04/01/2026
We’ve been keeping this one under wraps, Coggers, but back in February, Mount Washington Railway Company chairman Wayne Presby, along with consulting engineer Al LaPrade, met with Tesla’s Elon Musk (you read that right: Elon-frickin’-Musk). The point of the meeting was to explore how Tesla's Optimus robots, powered by a customized artificial intelligence, could help support the Railway's operation. Wayne was all over that, but Al, looking skeptical, just crossed his arms.
Fast forward to this past Saturday, when Musk returned to Marshfield with a pair of futuristic-looking black and white automatons. In place of the Optimus robot’s standard heads, Tesla’s engineers had bolted on high-definition video displays. After powering up the robots from an app on his phone, the Railway logo faded in on both displays, along with the tagline “Powered By Tesla” and the sound of a steam whistle.
Chills.
Musk explained that he wanted to demonstrate how these devices could help relieve our train crews’ heavy workload. “We think we found a way to address safety concerns about replacing actual living, breathing people with robots, to bring trusted familiarity into the product by supplementing, not replacing, human effort”. He paused to let that sink in, then pushed a button on the app. “Voila!”
Instantly, the VERY familiar faces of engineer Josh and brakeman DJ appeared on the screens. Unbeknownst to Wayne and Al, the pair had been secretly recruited (and compensated) by Tesla to participate in the demo. They were both in remote locations– Josh, hunting coyote from a blind somewhere deep in the Great North Woods, and DJ, on vacation in northern Italy.
Musk explained the rationale behind such a revolutionary solution. “Everybody knows that technology professionals can work remotely from anywhere in the world, and everybody up here wants a piece of that”, he said, adding “Isn’t it about time that service, tourism and industrial workers enjoy those same perks? I think so, so when their train leaves for Waumbek later today, these two Optimus robots will occupy the engineer and brakeman positions. But Josh will still have a job operating the locomotive. With the help of Starlink internet, he’ll manipulate the robot on his phone from that dank hovel in the woods. Through her robot, DJ will still be greeting passengers with a big smile as they board the train, briefing them on safety and narrating the ride, but today she’ll do it while sipping a frothy cappuccino on the steps of the Duomo di Milano. Think about what this means! The Cog will be helping to bring good paying work-from-home jobs to rural New Hampshire!”
Wayne asked what would happen if none of this worked. Musk replied with his favorite, oft-repeated stock answer. “Failure IS an option here. If things are not failing, you’re not innovating enough”.
With that, Al had apparently heard enough. He had gone from designing systems for the US Navy’s nuclear submarine fleet to leading the development of diesel locomotives here at the Cog, but he wasn’t having any of this robot stuff. Masking a naughty word with a forced cough, he excused himself and walked away.
We won’t tell you how the first trip with Robot Josh and Robot DJ turned out, you’ll have to come up and experience it for yourselves. But we did snap a few pictures of the happy “crew” and passengers before they went up the hill. We hope to see some of you up here soon– you really do have to see this to believe it!
