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.