Steam locomotive 1246 returns home!

The 1246 has arrived!

In the last TrainMuseum blog post, details of the locomotive and its acquisition were revealed. Now it has arrived in Snoqualmie, returning to the Puget Sound region after an absence of more than 40 years!

The Great Northern Railway 1246 is popularly known as the Woodland Park Zoo steam locomotive.  Displayed near the south entry to the park from 1953 until 1980, this Baldwin built Consolidation locomotive thrilled thousands of children of all ages.

On Tuesday, April 25, the 1246 was bifurcated - the locomotive boiler was removed from the steam engine and drivers - and each was set on a heavy haul truck.

As heavy and robust as a locomotive may be, it must be handled with care or else critical components could be damaged.  The boiler was carefully rigged to prevent damage.

The 1246 is a freight locomotive and it is heavy - more than 130 tons when paired and operating with a tender.  Local crane company Imhoff recently sold to Campanoli Crane but the 1246 move allowed their large conventional crane to return to Snoqualmie for a few days.

Steven Butler from Morton Locomotive and Machine Works coordinated the move from Merrill, Ore to Snoqualmie, and the entire move went off without a hitch.

Please consider a contribution to the Northwest Railway Museum to help offset the more than $88,000 cost of repatriating this amazing artifact.

A Consolidation of efforts for the 1246

The 1246 has returning to Washington State and is making its new home at the Northwest Railway Museum in Snoqualmie.  Help defray the cost of bringing it home by making a contribution right now!

What is the 1246?  It is a steam locomotive built by the Baldwin Locomotive Works in 1907 featuring a 2-8-0 wheel arrangement commonly known as a Consolidation.

People of a certain age who grew up in the Seattle area may fondly remember the Woodland Park Zoo steam locomotive that was on display at the south entrance.  Donated to the City of Seattle in June 1953 by the Great Northern Railway, the 1246 was placed on a plinth for children of all ages to enjoy.  Check out this promotional video from 1953:

In the late 1970s, the Woodland Park Zoo evolved into a wildlife conservation organization and soon it was apparent that an iron horse did not fit in their collection.  A plan was developed to move the locomotive to the Museum of History and Industry (MOHAI), but the more than $100,000 cost exceeding the available funding.

In 1980 the City of Seattle held a locomotive auction.  Collectors from across the region expressed interest - as did the Northwest Railway Museum - but the successful bid was submitted by Fred Kepner of Klamath Falls, Oregon who planned to build a railway museum.  Mr. Kepner moved the locomotive to the much drier climate of eastern Oregon where it has aged much better than in a coastal climate. Unfortunately, his plans to build a museum did not materialize.  

After his passing in 2021, the locomotive and several others were acquired by the Oregon Coast Scenic Railroad in Tillamook, Oregon.  In the fall of 2022, the Northwest Railway Museum and the Oregon Coast Scenic Railroad penned a deal to exchange locomotives.  The Northwest Railway Museum transferred the Union Pacific (Oregon Short Line) locomotive 529 (also a consolidation) to the Oregon Coast group and acquired ownership of the Great Northern 1246 in exchange.  

Locomotive 1246 moved to the Northwest Railway Museum in late April 2023; please consider a contribution to help defray the costs, which exceed $88,000.

Thank you to Mr. Martin Hansen of Bend, Oregon for the use of photos from his collection, and for his recollections on the history of the 1246.

Thank you to the leadership at the Oregon Coast Scenic Railroad for seeing the merits in the exchange of artifacts that strengthens the collection of both institutions.  

X101 caboose caper

At the Train Shed dedication on October 2, 2010, the daughter of the late Jack Hoover of Belt, Montana announced the donation of his caboose to the Northwest Railway Museum. Christina Blackwell selected the Northwest Railway Museum to receive her father's caboose "so it can be housed inside the new Train Shed exhibit building and be accessible to the public." Initially, the caboose will be used as part of the Museum's Wellington Remembered exhibit and is typical of the type of car that could have operated through that Great Northern company town.

Caboose X101 (the first X101) was built in 1892 at St Cloud, Minnesota. A wreck-related rebuilding in 1897 and again in 1909 resulted in changes to the visual and structural characteristics of the car, but few changes have occurred since then or after retirement in 1935. Conductor Ed Shields of Great Falls retired that year too and asked the company if he could keep the caboose. They obliged him and he used a bull dozer to move the caboose 1.5 miles to his back yard. Fast forward to 1973. Jack Hoover had an opportunity to purchase the X101 and despite its then-deteriorated condition, he acquired it and moved it to his home in Belt. Years of dedicated care transformed it back to its former glory.

Receiving a donation and moving it to the Museum are significant undertakings when the object weighs 33,000 pounds and is located 650 miles from Snoqualmie. The Museum faced similar challenges when Chapel Car 5 Messenger of Peace was donated in 2007 and was able to draw on that experience to plan and execute the move of X101.

Heavy Haul Inc. of Kelso, Washington was selected to move the caboose. (They did an excellent job of transporting the chapel car and specialize in unusual moves including railroad cars.) H & H Crane Service of Great Falls, Montana lifted the caboose and trucks and placed them on the truck for shipping. In Snoqualmie, Imhoff Contractor Crane Service reassembled the caboose on the Museum's rail line. (Imhoff has been involved in a variety of Museum projects including construction of the Train Shed, Conservation and Restoration Center, Bridge 31.3 and with the chapel car move.) With completion of the move, the X101 is sitting on live rail for the first time since 1935.

Jack Hoover was a much beloved man who resided in Belt, Montana, about 20 miles from Great Falls. He was born on April 17, 1923 and lived in the area for his entire 86 years, except for 4 years of military service in WW II. He had strong interests in several fields and was renowned for his collections of guns, railroad memorabilia, western art, books and industrial architecture. Some of his firearms and western art will be perpetuated at the C.M. Russell Museum in Great Falls; his drover's coach has been preserved at the Minnesota Transportation Museum in St. Paul. A beautiful tribute to his life was detailed by Prairie Mary in her blog here. Mr. Hoover is survived by his wife Karen and daughter Christina, and by countless friends.

The Northwest Railway Museum is honored to have been selected as the recipient of caboose X101 and is incredibly grateful for the family's generosity. The caboose will be placed inside the Train Shed exhibit building in early 2011 and will be placed on public exhibit when that facility opens later in the year. It is a tribute to the late Jack Hoover that the caboose be preserved for this and future generations, and that it be used to interpret the role railroads played in the settlement and development of the Northwest.

Here is a short video of the great caboose move of 2010:

Wellington Remembered

Today - March 1, 2010 - is the anniversary of a northwest tragedy: the Wellington Disaster. On March 1, 1910, at about 1:15 AM, an avalanche over ½ mile in length began high above the town of Wellington. The town itself was spared, but two snow-bound trains just west of the depot were swept into the valley below. At least 96 people perished, most of them railroad workers.

Several great authors have written insightful works about the avalanche, most recently Martin Burwash with his release of Vis Major. Gary Krist wrote The White Cascade: The Great Northern Railway Disaster and America’s Deadliest Avalanche and an excellent profile of Gary and what precipitated his writing adventure was detailed by Phoebe Snow. And Gary will be making a presentation at the Museum’s Working on the Railroad benefit dinner this Friday, March 5, 2010.

Without question, the Wellington Disaster was a tragedy, but it tends to overshadow the importance of the town of Wellington, and even why it existed. In 1910 transportation in and out of Northwest was in its infancy. Just 27 years prior, the Northern Pacific Railroad had connected Puget Sound with the eastern railway network. The Great Northern Railway – whose tracks passed through Wellington – drove its last spike just a few miles from Wellington (near Scenic) in 1893, and that had been just 17 years prior. And to the north, arch competitor Canadian Pacific completed its transcontinental in 1885 and therefore had got a running start on the Great Northern. Railway transportation empowered the industrial revolution. It was vital for the development and settlement of the Northwest, and to connect trade with the Far East.

Wellington was a company town that supported the operation of the railway, in fact a vital link in the railway machine. For 37 years, from its founding in 1892 until its end in 1929, Wellington was indispensible to the operation of the mighty Great Northern. In Wellington alone, nearly 100 men were routinely required to build and repair track, build and maintain snow sheds, clear snow, service locomotives, maintain tunnels and bridges, maintain telegraph lines and of course run the trains.

So what was it like to live in Wellington? We know surprisingly little about life in Wellington, but some of its stories are probably similar to those of other nearly forgotten yet once vital Western Washington towns such as Cedar Falls on the Milwaukee Road and Lester on the Northern Pacific Railway. In 2010, just as the last living memories of Wellington have passed on, we are scrambling to learn what we can about this town.

The Northwest Railway Museum recently accepted the Oberg Collection, 60 glass negatives exposed in and near Wellington by Casper Hansen in 1913 and 1914. They offer some insight into life in Wellington and have provoked a broader study of the town. So on this anniversary of a tragedy, the Northwest Railway Museum is launching Wellington Remembered, an initiative featuring images from the Oberg Collection. As this project develops, we hope to hear from descendants, friends and acquaintances, and history fans. This project will result in a permanent exhibit in the new Railway History Center Train Shed, and the companion web site Wellington Remembered.

Regulating track ballast

It's not a form of government control but an essential component in good railway track. Track ballast is part of the track structure. It provides supports to the ties from below and holds the ties and rail in place by resisting the moving - or dynamic - forces caused by a passing train. In a curve, the train tries to push the curve outwards. On tangent track, any rocking and rolling of the cars tries to force the track to one side or the other. When braking down a descending a grade, a train tries to push the track down the hill. A sufficient amount of properly placed ballast resists these forces and holds the track in position.

Ballast has existed since the first colliery railroad some 200 years ago. Historically, it was often little more than locally-mined sand and gravel, and in many instances was no better than the best local native material. That meant it could have been sand, or even just dirt. Today, however, most railroads including the Northwest Railway Museum have graduated to crushed rock - meaning fully-fractured faces with no round edges - because it holds the track level and within lateral alignment ("in profile") far better than sand or gravel and helps promote good drainage. But crushed rock is heavy and difficult to shovel so working with it by hand is very labor intensive. During the labor shortages of WW II, that gave a cleaver railroad contractor in Alabama the incentive to develop a better way. Royce Kershaw designed and built the first ballast regulator by mounting a set of railroad push car wheels on a old Ford pickup and attaching a plow blade to the front.

A ballast regulator in its simplest form is a plow blade that spreads ballast evenly along the track, often right after it is dumped along the track by a rail car. In a more complex configuration, it uses a series of plow blades to transfer ballast from one side of the track to the center, or even from one side of the track to the other. Today, many "regulators" have also added a broom attachment that is used to sweep the excess rock off the top of the ties and spread it along the sides of the track.

The Museum holds a classic ballast regulator in its collection. This 1963-built Kershaw was used on the Great Northern Railway and successor Burlington Northern in Stevens Pass. Powered by a Detroit 3-53 diesel engine, it has been undergoing rehabilitation in the Museum's Conservation and Restoration Center. Leading the effort is Brandon C. with active participation from Rich W., Dan C., Ian, Earl W. and Dale C. Several bearings have been reworked, some missing and damaged hardware has been replaced, sheet metal panels have been straightened and cleaned, cracks in the plows have been welded, and everything has been painted. With a few more weeks of work remaining, this ballast regulator will be fully functional; more will be posted about the regulator in the coming weeks.

Museum Volunteers tour local railroad landmark

The combined contribution of over 8,000 volunteer hours recently earned four dozen Museum volunteers a rare experience. They had the opportunity to tour the Burlington Northern Santa Fe (BNSF) Railway’s Interbay Locomotive Shop and learn about the art of locomotive maintenance. The tour was organized by Justin Q., an Interbay employee, and BNSF retirees Dan O. and John H. who conducted the tour and answered questions.

The policies concerning visitors on railroad property have changed a lot in the past decade and BNSF rarely approves tours of its facilities. Interbay features an active roundhouse (built in 1929 for the Great Northern Railway), one of only two remaining in Washington State. The ability to learn Interbay’s role in supplying modern, reliable, well-maintained power coupled with a rare glimpse inside a steam-era structure made the tour a special outing.

Dave M., BNSF Interbay Shop Superintendent, approved the tour while Power Desk Foreman Wayne P. accompanied the museum visitors. After signing in, guests had a chance to look over a collection of books, photographs, rule books and pamphlets pertaining to Interbay’s history. A comprehensive safety briefing was held before the tour began; special boots and protective gear were required too.

A highlight of the tour was a ride on the 112 foot turntable. The tour included a look into the Maintenance Building, and a walk around the service tracks where locomotives are cleaned, supplied and inspected. The group toured through the entire roundhouse, getting a close look at the back shop, giant drop pit and tables, and the middle section (with its truss rod roof construction). The diesel house, where multiple level ramps allow workers access to every part of a locomotive, was next. Museum Volunteers also had a chance to look into the carbody of a 1970s vintage road locomotive called an SD40-2 to see how components are laid out.

It is noteworthy that one of the country's most successful railroads has kept the Interbay Roundhouse in service for 80 years and it remains a useful tool.

(Thanks to Ray Rhodes for this guest post.)

Rotary snowplow

This week’s snowy weather in Western Washington reminds me how all-weather travel is really a modern convenience. In the early days of the transcontinental railroads, winter line closures were a frequent occurrence. The introduction of the rotary snowplow improved winter operating conditions for railroads, particularly in mountain passes here in Washington, but also notably in California and British Columbia.

In this region, the Great Northern Railway, Northern Pacific Railway, and the Canadian Pacific Railway relied on rotaries to clear heavy snow. Accounts of the 1910 Wellington Disaster frequently mention the efforts of rotaries to keep Stevens Pass open, and it was only a shortage of coal that prevented them from continuing to clear snow. (X808 was one of those rotaries and is pictured here circa 1913.) Considered the “big guns” of snow clearing, rotaries continued to play a prominent role in winter railroading until well into modern times.

So what is a rotary snowplow? It is a giant wheel of cutting blades that spins into the snow, shaves off a layer of snow and then expels it to the side of the tracks. The plow itself is not self-propelled – one or more locomotives push it. Traditionally, blades were steam powered. Today the few rotaries remaining in service are diesel-electric.

Toronto, Canada Dentist J.W. Elliot invented the rotary snowplow in 1869 but a practical application was not tested until Leslie Bros. built Orange Jull’s design in 1883. Other manufacturers including Cooke soon manufactured variations on the concept.

The Northwest Railway Museum owns former Northern Pacific Railway steam rotary snowplow #10. Built in 1907, the plow was used extensively on Stampede Pass, a mountain pass used by the Northern Pacific just east of Auburn and a little south of the better-known Snoqualmie Pass. Retired in 1964 and donated to the Museum, rotary 10 can be viewed at the Snoqualmie Depot. Through the magic of QuickTime VR, you can view the inside of the cab here.

Missing pages of history

In the days leading up to the worst natural disaster in Washington’s history, it snowed as much as one foot per hour. Telegraph lines were down and two trains - the Fast Mail and the Spokane local - had been trapped at Wellington in Stevens Pass by heavy snow and avalanches for several days. Then, on March 1, 1910, after weeks of relentless winter weather, it began to rain. The storm culminated in a massive avalanche that swallowed both trains, assorted freight cars, a rotary snowplow, at least two steam locomotives, and four electric locomotives. Official records indicate that 96 souls perished in what became known as the Wellington Disaster. For the 26 survivors, a makeshift emergency hospital was created inside the motorman’s bunkhouse at Wellington. (Motormen operated the electric locomotives that ran through the Cascade Tunnel.)

Photos taken several years after the disaster were conspicuous for the absence of the bunk house and so far no record of its demise had been discovered. What had been effectively lost to history was the fate of the bunkhouse itself. Or at least until now. Several missing pages of history arrived at the Northwest Railway Museum earlier this year in the form of a glass negative collection. Two images depicted in that collection are believed to have been taken in 1913 and show the motorman’s bunkhouse engulfed in flames.

The Museum is grateful the donor recognized the value of the collection and ensured it found a home in a public collection. But many more collections remain in garages and attics. Often they are inadvertently overlooked and discarded as estates are settled. A few more missing pages of history are waiting to be found, perhaps in your family’s attic.