Give BIG for an iconic locomotive!

Moving the 125.

Northern Pacific Railway locomotive 125 is now part of the Northwest Railway Museum collection in Snoqualmie, WA.  It moved here last November as part of a much larger project.  Now, it is being restored to its appearance when it arrived in Seattle in February 1940 and you can help make it happen.   

Why is this important?  In the Washington State of January, 1940, steam was everywhere.  Aside from two electrified segments, nearly every train in the State was pulled by a steam locomotive.  So imagine the excitement in February when a new kind of locomotive arrived from the American Locomotive Company ("ALCO").   

This brand new locomotive could operate for days or weeks without any major maintenance, and could power through an entire shift without needing additional fuel or water.  Few knew it then, but in about 15 years, nearly all the steam locomotives would be retired from Northern Pacific, and by 1958 the last one would go cold, and it began with the 125.

Historians, fans or just people who like steam locomotives may lament the end of the steam era, but it was an incredibly transformational time in America. The transition from steam to diesel resulted in significant impacts on railroad labor and the communities they populated, but these changes also helped the railroads become more economically viable because they could perform more work with fewer people.  

The 125 in 1940.

What is the locomotive?  The locomotive is a model HH660 built by ALCO in Schenectady, New York. It has 660 horsepower, is powered with a McIntosh & Seymour 538 diesel engine, is about 40 feet long and weighs more than 200,000 pounds.  

The unit is technically a diesel-electric locomotive wherein a diesel engine turns an electric generator.  The electricity is used to turn electric motors mounted on each axle.  An air compressor is also powered by the diesel, and is used to provide air for the brakes.

What is the project?  The objective of this project is to restore the locomotive 125 to its appearance in February 1940 when it was delivered to the Seattle waterfront and began switching the docks along Alaskan Way.  

Restoration work will include air brake repairs, restoration of the reflector headlights, relocation of the bell to the front hood, repairs to the radiators, minor car body repairs, floor repairs in the cab, several window replacements, and application the original color and lettering as it would have appeared in February 1940.  

Turning the wheels.

Moving the locomotive to Snoqualmie and turning the wheels have already required an investment of more than $100,000.

How can I help?  Please help us ensure the preservation of this icon of change, this first-of-a-kind, and remarkable machine that actually remained in daily service until 2003, more than 63 years!, Thanks to a generous matching grant of $5,000 awarded from the Northern Pacific Railway Historical Association, work has already begun on returning this artifact to its former glory, but at least $15,000 must be secured to complete the project.  

Please help close the gap with this year's Give BIG, May 3 & 4! Just add "125" in the dedication box to ensure we credit your contribution to the 125, and as a matching donation to fully release the matching gift.

NPR 125 arrives on Snoqualmie, November 6, 2021

Give BIG 2020 - help the Museum weather Covid 19

2020 is proving to be a challenging year with the longest closure in the Museum's 63 history.  Governor Insley's stay-at-home order has been extended to the end of May to slow the spread of Covid 19, but as a consequence of the closure Museum income is down more than $150,000.  A Pay Check Protection loan from the Small Business Administration of $94,000 is allowing the Museum to retain basic staffing levels for security, regulatory efforts, and maintenance, but many other efforts are suffering.

Ideally, the Museum would have been asking you to support the completion of steam locomotive 924, to help restore parlor car 1799, or perhaps to help with Puget Sound Electric Railway 523 rehabilitation efforts.  Instead, the Museum asks that you please consider a contribution today through May 6th to ensure the Museum is simply able to reopen when the state deems it safe to do so.

The Northwest Railway Museum has a very successful business plan, but its weakness is a reliance on earned income.  Most of the operating budget is funded with ticket sales.  So visits to the Train Shed, train excursion tickets, Depot Bookstore sales, Day Out With Thomas, and Santa Train tickets fund more than 90% of the Museum's operating budget.  The balance is funded with operating grants from King County 4Culture, and the City of Snoqualmie.  And adding to the financial hardship, the City of Snoqualmie has had to freeze the operating grants because their tax revenue from hotel room rentals has dropped almost to zero.

The Northwest Railway Museum provides a multitude of opportunities for families to learn about railway history, while experiencing the excitement of a working heritage railway.  Please help the Museum continue this unique programming with a contribution to GiveBIG 2020 through May 6.

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.

Give Big, today!

Wednesday, May 9, 2018 is Give Big day in King County and the Seattle region.  Give Big is a charitable giving event benefiting non profit organizations of many differing sizes and missions.  Contributions received on May 9 go directly to the designated non profits.


The Northwest Railway Museum is participating, and has designated the Northern Pacific Railway parlor car 1799 preservation project as its recipient.  1799 is in the process of being recovered from a beach on Whidbey Island on Puget Sound and moved to the Museum in Snoqualmie.

Check out some of the progress over the last two weeks, and please Give Big today!

Videos of barge loading operation

Loading the barge

Preparing the parlor car

Dismantling the parlor car's shelter

Thank you for your Give Big in support of the parlor car 1799 preservation!

Parlor car 1799 move grows near!

The Parlor Car is ready to move to the Museum!  A Parlor car was an extra-fare car and provided service that would be equivalent to today's business or first class.  In the Golden Age of Rail Travel, the Parlor Car epitomized nearly everything that rail travel could be.

Parlor car 1799 was built by Pullman in 1901 for service on the Northern Pacific Railway.  It is one of the few surviving early 20th Century railway passenger cars known to have served in Washington State.  It is a full-length car built entirely of wood, but it was never upgraded with steel components as so many other wooden cars were.  Instead, it was purchased by an Auburn railroad worker in 1941 and moved to Whidbey Island on Puget Sound for use as a cottage, a use that continued for the next 77 years.


Parlor car 1799 has been generously donated to the Northwest Railway Museum by the Shaw Family.  The car survived well into the 21st Century because it was housed within a protective shelter.  Even so, the car is in remarkable condition because the Shaw family took such great care of it. Soon, it will be housed in the Train Shed exhibit building, but first it has to move off the island by barge and travel on I-90 to the Museum in Snoqualmie.

Car 1799 was listed on the Washington Trust for Historic Preservation's 2017 Most Endangered List and fundraising to aid its preservation began last year with the Seattle Foundation's charitable giving event called Give Big 2017.  Moving an 80,000 pound wooden rail car off an ocean beach is a big undertaking so a great deal of planning has already gone into the project.  Yet the reality of moving such a large object hit home only when a team of more than a dozen Museum Volunteers began dismantling the shelter that has protected the parlor car since the mid 1970s.

The structure built more than 40 years ago and was constructed predominantly of western red cedar.  It was well-built and sturdy, yet the volunteer crew was able to make quick work of the dismantling process, which was performed methodically to avoid damage to the car.

In all, more than 200 hours person hours were invested in the deconstruction process, but there were other aspects to the project too.  When 1799 was improved with the new shelter, new entry doors were cut into the car's sides.  This made the structure more suitable and convenient as a cottage, but it meant the structure that allowed it to function as a rail car had been weakened. To make the car frame strong enough to move, temporary repairs to the letter board and truss plank were performed. 

Meanwhile, the deconstruction crew continued to remove the overlying structure. By late April 2018 as local temperatures reached into the 80s, the car was out in the open for the first time in more than 40 years.  The next step in the process turns the car over to Nickel Brothers for the barge and highway move to the Museum.

Please consider supporting this project with a contribution to Give BIG 2018!  Visit the Museum's page to schedule your donation today!

Thanks for supporting the Parlor Car!

Thanks to Give BIG more than $13,000 has been raised in support of moving the Parlor Car off the beach on Whidbey Island!  The former Northern Pacific Railway passenger car was built by Pullman in 1901 and was retired in 1941.  Adaptively reused as a cottage for more than 75 years, this incredibly complete early 20th Century wood passenger car will be moved to the Northwest Railway Museum, hopefully later this season.

Again, thank you to everyone who supported Give BIG 2017!

Saving a Pullman parlor car

Help the Northwest Railway Museum save a Pullman parlor car. GiveBIG today!

In the Golden Age of Rail Travel the parlor car was emblematic of luxury travel. Designed for day travel, this extra-fare car provided more room, individual seats, and often even a car attendant available at the push of a button.  

Parlor cars began to appear on American railroads in the 19th Century as an alternative to the classless coach seating of the era, which featured simpler and less comfortable seating.  And parlor cars tended to attract better-dressed and more refined individuals, and were the de facto first class seating equivalency to European railroads.  

Most Golden Age parlor cars were constructed of wood.  Many were retired and scrapped prior to World War II, and still fewer survived into the 1950s.  Yet one example was retired in 1941, purchased by a retired railroad man, and re-purposed as a seaside cottage on Whidbey Island in Washington State's Puget Sound. 

Northern Pacific Railway parlor car 1799 has been protected by a shelter and is largely intact.  Now owned by the Shaw Family, the car has been donated to the Northwest Railway Museum provided it can be removed from the island as soon as possible.

Join us in supporting acquisition of this Pullman-built parlor car with GiveBIG on May 10, 2017!  Contributions made through the Museum’s Seattle Foundation gateway between midnight and and 11:59 PM on Wednesday, May 10 will support transportation of parlor car 1799 to Snoqualmie.  As in prior years, this is an online initiative so donations are accepted only through the Museum’s Seattle Foundation gateway.   And you can schedule your donation anytime between now and May 10^th!

Give Big proceeds will be used exclusively for transportation costs, which may approach $67,000 for this car that weighs more than 80,000 pounds. Once received by the Museum, the process of listing, funding, and restoring the car will begin and when completed it will be able to operate with the Museum’s former Northern Pacific Railway steam locomotive 924.  Please Give Big today!

Humanizing Railway History

Connecting history to modern lives is a challenge for museums.  Museum interpreters carefully look for ways to engage and interact with visitors' wide-range of interests, backgrounds and cultures. For some it’s the love of railroads and machinery that draws them here, especially when they can “talk train” with knowledgeable people. Then there are others (the majority of visitors) who are looking for a family experience, and the Museum is simply a “neat place to take an old-fashioned train excursion and see the top of Snoqualmie Falls with the kids.”  And others fall between these two groups. So how does the Museum address all of the varied interests and ages?

 

 

One common denominator lies in the “humanization” of history. All of us can relate to being a real person. And when that side of railway history is presented, it leads to learning fun without knowing that learning is happening! Recent exhibits include historic photos with people in them.  What the people of the past wore, their expressions, their stance all let visitors connect to the fact that these were real people who lived the railroading experience in one way or another. Giving visitors something they’re familiar with, even though different, allows them to make a connection to the past while making comparisons with their current lives.  The new Northern Pacific Railway Stewardess exhibit, along with firsthand looks inside the Chapel Car and Bunk car offer a glimpse of how railroading isn’t just about the technology, but about real people and how the railroad impacted their lives.

 

Periodically, we bring real humans into the humanization experience through living history programs where visitors speak with, listen to, watch and engage re-enactors portraying passengers of earlier times. For instance, a living history piece has been added during School train.  Students are greeted by an actor in Edwardian-era clothing. During the presentation, they learn about the passengers of that era – their clothing, luggage and “quiet” toys that children riding the trains may have had. A highlight is dressing a girl and boy from each class in period clothing. Afterwards, the students are invited to handle the clothing and try the historic toys themselves. When the light goes on about how early 20^th century train travel is different from their modern lives, it’s magical.  They never considered how those everyday items tied into railroad history! And now those simple ordinary items opened up a new understanding of how the railroad changed everything.

 

GiveBig2016!

All of these techniques engage Northwest Railway Museum visitors in different ways to keep the history alive, but none of these are possible without the Museum’s members and donors who allow funding of new programs and exhibits to occur along with running and restoring the artifacts. So as we move closer to the Seattle Foundation’s GiveBIG date on Tuesday May 3, please consider scheduling your GiveBIG donation to ensure more programming growth at the Northwest Railway! Remember, every little bit helps. And if you’re curious to see some of this firsthand, ride the May 1, 11 am train for the Groundbreaking of the Railway Education Center and you never know who you might run into on the train…

-Guest blog by Marketing Manager Peggy Barchi

GiveBIG May 3rd - or schedule today!

The annual GiveBIG day of charitable giving is scheduled for Tuesday, May 3rd.  Your support for the Northwest Railway Museum will expand public access and improve programs.  That will mean more opportunities to visit the exhibit building, and better public access to collections.   

GeoPiers are being installed

to support the foundation for

the Railway Education Center

GiveBIG is taking place May 3rd, but donors can schedule their gift anytime between now and May 3rd!  Supporters who visit the Seattle Foundation web site here can complete the donation form, and use their credit card to schedule a GiveBIG donation.  Then, on May 3rd, their donation will be automatically processed and credited to the Northwest Railway Museum.  Scheduled donations will also receive a partial match from the stretch pool!

Artist's rendering of the new Railway

Education Center, now under construction.

Specifically, GiveBIG support will be used to complete the Railway Education Center, now under construction in Snoqualmie.  This project will allow weekday visitation to the exhibit building; provide a preservation vault for photographs, drawings, and other paper-based materials; build classroom space; open a collection lab; expand the parking lot for public use; and construct public restrooms so almost no one ever has to wait.

GiveBIG 2016 is an initiative of the Seattle Foundation, and this is the fifth year the Northwest Railway Museum has participated.  More than 16,000 donors are expected to participate this year with opportunities to support projects such as the Railway Education Center beginning at $10.  All contributions are eligible for a partial match with a share of the stretch pool.  Why not schedule your GiveBIG donation today?  Click here to start to process.  

Thank you for Giving BIG!

Dozens of donors contributed thousands of dollars to the Northwest Railway Museum in support of steam and locomotive 924 during Give BIG! This annual charitable giving event is hosted by the Seattle Foundation and supports charities of all types and sizes across King County.  Thank you to everyone who supported this important initiative!

Give BIG on Tuesday, May 5!

May 5 is an opportunity to be a part of something truly remarkable.  May 5 is an opportunity to donate in support of the steam locomotive 924 rehabilitation.

The Seattle Foundation's annual giving event "Give BIG!" is scheduled for May 5 and the Northwest Railway Museum is participating.  This year, contributions will support the steam program, and specifically the efforts to rehabilitate the 1899-built steam locomotive 924 now underway in the Conservation and Restoration Center at the Railway History Center.

The new cistern for 924's tender is

taking shape on the floor of the

Conservation and Restoration Center.

Contributions received between midnight and midnight on Tuesday, May 5, 2015 via the Museum's gateway page on the Seattle Foundation's website will be eligible for a partial match from the Seattle Foundation, and will complete for a one of the "Golden Tickets," which is an additional $1,000 contribution.

Your support truly makes a difference, and will help put locomotive 924 back in steam for its second Century of service.  Make a contribution here on Tuesday, May 5 between midnight and midnight and be a part of something truly remarkable.

Locomotive 924 moves to the Conservation and Restoration Center in this

October 2014 image.

Give BIG results

The Seattle Foundation’s GiveBIG 2014 event was a big success for the Northwest Railway Museum! The Museum recently received the final report from The Seattle Foundation and more than $14,000 was raised in support of the steam program, the upcoming visit of the Santa Cruz Portland Cement 2 steam locomotive in August, and towards additional work on chapel car 5 Messenger of Peace. The visiting steam locomotive will arrive in late July and is scheduled to pull the train during Snoqualmie Railroad Days, August 15, 16, and 17. Thank you to everyone who supported GiveBIG 2014!

Give BIG to steam!

Steam at Snoqualmie Railroad Days!  That's the plan for this coming August 15 - 17 when the Santa Cruz and Portland Cement locomotive 2 will travel to Snoqualmie to operate under steam during the annual town festival.  Celebrating 125 years of excursion train service to Snoqualmie Falls, the 1909-built Porter locomotive will add considerable excitement to the working railway in the upper Snoqualmie Valley.  Your contributions during GiveBIG on Tuesday, May 6 will help make this plan a reality, but they must be made through the Museum's page on The Seattle Foundation's web site here.  Contributions up to $5,000 will be partially matched from The Seattle Foundation's stretch pool too, and may even qualify for a bonus contribution called a Golden Ticket!

GiveBIG is the annual charitable giving event organized and supported by The Seattle Foundation.  Each of more than 1,600 charities including the Northwest Railway Museum are eligible to receive contributions and their pro rata share of the stretch pool received between midnight and midnight on Tuesday, May 6, 2014.

Help bring a real, live steam locomotive to Snoqualmie Railroad Days by participating in GiveBIG on May 6!

With your GiveBIG support, Santa Cruz and Portland Cement #2 is coming to

Snoqualmie August 15 - 17.  Photo courtesy of S. Pappas.

Bad to beautiful conclusion

Thanks to dozens of donors and local corporate sponsors, the Bad to Beautiful initiative has been successfully completed! 

Workers from Queen Anne

Upholstery unpack and

unload the reupholstered

seats.

The Museum participated in the Seattle Foundation’s Give BIG event last May.  Give BIG 2012 was the second annual day of giving hosted by the Seattle Foundation with participation from hundreds of local charities.  Individual donations were partially matched by a stretch pool funded by local companies including Seattle Sounders FC, Microsoft and JP Morgan Chase.  Donors made contributions through the Museum's page at the Seattle Foundation.

The Museum pledged support from the event for new seat upholstery on the interpretive railway.  Seats in car 1590 were selected - they were last reupholstered during the Roosevelt administration.  That 1913-built car’s seats actually came from an early 20^th Century first class coach because the 1590’s original café and parlor chairs were removed during WW II.

Completed seat cushions in car 1590.

Twenty two seats in the car 1590 have now been reupholstered with commercial fabric, a product several orders of magnitude more durable (and costly!) than fabric used on home furniture.  The dark green mohair-like material is very similar to the original fabric used on these seats nearly 100 years ago.  Work was performed by Seattle's Queen Anne Upholstery and the results are spectacular!  So come and check out the new seats – train departs weekends through the end of October and again for Santa Train. 

Thank you to everyone who supported Give BIG 2012, corporate donors who matched those donations, and to the Seattle Foundation for hosting it!

From Bad to Beautiful - inspired by you

Last year, The Seattle Foundation orchestrated an incredible one-day online giving event that - thanks to you - raised nearly $19,000 for the Northwest Railway Museum. It was the most successful single day of giving in the Museum’s history.

This year on May 2, from midnight to midnight Pacific Time, GiveBIG is happening again. But it's no same-old, same-old. Inspired by your recent comments on our Facebook page, the Northwest Railway Museum will direct funds raised during GiveBIG 2012 toward seats and upholstery on our interpretive railway.

FROM BAD TO BEAUTIFUL

Our last major seating effort was in 1998 when seats in coach 276 were reupholstered at a cost of more than $25,000. Now it’s time to continue the transformation. Will you participate in GiveBIG and help us raise another $25,000, so that older coach seats throughout the train may be restored to their former glory?

Each of the coaches was built about 100 years ago - between 1912 and 1915. When they were new, they were elegant. Today’s “bad to beautiful” effort will reclaim a little of that spirit and make a ride aboard the Snoqualmie Valley Railroad more enjoyable - and more authentic.

HERE’S HOW TO GROW YOUR GIFT ON MAY 2

On Wednesday, May 2, visit The Seattle Foundation’s online Giving Center between midnight and midnight Pacific Time. Make a donation of any size to the Northwest Railway Museum.

The Seattle Foundation and business sponsors will match a share of every donation made during that 24-hour period. BUT . . . the larger our percentage of the total amount of donations made to all nonprofits during that day, the larger our percentage of the matching stretch pool.

If you give just once to the Northwest Railway Museum, please give on May 2.

WANT A REMINDER?

• If you'd like to receive an email reminder on May 2, please subscribe to our (approximately monthly) e-newsletter. We'll send a brief reminder the morning of May 2.
• We'll also post The Seattle Foundation's online Giving Center link on our website and on our Facebook page on May 2.
• RSVP on the GiveBIG 2012: From Bad to Beautiful event page we created. We'll send a brief reminder message via Facebook.
  

Thank you for participating in this “bad to beautiful” transformation! Thanks, also, to event sponsors, including JP Morgan Chase & Co, Microsoft, Seattle International Foundation, and Seattle Sounders FC. Over the years, The Seattle Foundation has given the Northwest Railway Museum several generous grants in support of general operating expenses and the Railway History Center Train Shed capital campaign. They have our continuing gratitude.

1,000 likes and climbing

Milestones. Sometimes we celebrate them with great fanfare. Sometimes with quiet delight. For the Museum, both kinds of milestones happened one day recently.

THE FANFARE

Train whistles. Trumpets. Remarks by People with Titles. The Northwest Railway Museum celebrated the Grand Opening of the Train Shed September 17 with a happy crowd of members, donors, volunteers and other supporters. It’s a special milestone, because some of the organization’s earliest supporters have envisioned this day for 50 years. The Museum’s most vulnerable large artifacts now have a place of refuge, where the public can soon step inside an illustrated story of how the northwestern United States was settled and civilized.

View a bit of the fanfare here:

A POWERFUL COMMUNITY

Something else happened at the same time we were whooping it up in the Train Shed. With a quiet click, our Facebook page climbed to 1,000 “likes.” No trumpets. No speeches. But a big deal nonetheless.

In one way or another, community has played a role in every milestone the Museum has reached - from the launch of the Railway History Center in 2006. . .to the hosting of Santa Train, Day Out With Thomas and Snoqualmie Railroad Days. . .to awards recognizing Museum Collections, personnel, restoration achievements and interpretive efforts. Our tremendous community comprises volunteers, members, donors, heritage and train enthusiasts, families, City partners. . .and now, Facebook users and followers of our blog.

It's because of you, our online community, that Chapel Car 5 Messenger of Peace received enough votes to earn a large grant in the Partners for Preservation campaign last year. It's because of you that the Northwest Railway Museum experienced the single most successful day of giving in the Museum's history during The Seattle Foundation's one-day GiveBIG campaign in June. With you, we're achieving entirely new milestones.

So to celebrate 1,000-likes-and-climbing, we're giving Jessica H., our 1,000th Facebook fan, a free train ride for a party of six. Congratulations, Jessica! The railroad built our community, and our community is building the railway museum. A big thank you to each one of you.

Visit the Northwest Railway Museum on Facebook