New exhibit panels installed in Train Shed

Sign on the Northern Pacific bunk car.

New exhibit panels have been installed on or near eight objects in the Train Shed Exhibit Building. The panels were developed and purchased with a 2017 4Culture Heritage Special Projects grant and are now on display for the visiting public. Fossil Industries fabricated the panels. The Museum has used Fossil, based in New England, for several projects – the company is a leader in High Pressure Laminate (HPL) signage. HPL is a popular exhibit material because it is fade resistant and anti-graffiti.

Eight artifacts now sport a new panel that will help interpret the type of railroad car (general history) as well as the individual history of the car. The panels also include information on northern transcontinental lines including the Northern Pacific (NP), the Great Northern (GN), and Canadian Pacific (CP). Included are the GN X-101 and NP 1203 cabooses, the chapel car Messenger of Peace, the NP bunk car, the NP refrigerator car, a NP box car, a Polson Logging side dump car, and the CP 25 (formerly known as "Earnscliffe"). Four signs are 32” x 32” and are displayed on a sign stand next to their object. The other four panels are 24” x 24” and are affixed directly to the object in some way.

With these eight new signs added to the four signs already in the building, it means most of the large objects on display have their own interpretive sign. This is a major milestone for the education/exhibit department!

A 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.

Sign on one of the NP box cars in the Train Shed.

Large sign for the dump car - sign is affixed to
sign stands donated by Washington
State Historical Society.

Congratulations 4Culture!

4Culture’s funding source has been extended into the foreseeable future with the Washington State Legislature’s passage of ESSB 5834. Governor Gregoire has signed the bill into law and it takes effect on August 24, 2011. Passage of the bill was the result of a seven year bipartisan effort by King County, the arts & heritage community, and thousands of cultural patrons. It was passed in the toughest legislative session in recent memory.

4Culture is the public face of the King County Cultural Development Authority and is the latest iteration of a lengthy history of support for culture. Today, 4Culture receives and distributes a portion of lodging tax funds to cultural organizations using a variety of competitive grant programs. The Northwest Railway Museum has received dozens of grants from 4Culture to support a wide range of initiatives including the new Train Shed exhibit building, exhibits such as Wellington Remembered, landmark rehabilitation work such as Chapel Car 5 Messenger of Peace, and collections care efforts such as the recent purchase and installation of temperature and humidity monitors.

4Culture is not the Museum’s largest funder but it is its most diverse funder. It is often a first funder that demonstrates the efficacy of a proposal because of a widely respected rigorous and transparent vetting & adjudication process. It is also a consistent funder that understands the unique challenges of operating a museum.

So it is rather appropriate to acknowledge 4Culture’s success on Independence Day. Culture defines our Nation, but in a much broader fashion than what network television, professional sport, or iconic brands of popular culture so narrowly defines. It is local and regional history, architecture and historic preservation, visual and performing arts, public art, literature, and so much more. 4Culture provides initiatives to preserve, interpret, develop, perform, market, and perpetuate culture that is relevant and important to King County and its citizens. It is hugely important to the success of local and regional tourism. It also represents more than 30,000 full time jobs in King County.

So on this July 4th, a huge thanks to everyone that played a role in securing 4Culture’s future funding needs. Kudos to those that made this almost an obsession: King County Executive Dow Constantine; Senator Hunter; Senator Murray; Speaker Chopp; Advocate4Culture; Louise Miller, Dale Smith, & the 4Culture Board (Museum Executive Director Richard Anderson is a member of 4Culture's Historic Preservation Advisory Committee); and 4Culture Executive Director Jim Kelly. And a special thanks to 5th District Representative Glenn Anderson for recognizing the importance of 4Culture to the upper Snoqualmie Valley and the Northwest Railway Museum by supporting ESSB 5834.