I had a chance to visit Clark's Trading Post in Lincoln, NH today.  In addition to various gimmicky tourist type entertainment, Clark's is the home of the White Mountain Central Railway, a small collection of steam locomotives, open platform passenger cars, and a few bits of rolling stock.

Walking up to the ticket counter, I could see a beautiful piece of machinery on the other side of the fence.  The railroad's motive power for the day was a Climax geared locomotive!  As soon as we were through the gate, I headed straight for the locomotive to check it out.  It was wood-fired, and in wonderful condition (I later found out that it is one of approximately 4 in the U.S. that are in running condition).  The engineer smiled when I said something about the wood.  In a northern New Hampshire accent he said "Ain' much coal in these mountains.  We've got plenty ah trees though."

Our first order of business was to hop a ride on the train.  The trip is a short run through "Wolfman territory".  An actor plays a wild woodsman trying to attack the train.  It was goofy for adults, scary for my three year-old, and probably just right for young kids.  The best part was watching the Climax in action though.  We enjoyed the ride enough that we took a second ride before leaving.  On the second run I sat in the car (and seat) closest to the locomotive.

I only had a cell phone with me, but I captured some photos and video.  These might be good modeling inspiration for someone.

http://www.flickr.com/photos/12534314@N04/sets/72157627745109788/

After returning home, I found more information about the locomotive itself: http://www.whitemountaincentralrr.com/SteamLoco6

On a side note, the rest of the Trading Post is kind of neat too, if you like things like horse-drawn fire-equipment and trained bear shows.  If you're ever in the White Mountains of New Hampshire, it's worth a visit.