Editing Rack railway (section)

=== <span class="anchor" id="Marsh"></span>Marsh (1861) ===
[[File:New England Fall Color Tour Oct. 2012 187.JPG|thumb|right|The Marsh rack and pinion system]]
The first successful rack railway in the United States was the Mount Washington Cog Railway, developed by [[Sylvester Marsh]].<ref>{{cite web|url=http://www.cog-railway.com/smarsh.htm|title=Sylvester Marsh|website=cog-railway.com|url-status=dead|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20160304100820/http://www.cog-railway.com/smarsh.htm|archive-date=2016-03-04}}</ref> Marsh was issued a U.S. [[patent]] for the general idea of a rack railway in September 1861,<ref name=Marsh1861>Sylvester Marsh, Improvement in Locomotive-Engines for Ascending Inclined Planes, [https://patents.google.com/patent/US33255A/en U.S. Patent 33,255], September 10, 1861.</ref> and in January 1867 for a practical rack where the rack teeth take the form of rollers arranged like the rungs of a ladder between two L-shaped wrought-iron rails.<ref>Sylvester Marsh, Improved Cog-Rail for Railroads, [https://patents.google.com/patent/US61211A/en U.S. Patent 61,221], January 15, 1867.</ref>  The first public trial of the Marsh rack on Mount Washington was made on August 29, 1866, when only one quarter of a mile (402 meters) of track had been completed.  The Mount Washington railway opened to the public on August 14, 1868.<ref>{{cite book |first=C. H. |last=Hitchcock |chapter=Chapter IV: The Approaches to Mount Washington |chapter-url=https://books.google.com/books?id=aLmHk2fFfbQC&pg=PA82 |title=Mount Washington in Winter |publisher=Chick and Andrews |location=Boston |year=1871 |pages=82–85 }}</ref>  The pinion wheels on the locomotives have deep teeth that ensure that at least two teeth are engaged with the rack at all times; this measure helps reduce the possibility of the pinions riding up and out of the rack.<ref name=Jehan />