April wine train

When a museum guest asks if they can check out the Cab, we usually assume they are referring to a locomotive.  However, during Snoqualmie Wine Train events they are almost always talking about a Washington Cabernet from one of the fine Snoqualmie - area wineries including Sigillo Cellars, Mt Si Winery, Pearl and Stone Winery, Convergence Zone Cellars, and William Grassie Wine Estates.  

The Northwest Railway Museum kicked off the 2019 Snoqualmie Wine Train season on April 27.  140 guests enjoyed wine, Train Shed exhibits, live music from Tinkham Road, a train excursion through the woods, and even access to the Conservation and Restoration Center where they viewed ongoing work on Northern Pacific Railway locomotive 924 and Spokane, Portland and Seattle Railway coach 213.

A new feature during month's event was the opportunity to view demonstrations in the Conservation and Restoration Center.  Volunteers and Staff including Lyle, Gerry, Gary, Bob, and Wayne explained what the machines were used for and then demonstrated how they worked.  Lyle gave a demonstration of the huge lathe once the centerpiece of Puget Sound Energy's Snoqualmie Falls power station machine shop.  

The Snoqualmie Wine Train is the Museum's newest event series; it was first introduced in 2018.  The event features a train excursion, live music, wine tasting, and a museum visit.  Museum Staff and Volunteers including Elizabeth, Cristy, Jessie, and Kacy planned this year's events.  A total of five are offered in 2019; events through June are available for advance purchase now.   

The next Snoqualmie Wine Train will be May 18 and will feature a tasting experience at the Snoqualmie Falls Hydro Electric Museum.  Tickets are available on the Museum's ticketing web site.  Proceeds from Snoqualmie Wine Train events support programs of the Northwest Railway Museum.  Join us for a great afternoon, and the opportunity to support heritage and historic preservation!

Better lighting

Brent does the honors using
Star Rental's 45-foot lift.

The Northwest Railway Museum collections care work space now has brighter lighting that saves money by using less power. Thanks to an energy conservation grant from Puget Sound Energy, the high intensity discharge metal halide ("HID MH") lighting installed in the Conservation and Restoration Center ("CRC") during its construction in 2016 has been retrofitted with new light emitting diode ("LED") bulbs. Now, lighting is brighter than ever before!

Bob and Kyle "Re-manufacturing"
light fixtures.

An industrious crew of participants removed the light fixtures from the ceiling, removed the HID MH electrical ballast and rewired the fixture, screwed in new bulbs, and rehung the fixture from the ceiling. Bob, Kyle, Gary, and Arnie worked under the direction of Brent, a retired industrial electrician.  Just two days were required to remove, modify and reinstall 24 light fixtures.

A re-manufactured light fixture flickers
to life 30 feet above the floor.

The old lighting served the Museum well, but was always a little dull due to the high ceilings.  And LED lighting is up to six times more efficient than traditional lighting, and even compared to HID MH lighting there is a significant reduction in energy consumption.  For the CRC, a 400 watt HID MH bulb was replaced with a 110 watt LED, which still resulted in a net increase of light intensity.  And this "bright" idea will improve the quality of all the work performed in the CRC because to see what you are doing is, well, pretty important.

"Vanna" Arnie models a
new LED module, which
is roughly 17 times brighter
than an old fashion 60 watt
bulb.

The new bulbs look like over-sized cobs of corn.  They are covered with dozens and dozens of miniature LED bulbs. The bulbs screw into the same sockets as the original bulbs, and can operate over a wide voltage range, from 110 volts to 277 volts. Each bulb emits more than 14,000 lumens, and has a life expectancy of more than 50,000 hours.

This lighting retrofit was a relatively small but impactful project.  It is reducing operating costs while improving the overall lighting conditions in the CRC, and is a further example of the Museum's commitment to the King County EnviroStars program.  Many thanks to Arnie, Bob, Brent, Gary, and Kyle for their efforts installing the new lighting, to Puget Sound Energy for a grant in support of the project, Ryan at Platt Electric in Preston for their excellent service, and to Star Rentals for a great price on a 45-foot lift.  

Highlights from 2015

2015 was a year of significant accomplishment at the Northwest Railway Museum. Read on to learn about some of the highlights!

This 2015 continued a major multiyear effort to improve the passenger car fleet. In the first part of the year Spokane, Portland and Seattle Railway coach 276 received an all-new standing seam lower clerestory roof complete with high performance paint job. At the same time, a great deal interior work, refurbished vestibule traps and doors, and assorted running gear work was completed.

Spokane, Portland and Seattle Railway coach 213 – an all wood car body with steel center sill - received a rebuilt A end wood vestibule components as well as a rebuilt upper diaphragm support, floor and roof repairs, interior paint, and interior header work.

Oregon, Washington, Railroad and Navigation Company (Union Pacific) observation car 1590 saw significant replacement of the steel underframe cross bracing replaced, a new leaf spring, side bearing work, floor repairs, roof repairs, and brake system work.

Combine SP and S 272 was not left out and received several new steel roof panels, several new headers, rehabilitated clerestory windows, and several new coach section windows.

Chapel car Messenger of Peace received new replica lighting and additional interior finishing work. It was also moved to its long term exhibition location inside the Train Shed.

New exhibits have been introduced too.  “The Railroad changed everything” debuted in the Train Shed exhibit building in fall 2015.  Earlier in 2015, “Railroads built the Pacific Northwest” was introduced.  These are just the first two of many new exhibits planned for the Train Shed.

2015 was an important year for the City of Snoqualmie too.  A major reconstruction of downtown Snoqualmie valued at more than $3 million was completed.  It features a new boardwalk just across the tracks from the Snoqualmie Depot, new landscaping, and a 42 inch fence to deter trespassing on the tracks.

A great number of improvements to the Conservation and Restoration Center (shop) facility occurred in 2015 with the acquisition of several large machines including a 48" vertical turret lathe, Cincinnati 5 milling machine, Clemco 1000 48" belt sander/surfacer, 18" American lathe, Carelton radial drill, Grizzly edge sander, Gould and Eberhart 24" shaper, Dewalt planer/surface, wheel press, as well as numerous hand tools and supplies.

Steam locomotives have been the really big story in 2015 with significant changes, and progress towards a sustainable steam program.  Curator Pappas' SCPC 2 received a great deal of work in the first half of the year to improve performance and economy. Piston rods were turned and ground, new packing installed, guides remachined and lined, rear cylinder heads lapped in, ring grooves trued, and new rings installed.  This allowed for the Northwest Railway Museum’s first full steam season in more than 25 years, which was a tremendous success with ridership increases, crew training, and enhanced public education.

Northern Pacific Railway steam locomotive 924 – the Museum’s Rogers-built 1898 0-6-0 - saw a great deal of progress towards its operational rehabilitation and restoration to its circa 1906 appearance. In 2015, a new riveted slope back cistern was built for the tender, in house asbestos abatement completed, form 4 boiler engineering finished, a new riveted steam done constructed and installed, new steam dome lid machined, firebox side sheets fabricated and welded in, and a new cap stack fabricated to match historic photographs circa 1906.

The Museum’s diesel fleet also saw improvements with the conversion of RS4-TC 4012 from a direct drive cooling fan to a battery of temperature-controlled electric cooling fans using off-the-shelf components for improved reliability. This conversion keeps the locomotive’s diesel engine operating temperature within two or three degrees of optimal, which improves efficiency and reduces wear.  The new cooling design mimics what modern locomotives use and has proven very reliable.  Very importantly, locomotive 4012 received new batteries in 2015.  New "Rolls" locomotive batteries were installed at the beginning of the season and have really helped with cool weather starts.

The Snoqualmie Depot received some important work too.  The two waiting room floors were refinished and the Depot Bookstore was relocated into the ladies’ waiting room.  It had been located in the gentlemen’s waiting room since the early 1980s.  This change is allowing improved programming.  For instance, Santa Train 2015 used the newly available gentlemen's waiting room as Santa's parlor.

All in all it has been a great year for the Northwest Railway Museum.  Major events have been some of the best attended ever, ridership is up, and 2016 looks to be even better with ground breaking coming soon for the new Railway Education Center, changes to the operating schedule so that passengers get to visit the collection within the Train Shed exhibit building, and the continued rehabilitation and restoration of the collections.

 

Tender tank gets wheels

A major milestone was achieved on the Northern Pacific Railway steam locomotive 924 last week: substantial completion of the new cistern (tank) for the tender.  For more than five months, a replacement tender tank has been taking shape on the floor of the Conservation and Restoration Center.  Other than a couple additional baffles and the rear coal board, all structural and seam riveting was completed such that is was time to move on to other aspects of the project.  The tender frame had already been rehabilitated and prepared for placing the tank some weeks before.  

During this phase of the project, additional research determined that this tender frame is actually far more ancient than the locomotive and tank.  The tender frame and trucks were originally built for a Northern Pacific 4-4-0 C class locomotive in the early 1880s, predating the construction of 924 by more than 15 years.  Later in 924's service life for the NP, the original frame and trucks were replaced by the running gear from one of the many 4-4-0s that were being retired in the 1910s and 1920s.  Contemplating the implications, this tender frame hardware and trucks were potentially in service prior to completion of the Northern Pacific as a transcontinental railroad!

Before the tank could be placed on the frame, the water valves at the ends of the water legs needed to be remachined and installed in the floor of the tank.  The lack of access and upside-down nature of this work would have made it very difficult to install once the tank was in place.  The valve bodies were faced, bored, and valve seats recut using one of Museum’s large lathes.  Then the valves were fitted into position, holes drilled in the base of the tank, and mounted.  

With the bottom valves in position, it was finally time to install the new tank on the tender frame.  Weber Construction is the Museum’s neighbor and is also owner of the local rock quarry.  Their repertoire of machinery includes large excavators and loaders that each can lift tens of thousands of pounds.  So Weber was hired to perform the lift and arrived Friday, June 26th with a very large loader with forks mounted on the leading edge.  The 16,000 pound tender tank was picked up from the floor, removed from the CRC and placed on the frame.  Everything fit perfectly the first time, and the total elapsed time from start to finish was just two hours!

A significant amount of work remains to be done on the tender before it is ready for service. The tank requires installation of the rear coal board, filler hatch, four small baffles, hand rails, rear headlight, additional seal welding, and interior and exterior paint.  And not to forget, large white numerals proudly displaying her number!  However, the shop floor is now open and uncluttered so that Museum forces can begin placing and powering up the new large machine tools that were acquired earlier in 2015.  This will allow work effort to slowly transition to the locomotive and its many needs.

This achievement was made possible by the hard work and sacrifice of many museum volunteers and staff, and is a testament to the scale and quality of work that can be accomplished through teamwork.  At this time, there still remains much work to complete 924's return to operation.  However, the list just got a lot shorter!

 

 

--Special thanks to Dave Honan for taking photos of this special day, and to Stathi Pappas for providing the content of this post--

 

Tender work will soon be behind us

The tender tank rehabilitation and restoration work for Northern Pacific Railway 0-6-0 steam locomotive 924 is drawing to a close!  The 19th Century Rogers-built locomotive is the subject of a major collections care effort inside the Northwest Railway Museum's Conservation and Restoration Center in Snoqualmie where the first order of business is the tender and its badly deteriorated water tank.  The building of a new riveted cistern for a steam locomotive is a lot of hard work, and is not often undertaken at heritage railroads. 

Erecting major components such as sides, ends, and slope sheets can usually be accomplished quickly. In the non-museum world, a similar vessel would be put together using modern fabrication techniques such as welding, and the project would have been completed months ago.  However, in order to adhere to the Secretary of the Interior Standards for Treatment of Historic Properties, façadism is not an acceptable practice. Instead, it is critical to reuse original fabrications and components to the greatest extent practicable, and when infeasible, faithfully recreate the missing or irreparably damaged fabrications using materials and techniques consistent with the original.  So for the tender cistern, every rivet has been or will be duplicated using the technologies of the era.  For instance, each corner seam  is riveted to an angle iron on both sides of the angle with 1/2 button head rivets on a 1 1/2" pitch requiring literally thousands of precision drilled holes. 

Since the last report, the top deck of the tender tank has been fitted and installed.  Historically, for this portion of the tank, flush head "Liverpool" style rivet heads were used for the majority of the work.  This was done so that coal could be scooped from the top deck without hitting the higher "button head" style rivets.  This feature has been faithfully reproduced on the new tank. 

In addition to the structural riveting, the tank continues to receive original castings and forgings with the installation of tie down brackets and hand rails. The side coal boards were also added, giving the cistern that iconic 19th Century everted lip tender look.  Moving forward, this coal board will soon be extended and wrap completely around the rear of the top deck, and the original water hatch will be rehabilitated and installed. 

In addition, to the ongoing cistern work, the tender frame has received attention for its return to service.  This frame had been extensively rebuilt in the 1970s due to an encounter with a runaway freight car while being stored in Centralia, WA, and most of the wooden framework remains in remarkable condition.  However, aesthetically the timbers exhibited surface weathering and other effects which would not present well in the final product.  In order to rectify these issues and assure many decades of trouble free service, the surfaces have been sealed and filled using epoxy-based fillers and sanded to fill any minor cracks and surface blemishes.  (This technique was extensively applied to chapel car 5 Messenger of Peace.) The frame will be primed with epoxy-based primer Awlgrip 545) and top coated with a finish coat of black.  Once this work is completed, the tank can be installed on the frame and bolted down.  Following this step, the tender trucks will be rebuilt so as to assure like-new performance from the tender. 

The 924's tender will be completed this summer.  At that time, work will shift to the locomotive boiler, running gear, and cab.  And the 924's tender just might see some early service in support of the Museum's steam program.

Now easier than ever to take a seat!

The benches look great in the building!     

People participate in the mission of the Northwest Railway Museum in many ways. Some ride the train or take a tour of the Train Shed Exhibit Building; others are members or donate toward a restoration project, while still others participate by giving their time to the Museum and its mission.  This spring, the Museum had the honor of one such person participating in the Museum’s mission by choosing the Museum as the recipient of his Eagle Scout Project.
 

Alex, a longtime member, made benches for the Train Shed Exhibit Building. The Museum’s mission is to develop and operate an outstanding railroad museum that provides the public a place to experience the excitement of a working railroad and to see and understand the significance of railroads in the development of Washington and adjacent areas.  As part of that mission, the Museum needs guest accommodations so that visitors may enjoy their experiences as they learn how railroads changed everything. Benches help provide one important feature of guest accommodation, they allow visitors to sit and reflect upon the place of railroads.

For his project, Alex planned, organized and then constructed the benches with the help of fellow scouts and his dad Jeff.  The Museum was able to secure beautiful fir timber for the project and Alex was able to create 8 lovely benches for the Train Shed Exhibit Building.

Many thanks to Alex for his work!  Why not take our tour of the Train Shed on Saturdays and come see the benches? The Tour Package is available every Saturday at 12:30pm and includes a short tour of the Depot, a ride to the Train Shed, a docent tour of the Shed, and a train ride to Snoqualmie Falls. Total program length is two hours. Tour reservations may be made by contacting the bookstore during business hours at 425.888.3030 ext. 7202. Tickets are also available on Saturdays through the ticket window.

The scouts preparing to unload benches at the Train Shed.

Benches have been spread out along the Tour Package route.

A tender behind?

Historically, steam locomotives consumed large quantities of water and fuel.  The nature of the technology - the state-of-the-art in its day - was essentially a giant tea kettle that boiled water to make steam, allowed the steam to build up pressure, used the pressurized steam to perform work, and exhausting the remaining water vapor to the atmosphere.

Light locomotives such as the SCPC 2 or those that operated with limited range may have used a tank to carry extra water.  Thomas the Tank Engine is another example.  Larger locomotives and those requiring greater range used a tender behind the locomotive.  Which brings us to the point of the story: locomotive 924 is under rehabilitation at the Northwest Railway Museum and is receiving a new tender tank.


The lower half of the original tender

tank is worn thin and will no longer

hold water.

A tender tank carries water.  The inside of any tank is almost always wet and will eventually rust from the inside out.  924's tank was constructed in 1899 and today portions of the sides resemble decorative lace, but are made of iron oxide and steel.  Repairing this type of deterioration is time consuming, and often results in additional water leaks just a few years later.  It is difficult to keep ahead of this type of problem and with the price of water in the Northwest, it can get expensive.


New steel parts for a new tender tank

arrived on a trailer from Portland.

924 is expected to operate reliably and a tender tank that does not hold water without measurable loss will never meet that expectation.  So a new tank - an exact copy - is being fabricated inside the Conservation and Restoration Center. The project team thoroughly documented the tender and created a drawing set.  Then, early in February, all the components arrived from a supplier who cut each piece to size and formed shapes such as the radius on the front of the tank.


Rivets are heated and driven with a

pneumatic rivet gun.  The job is

particularly demanding for the person

holding the buck (at left), which backs

up the rivet gun blows.

The heavy work and time-consuming portion of the new tender fabrication is the assembly.  Each piece was moved into position and then lightly tack-welded using an electric welder.  Holes were drilled where rivets were located on the original tender.  Then staff and volunteers applied (or continue to apply) more than 2,000 rivets.



The original tank was removed with a

large excavator and was placed in

long-term storage in the Museum's

yard.

Meanwhile, castings, fixtures, and any other part that could be reused from the original tank were carefully removed.  The old tank was unfastened from the deck and frame.  A large excavator was used to lift the tank off the deck and frame and set it aside for long-term storage.


The tank fabrication is nearing

completion, but more rivets are

required.

The tank will remain on the shop floor and many more weeks.  The tender frame requires rehabilitation too, and the tank requires are few more rivets, some hardware, and some paint.  It work continues to progress at the current pace, a fully rehabilitated tender - with new tank - will emerge from the Conservation and Restoration Center in late spring or early summer.  Work will continue on 924 for at least the next 18 months, especially because of the awesome volunteers and staff.  And there is an opportunity for you to help support the project by participating in the Seattle Foundation's Give BIG event on May 5!  Stay tuned for more information.
 

Steam begins to simmer

Museum's Curator of Collections peers

from the 924's firebox door opening.

Rehabilitation of locomotive 924 is underway!  Some important progress has already been achieved with significant and positive news emerging since bringing the locomotive into the Conservation and Restoration Center this past fall. 

Inside the boiler barrel, scale is removed

from the inside of the tube sheet.

The first objective was to inspect the inside of the boiler, which required the boiler tubes to be removed.  To allow for tube removal, some other appliances and components had to be removed first including the master mechanic’s front end (helps direct exhaust and improve combustion), smoke box front, steam dome lid, and throttle valve.  Once that work was completed, then all the boiler tubes were removed to allow scaling and inspection of the boiler barrel interior.  The process has yielded some wonderful news: the inside of the barrel is in great shape.  Some of the witness marks used to lay out the rear tube sheet can still be seen!

Boiler sheet thickness measurements

were entered directly into a spreadsheet.

With a clean boiler barrel and access to the firebox, the team measured the thickness of the boiler sheets using an ultrasonic thickness tester.  Measurements were taken along a grid and provided data that was entered into a spreadsheet, which performed preliminary "form 4" boiler calculations.  The form 4 is what the Federal Railroad Administration uses to evaluate a request for approval to operate a locomotive boiler, and at this point in the project it represents a sort of acid test as to whether an historic locomotive is feasible to rehabilitate.  And the 924 successfully buffered the acid: preliminary calculations suggest an operating pressure of approximately 170 pounds per square inches, and without any major boiler work, provided there are no serious issues on the exterior.

A Federal Railroad Administration

inspector examines the 924's firebox.

During the annual inspection of SCPC 2, inspectors from the Federal Railroad Administration were able to make a brief visit to the 924.  They reviewed the initial work plan and looked inside the firebox.  Ensuring the Federal inspectors remain apprised of the work plan and progress is also an important part of the project.

An area of firebox side

sheet is being removed

to allow for replacement.

Certainly there is work to perform on the boiler that is desirable and will help ensure a full 1472 days of operation before the operating approval expires.  One area of attention involves the side sheets inside the firebox.  This area received some type of repair many decades ago, and the repair was performed with gas welding.  Today, such repairs are generally performed with electric welding and to ensure the integrity of the vessel, the old repair is being removed and replaced with a new patch.  this process will also require the stay bolts restraining this area to be replaced, in all numbering about 200 items.

So as 2014 draws to a close, the 1899-built locomotive 924 has a wonderful New Year to look forward to, and your support can ensure that the work continues!  Please consider a tax-deductible contribution to the "steam program campaign". All contributions will be used to rehabilitate and restore locomotive 924.



Cutting around stay bolts in the firebox side sheet.

 

 



And so it begins . . .

The Northwest Railway Museum steam program officially launched today with the movement of former Northern Pacific Railway steam locomotive 924 to the Conservation and Restoration Center.  The 1899-built Rogers six-coupled locomotive was carefully pulled from the static exhibit track in Snoqualmie by Baldwin Lima Hamilton-built diesel-electric locomotive 4024, an RS4-TC that powers regular trains at the Museum.  Work to collect data that will eventually allow the boiler to be certified is expected to begin shortly.

The curatorial steam team headed by Stathi Pappas made quick work of the assignment, which also relocated Baldwin-built steam locomotive 14 to an accessible storage track.  Canadian Collieries 14 is a 1898-built ten wheeler that will be the second locomotive to operate in the Museum's steam program.  Its pre WW II wood-framed tender presented several challenges to the team, but in the end was moved without sustaining any damage.  14 is in most respects similar to 924 so many techniques developed for the 924 will be transferable.  It is not expected in the Conservation and Restoration Center until locomotive 924 is substantially complete, possibly in 2016. 

Locomotive 924 had a few issues to overcome too.  A door on the ash pan (924 was coal-fired until the very end) fell open and was discovered dragging along the ballast shortly after the locomotive began to move.  It was spotted and quickly wired up without incident, and the movement continued.