Charles Baker Hydroelectric Museum wine train

This year the Northwest Railway Museum is offering two opportunities to experience a Snoqualmie Wine Train at the Snoqualmie Falls Hydroelectric Museum.  The next 3 1/2 hour experience is Saturday, May 18 beginning at 2:30 PM.

What's so special?  The Charles Baker Snoqualmie Wine Train features a tasting in the former carpenter shop and the Snoqualmie Falls depot. The Snoqualmie Falls Hydroelectric Museum celebrates the world's first underground hydroelectric generating station.  It was designed by Charles Baker and was completed in 1898.  Baker was the civil engineer for the Seattle, Lake Shore and Eastern Railway and recognized the potential of the falls while surveying for the railway construction.  After the railway was completed, he formed a company to build the power station, and its first customers were Seattle street railways.  Later, power from Snoqualmie Falls helped energize the Puget Sound Electric Railway and interurban car 523.

All Snoqualmie Wine Trains feature a scenic train ride through the Snoqualmie Valley along the Seattle, Lake Shore & Eastern Railway, built in 1889. Passengers ride in historic coaches, gain unique access to Museum collections and exhibits, and learn how the railroad changed everything. Wine trains include multiple tasting stops with local wine, food and music. Take home your favorite bottle(s) of wine. Each wine is available for purchase in the Snoqualmie Depot Bookstore after your excursion.

Tickets are $49 and available daily 10 AM - 5 PM in the Depot Bookstore at 38625 SE King Street in Snoqualmie or on the web through the Museum's online ticketing system.

East meets west, May 10, 1869

On May 10, 1869 a ceremonial golden spike was driven at Promontory, Utah signifying the completion of the first North American transcontinental railroad.  The Central Pacific building from Sacramento in the west met the Union Pacific building from Omaha in the east and connected the eastern railroad network with the Pacific coast for the first time in history. 150 years ago today, the east met the west and forever changed the landscape of the continent.  

In the colder latitudes, it would be another 14 years before a northern transcontinental was completed.  The Northern Pacific connected Minnesota with the Pacific coast, initially via the Columbia River, but a few years after completion, via Stampede Pass and Tacoma.  The Northern Pacific Railroad drove their last spike near Independence Creek in western Montana on August 22, 1883, and hosted a formal "golden spike" event on September 8, 1883.  At this ceremony, instead of a gold or silver spike, the very first spike driven in 1870 in the construction of the Northern Pacific was redriven by three men:  railroad President Henry Villard, former President of the United States Ulysses S Grant, and Henry C. Davis, who helped drive that spike the first time, 13 years earlier.

Like the Union Pacific and Central Pacific, the Northern Pacific had a brief but tight stranglehold on commerce in the Northwest because they had a monopoly.  Yet, just ten years later, both the Canadian Pacific Railway (to Vancouver) and the Great Northern Railway (to Everett & Seattle) had also completed transcontinentals to the Northwest.  Soon, the cost of freight and travel declined and the level of service improved.

Fast forward 150 years.  Transportation in the 21st Century is very different than the 19th Century.  Competition is generally between different modes of transportation, and the relative cost of transportation is at its lowest point in history.  Despite all the change, the original Union Pacific Railroad remains in business today, though trains no longer operate through Promentory.  Congratulations to the Union Pacific Railroad in celebration of the 150th anniversary of the driving of the golden spike!

Give Big for Puget Sound Electric Railway car 523

Era-appropriate trucks have been located and purchased for the 523.  Now they need to be restored to their former glory!  When you support Give Big now through May 8, you will be helping put the 523 back on wheels this year, and for the first time since 1928.

Give Big is the annual charitable giving program in our local region, and May 8 is this year's day of giving.  The Northwest Railway Museum is developing the Puget Sound Electric Railway ("PSER") car 523 project, and this year is undertaking the restoration of the trucks (wheels) purchased for the project.  Work is expected to cost $15,000, and will be matched with 33 cents from every dollar with a grant from the Washington State Historical Society.

PSER 523 is a wooden electric interurban car built in 1907 for service between Seattle and Tacoma.  The 523 has survived for more than a century and today is a King County and City of Snoqualmie Landmark.  It is owned by the Northwest Railway Museum and will be restored to operate on the Snoqualmie Valley Railroad, powered with modern batteries.

PSER 523 has some very significant local connections.  The Snoqualmie Falls Hydroelectric plant was completed in 1898 and its first customers were Seattle street railways.  When the PSER began operation in 1902, it was also powered with electricity from Snoqualmie Falls. The 523 entered service in February 1908 and operated between Seattle and Tacoma until 1928.  Later, it was adaptively-reused as a rail office in Tacoma, and then as a home in Federal Way.  In this "second life" the car's trucks and wheels were removed.

The 523 was donated and moved to the Museum in 2017.  Since then, the Museum has purchased a set of era-appropriate trucks - check out the accompanying photos of the components in a California field! The Museum has already started the process of restoration to allow their use; work is being performed by street car expert Paul Class in his shop  north of San Francisco.  

The Baldwin-built (the same company that built locomotives) trucks are about 10 years newer than the 523, but they are the best fit. And thanks to Bill Wulfert and friends at the Illinois Railway Museum, a detailed set of drawings is guiding the work.  It is amazing to be able to match a century-old interurban car with century-old trucks!

Please schedule a Give Big donation today!   The Museum is a public charity; contributions are tax deductible to the extent permitted by law.  Your support in any amount will help keep this project "rolling!"

Click here to schedule Give Big 2019 contribution for PSER 523.

Train Shed Features New Exhibit

Panels with car 523.

This spring, the Train Shed Exhibit Building features several new exhibits, including Connecting Communities: Story of the Puget Sound Electric Railway. Using the recent acquisition of Puget Sound Electric Railway (PSER) car 523 as a spring-board, the Museum applied for and received a 4Culture Heritage Special Projects grant to fund the exhibit.

PSER was an interurban railway that ran between downtown Seattle and Tacoma and connected many points in between, both large and small. PSER operated from 1902-1928, and was an important factor in settlement along its route. With consistent and timely rail travel available, residents could move out of cities and into more rural areas while still remaining connected to urban centers.

Double-sided panels in Train
Shed Exhibit Building.

Connecting Communities consists of 4 double-sided panels, seven focusing on the story of PSER and one focusing on the history of car 523. The exhibit also includes a large (72"w x 34"h) high-pressure laminate panel that features reproduction of a graphic route map from a PSER public time table. Finally, there is a children's panel (the 1st of its kind at NRM!) that describes the different kinds of transportation children could have used to get around in 1902. That panel features a challenge to children with photos to lift and learn.

Children's panel is at a lower height.

A 2018 4Culture Heritage Special Projects grant funded this exhibit. 4Culture is the cultural funding agency for King County, Washington. Using Lodging Tax and 1% for Art funds, 4Culture has four program areas to serve the county: arts, heritage, historic preservation, and public art. For more info on 4Culture, visit their website at www.4Culture.org. 

A big thank you to 4Culture for continuing to support exhibits at the Northwest Railway Museum!

Also installed in the Train Shed over the winter, a photography exhibit Faces of Railroading that features images of railroad workers taken by Jack Delano during his time working for the Farm Security Administration in 1942-43.