Wheels for an interurban car

Puget Sound Electric Railway car 523 operated between Seattle and Tacoma from 1908 until 1928.  This early mass transit allowed commuters on "Limited" trains to travel from downtown to downtown in just 1 hour and 15 minutes.  The 523 is the sole surviving car from this once proud fleet and is the newest Snoqualmie property listed on the King County and City of Snoqualmie Landmarks Register.

523 was first preserved in 1963 when it was purchased by preservationist Paul Class. It had been repurposed as a home in Federal Way sometime prior to WW II, and the property owner was ready to build a larger house. So Mr. Class purchased the car and moved it to Oregon where he had started what today is known as the Oregon Electric Railway Historical Society. There were several ill-fated restoration attempts on the 523, but only when the car was donated to the Northwest Railway Museum was a formal plan prepared.

When 523 was adaptively reused first as an outbuilding and then as a home, the wheels and motors were no longer needed; they were sold for scrap circa 1930.  So replacements of at least similar vintage were needed.  This month new trucks (wheels and motors) for the 523 arrived in Snoqualmie. This was the result of a culmination of more than a year of effort and is being made possible with support from the Schwab Fund for Charitable Giving and 4Culture's Building for Equity program.

The "new" trucks are actually from an electric car order built for the Chicago Elevated and delivered in the early 1920s. The trucks were built by Baldwin (same builder of the Museum's locomotives 4012 & 4024), but are a decade newer than the trucks that would have been found under the 523 circa 1914. The front truck is powered with two GE traction motors and the rear truck is unpowered.

The Streetcar Investment Company purchased the trucks from a scrap car some years ago and the components had been in storage at their California yard.  An industrial motor shop in the Bay Area overhauled the two GE 243 traction motors, and the Streetcar Investment folks reassembled everything.  They arrived on a Gerlock Heavy Haul tow truck, the same rig that delivered 523 to the Museum more than two years ago.

The trucks are not ready for installation.  It was important to acquire and move the trucks so that all the variables between the carbody and the trucks were correctly defined.  Until they are installed, the trucks will remain in storage inside the Museum in Snoqualmie.

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.

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.

Learning more about an electric interurban

Interurban car 523 operated on the Puget Sound Electric Railway ("PSER") from 1908 until 1928, and represents a fascinating era in the development of King County and the region.  The 523 arrived at the Northwest Railway Museum in September 2017, and was listed on the King County and City of Snoqualmie Landmark Register earlier this year.  To best steward this cultural resource, a plan for how the resource will be protected and developed was needed.  Now, thanks to a Special Projects grant from 4Culture, an assessment and additional research has been performed.

Finding qualified individuals to research and assess an historical landmark can be challenging.  Fortunately, the Museum was able to find one of the most qualified historians anywhere: Mr. Kyle Wyatt has spent a career lifetime working in railroad heritage.  He retired in April from California State Parks, and his responsibilities at Old Sacramento and the California State Railroad Museum. That allowed him to take on the 523 assignment.

Mr. Wyatt spent hours performing additional research, further supplementing work done by Museum volunteers and staff in support of the Landmarks Register nomination.  Kyle discovered several new resources, and uncovered a number of significant facts.  One of the more interesting revelations is that the PSER parlor observations were color-themed: one each of the four original cars had interior design motifs in blue, green, red, and brown.

The 523 is an outstanding example of early 20th Century electric railroading, and especially how it was applied in the Pacific Northwest.  The 4Culture Special Projects grant has funded this assessment with additional contributions to the body of knowledge as to how the car appeared while in electric railway service.  Thank you to Mr. Kyle Wyatt and 4Culture for their investment in the 523's future.