Fueling up for another climb up "the rock pile". Sitting in the servicing area just below the platform at Marshfield Station, Mt. Washington #9 is coaling up for her second summit trip of the day. In the past, when the railroad was 100% steam-powered, there was a small coal tipple here. It appears in some of my photos from the mid-2000s. That structure is gone in 2022 and a small skid-steer with a front-end loader is used to put approximately one ton of soft coal on the tender for the next trip. Typically, one engine crew member will operate the loader, while the other will stand on the tender and direct the operation, using a shovel as needed to guide the dusty black stuff into the proper location in the bunker. While this is going on, the train's brakeman is hard at work sweeping out the coach, wiping the seats and cleaning windows. Unlike the old days, when the trains were often pretty dirty, the crews today want their train to shine, as it will be the center of attention and the focus of many cameras when they bring it to the platform.
