Snoqualmie Railroad Days 2012

Snoqualmie Railroad Days 2012 was held August 17 - 19 in historic downtown Snoqualmie.  More than 11,000 visitors enjoyed live music, an art show, the grand parade, lots of trains, a car show, great food and more!  Success of the event came from a very supportive community, scores of dedicated volunteers, generous sponsors, and great weather.  Why not be part of next year's successful event?  Please drop us a note on our contact page to learn about ways you can be involved.



A Lego locomotive zooms around a

display created by Dan Parker.

More than 3,000 people lined Railroad

Ave. to watch the grand parade on

Saturday morning.





Jim and Lisa Schaffer

were the parade's grand

marshalls.  Jim retired as

Snoqualmie's police

chief in June. 



Motor car rides took passengers to the

Museum's new Train Shed exhibit

building for a tour.

The Seafair Pirates took

over locomotive 11 in

search of places to plunder.

A pristine '66 Corvette made an ap-

pearance at the car show.

Singers from the band Brian Vogan &

his Good Buddies perform their original

music on the Skagit flatcar stage at

the Snoqualmie Depot.
 

Reconditioned string

instruments were offered

for sale by a non-profit

at one of the vendor booths

Thousands toured the car show that was

set up along Railroad Ave. on Sunday.



What would Railroad Days be without

model trains?

Scarves of every color filled this booth!

RailCamp Northwest debut

Twelve RailCampers pose

with locomotive 1 in the

Train Shed.

August 2012 was the debut of the first-ever Northwest RailCamp.  Designed for youth, the intensive rail-oriented program was a week of operations, history, collections care, and fun.

James uses a cutoff saw

under the careful super-

vision of the Dan C.

The Northwest RailwayMuseum (NRM), in partnership with the National Railway Historical Society (NRHS), hosted two days of RailCamp. Over the course of one week, campers enjoyed hands-on activities at several area rail hubs including the NRM, Mt. Rainier ScenicRailroad, and Tacoma Rail. The twelve campers ranged in age from 14 to 19 years old and were from all over the United States. Railcamp is an established NRHS program but this was the first ever Northwest camp. NRHS holds an annual camp at Steamtown in Scranton, PA and up until recently at the NevadaNorthern in Ely, NV.

Melisa uses a drill press to prepare her

own project - a wood bookshelf with

a section of rail mounted on the end.

During their two days at NRM, campers participated in a variety of hands-on activities including maintenance of way, running trades, rehabilitation, and a special project completed in the Museum’s shop. Campers got to throw switches, hook and unhook air hoses, help perform brake tests, couple and uncouple cars and run locomotive 4012.  They also switched out railroad ties, stripped old shellac in the chapel car Messenger of Peace as part of the rehabilitation of that National Register-listed object, and built a small shelf for CDs or books (their take-home project).


Jessica learns about tap-

ping threads to accept a

bolt.

The success of any program is partly dependent on the participants.  They were a pleasant group of enthusiastic young people with a strong interest in railroads, historic and contemporary. The Museum’s educator said, “It was especially rewarding to design programming for a motivated group of young people that already have a strong background in railway history. They eagerly tackled the tasks we set before them and it was a pleasure creating lifelong memories with them.”

John learns to use a drill press under

the watchful eye of fellow camper

Tyrus.

The Museum was also pleased with how the program directly ties to the mission – this is just the type of program that the Museum wants to offer.  NRHS was pleased with the outcome of the camp overall and it is everyone’s hope Northwest Railcamp will become an annual program.