters, allowing crew members to literally move them around by hand, and creating a lot of flexibility in terms of space allocation. The old shop building, which has been around for more than a century, will remain for now.
