Day of Caring 2012

Landscaping at the Train Shed.

Every year in September, United Way of King County organizes Day of Caring where thousands of volunteers all take the day off from work and volunteer in their community. United Way asks non-profit organizations to sponsor projects and then group leaders - mostly from companies - sign up for projects and organize volunteers to work on those projects. This year, on September 21, 2012, the Northwest Railway Museum participated in Day of Caring by sponsoring two groups from Microsoft who worked on several projects. A third group will come in October from the Marriot Hotel, who were unable to come on the 21^st but still wanted to participate.

The first project was for a group to go to Snoqualmie Falls to help with ivy mitigation and brush control.  Every year the English ivy that was planted at the site of the Snoqualmie Falls Hotel in the late 1800s grows robustly around the trees and vegetation, choking the life out of the native landscape. The Museum annually works to mitigate the ivy’s impact by cutting it back.  Day of Caring volunteers helped greatly with this project and also trimmed back some of the brush including non-native holly that has been starting to impede the visitor experience at the falls.

Rehabilitating benches for coach 218.

The second project was to beautify the Northwest Railway Museum Train Shed Exhibit Building by planting over 200 huckleberries, dogwoods, ferns, snowberries, cedar trees, sallal and Oregon grape. Volunteers were able to complete the landscaping around the Train Shed so that it is now returned to its native beauty.

Landscaping at the Train Shed.

Volunteers also worked at the Snoqualmie Depot: they washed windows, power washed the walkways, cleaned in the bookstore and swept. Before starting the Depot cleaning, the same volunteers spent the morning cleaning Coach 1590 for the arrival of the newly re-upholstered seats.  By the end of the day, Coach 1590 was shiny and had new cushions!

Staining a fence at the Train Shed.

Day of Caring volunteers worked on Collections Care rehabilitation projects too.  A group of five people worked throughout the day striping shellac in the Chapel Car in anticipation of additional installation of interior cladding in the next week.  They also helped disassemble benches that are being restored and installed in Coach 218 in the next year.

Stripping shellac in the chapel car.

All told there were over 50 volunteers from Microsoft, plus, to help coordinate the event, five volunteers from the Museum helped run the speeder (to move volunteers between work sites) and train set and another who helped supervise the projects.

The Northwest Railway Museum thanks all of the volunteers who helped out from Microsoft and from the Northwest Railway Museum. It was a very successful day! If you have a group that would like to come and volunteer for a day, please feel free to contact our Volunteer Coordinator Cristy Lake at any time - there is more information on the web site. Volunteering as a group for the day can be a fun way to serve the community and have an enjoyable time with friends.

Rehabilitating benches for coach 218.

Platform to preach

Chapel car 5 Messenger of Peace with

its distinctive open vestibules or plat-

forms.

A distinguishing feature of many 19^thCentury railroad cars is an open platform or vestibule on one or both ends.  For chapel car 5 Messenger of Peace, this platform was the ingress and egress to the car.  So the preacher, his wife, and all the parishioners used the open end platform to enter and leave the car.  Clearly, restoration of this missing feature was vital for a successful project, and was fully supported by the major funders including Save Americas Treasures, the National Trust for Historic Preservation's Partners in Preservation (Seattle) and the  Washington State Heritage Capital Projects Fund administered by the Washington State Historical Society. And it was one of the most challenging aspects of the project because most of the work had to be performed in a specific sequence between March 2011 and April 2012 to avoid conflict with other work divisions such as carbody rehabilitation, floor repairs, and even the Terne roof installation. 

"Badly deteriorated"was the entry made

in the intial survey.  Little remained
in place from the original platform.

 

Vestibules in general are highly susceptible to deterioration.  Open platforms are even worse off.  Every rain storm, passing insect, or even passing thief has open access.  For instance, when the car was just a few years old, the pastor woke up one morning to learn that his milk can had been stolen from the end platform.  Apparently that Sunday’s sermon reminded parishioners that “thou shall not steal!”

The only surviving section of the

original platform end beam (top) is com-

pared with the new end beam (bottom).

The Messenger of Peace had very little to offer about the platform to researchers and rehabilitation specialists as they put their work plan together.  Fortunately, a portion of the original end beam had been recovered from the seaside where the car was used as a cabin; it confirmed the basic dimensions.  One end of the car had nearly complete platform and draft sills and those were used to make copies.

"B" end of car 5 at Novinger, MO. 

Image courtesty of Adair County

Historical Society.

Other resources played an important role too.  Researcher's visited other Barney and Smith-built cars from the era looking for clues, but most other cars had been retrofitted with more modern accessories from the early 20th Century. The Adair County Historical Society had a wonderful photo of the end platform taken in circa 1903 at Novinger, MO and this proved to be the most valuable guide. 

New platform and draft sills are at-

tached to the car with new fasteners.

Once basic dimensions were established, the rehabilitation team’s next challenge was to find large dimension white oak timbers, the species originally used for the chapel car platform and draft sills, and platform end beam.  Oak is an unusual wood for its density, resistance to decay, its hardness, and for the challenges in drying green wood.  A phenomenon called cell collapse often occurs when forcing large oak timbers to dry and severely reduces strength.  Air drying of green oak timbers is effective but takes years.  So what to do?  Recycled oak beams from an Amish barn in Ohio!

A platform end beam is milled on

the Northfield chain mortiser.

The timbers arrived in mid winter and the team found they had been stored outside.  The timber was cleaned off and any remaining fasteners were removed.  Holes or other minor defects were filled with epoxy or wood plugs were glued in.  Then the process of preparing the timbers began. 

A large slick was used to clean up the

initial cuts made by the mortise machine

There is always a need for good hand

tools when rehabilitating old wood cars!

Four large men were required to guide the 500 pound timbers through the Oliver planer.  During this process, several pockets of insect damage were discovered which had to be treated and repaired.  But in the end, some really great looking timbers were produced for the chapel car. 

Just a sample of the steel hardware that

is unseen inside and beneath the plat-

forms.

Was there more to it? Well, yes.  One of the unsung heros of the project was Ray M.  who repaired or made new the steel tension and tie rods that hold everything together.  Original steel was used wherever possible and was connected to new material with a turnbuckle.  Ray spent many hours custom machining hardware to fit in tight places where it would not be noticed.

There were also new castings required to make it all work.  Fortunately there was at least one copy of everything so the team was able to work with Mackenzie Castings in Arlington, WA to have copies made in ductile iron.  And they did fabulous work too!

The end railing is missing from the car and will have to be fabricated.  Fortunately, the great folks at Prairie Village in South Dakota have allowed the Messenger of Peace researchers to photograph and measure the railings on their chapel car Emmanuel.  These railings appear to be identical to the Messenger of Peace but surprisingly a number of other details including the platform end beam design and layout are not exactly the same even though the cars were built to the same plan.  The railings will be fabricated when additional project funding is secured.

The lead rehabilitation specialist Kevin P.

guides the mounting bolts for the plat-

form end beam into the matching holes.


Platform and draft sills are approximately 16 feet long.  The platform end beam is the width of the car and weighs over 200 pounds.  So a lot of special handling was required to maneuver the timbers around to the other woodworking machines.  And in the end - or at least as of May 2012 -  the Messenger of Peace has regained its platform to preach! 



The completed open vestibule needs one more

detail: an end railing. When more rehabilitation

funding is secured, a replacement railing will be
fabricated







Snoqualmie Railroad Days 2012

Snoqualmie Railroad Days 2012 was held August 17 - 19 in historic downtown Snoqualmie.  More than 11,000 visitors enjoyed live music, an art show, the grand parade, lots of trains, a car show, great food and more!  Success of the event came from a very supportive community, scores of dedicated volunteers, generous sponsors, and great weather.  Why not be part of next year's successful event?  Please drop us a note on our contact page to learn about ways you can be involved.



A Lego locomotive zooms around a

display created by Dan Parker.

More than 3,000 people lined Railroad

Ave. to watch the grand parade on

Saturday morning.





Jim and Lisa Schaffer

were the parade's grand

marshalls.  Jim retired as

Snoqualmie's police

chief in June. 



Motor car rides took passengers to the

Museum's new Train Shed exhibit

building for a tour.

The Seafair Pirates took

over locomotive 11 in

search of places to plunder.

A pristine '66 Corvette made an ap-

pearance at the car show.

Singers from the band Brian Vogan &

his Good Buddies perform their original

music on the Skagit flatcar stage at

the Snoqualmie Depot.
 

Reconditioned string

instruments were offered

for sale by a non-profit

at one of the vendor booths

Thousands toured the car show that was

set up along Railroad Ave. on Sunday.



What would Railroad Days be without

model trains?

Scarves of every color filled this booth!

RailCamp Northwest debut

Twelve RailCampers pose

with locomotive 1 in the

Train Shed.

August 2012 was the debut of the first-ever Northwest RailCamp.  Designed for youth, the intensive rail-oriented program was a week of operations, history, collections care, and fun.

James uses a cutoff saw

under the careful super-

vision of the Dan C.

The Northwest RailwayMuseum (NRM), in partnership with the National Railway Historical Society (NRHS), hosted two days of RailCamp. Over the course of one week, campers enjoyed hands-on activities at several area rail hubs including the NRM, Mt. Rainier ScenicRailroad, and Tacoma Rail. The twelve campers ranged in age from 14 to 19 years old and were from all over the United States. Railcamp is an established NRHS program but this was the first ever Northwest camp. NRHS holds an annual camp at Steamtown in Scranton, PA and up until recently at the NevadaNorthern in Ely, NV.

Melisa uses a drill press to prepare her

own project - a wood bookshelf with

a section of rail mounted on the end.

During their two days at NRM, campers participated in a variety of hands-on activities including maintenance of way, running trades, rehabilitation, and a special project completed in the Museum’s shop. Campers got to throw switches, hook and unhook air hoses, help perform brake tests, couple and uncouple cars and run locomotive 4012.  They also switched out railroad ties, stripped old shellac in the chapel car Messenger of Peace as part of the rehabilitation of that National Register-listed object, and built a small shelf for CDs or books (their take-home project).


Jessica learns about tap-

ping threads to accept a

bolt.

The success of any program is partly dependent on the participants.  They were a pleasant group of enthusiastic young people with a strong interest in railroads, historic and contemporary. The Museum’s educator said, “It was especially rewarding to design programming for a motivated group of young people that already have a strong background in railway history. They eagerly tackled the tasks we set before them and it was a pleasure creating lifelong memories with them.”

John learns to use a drill press under

the watchful eye of fellow camper

Tyrus.

The Museum was also pleased with how the program directly ties to the mission – this is just the type of program that the Museum wants to offer.  NRHS was pleased with the outcome of the camp overall and it is everyone’s hope Northwest Railcamp will become an annual program.

Drawing the chapel car

Randy Miller describes his drawing to

the project lead rehabilitation

specialist Kevin Palo.

Documenting an historic structure is an essential element in any rehabilitation, and is a concomitant of the Secretary of the Interior Standards for the Treatment of Historic Structures.  This allows future curators to know what was done, and what the underlying structure lookd like without having to take it apart again.  The potential value of this information was clear early in the chapel car project when certain parts of the car had to be dismantled to inspect and document because there was no information about the interior structure.

Details are important.  Every window,

beam and stud are shown.  This is an
elevation view of the left side of the car.

For the chapel car, the entire structure has been measured.  Sketches and photographs have supplemented these dimensions and were used to create a complete set of drawings.  AutoCadd is the most popular program used in the architecture and engineering professions and Randy Miller has been creating this thorough documentation that records not only how the car was originally built but what has been repaired or modified during this rehabilitation.

Shaded components indicate new

material added to replace damaged

or missing structure.  The area depicted
in this image is in the center of the car
on the left hand side where two doors
were cut in the side.  The car saw
adaptive reuse as a roadside diner,
then as a cabana, and finally as a
cottage on a Pacific Ocean beach. 

Documenting the work is really important.  Replacement wood is shown shaded.  Notes capture other details such as supplemental supports that may have been installed, or where replacement steel or iron was incorporated.  Missing features discovered during research are also added and identified on the drawing as restoration.  The final product stands as a record not just of the chapel car but of wood cars produced by Barney and Smith circa 1898.  Good work Randy, and thanks to Save America's Treasures for funding this important part of the project!

Thomas thrills thousands

Thomas the Tank Engine steams into

Snoqualmie.

Thomas the Tank Engine is visiting Snoqualmie and the Northwest Railway Museum for the 12^thannual Day Out With Thomas event. The first three days of the six day event have concluded and thousands came to see the really useful engine.

In all, more than 16,400 visitors are expected at this sold-out event before it closes July 22. Motor car rides, temporary tattoos, live steam model trains, train tables, live music and models of Thomas the Tank engine were just some of the activities.  Proceeds support Museum programs including rehabilitation of Chapel Car 5 Messenger of Peace and operation of the Snoqualmie Depot.

Sir Topham Hatt is an

honored guest.

Genii Blue Clown adds

exitement to the event!

Casper Baby Pants

performs live.

Day Out With Thomas is

a rewarding event to

witness!

A photo with Thomas!

 

A happy visitor takes a

motor car ride

Improving collections care

Stewardship of a massive collection like the Northwest Railway Museum’s can be daunting.  A trained curator can quickly see there are issues with storage conditions, damaged artifacts, and security. Heat, light, humidity and too few restrictions on collections access are the usual culprits, but they do have to be identified and assessed before they can be mitigated. So what to do?

Cristy L. highlights one of the

new dehumidifiers in the

periodical and drawing

storage area.

For starters, solving collections challenges is a long term process – there are no quick fixes in this field.  In 2006 the Museum hired Randy Silverman, preservation librarian at the University of Utah’s Marriot Library in Salt Lake City, to conduct an assessment and write a preservation needs report.  That project, funded with a grant from the National Endowment for the Humanities, has helped guide a long term strategy to improve collections care, primarily through improved collections storage.


The latest implementations of the Silverman report's recommendations - thanks to a 4Culture Collections Care Grant - are the acquisition of three dehumidifiers and a special museum vacuum.

Environmental monitoring devices were installed in collections areas in 2010 and 2011.  With nearly a year of data, collections staff were able to identify areas where environmental conditions were presenting the greatest threats to the collection.  Three areas were found to have humidity that was unacceptably high on a consistent basis.  The collections care grant has allowed the purchase of three modest-size dehumidifiers that are being used to reduce humidity and improve the storage environment where small objects, periodicals and drawings are stored.

Cristy L. demonstrates the Nilfisk HEPA

variable speed vacuum on a wood crate.

Cleanliness is next to . . . well, you know the saying, and it may as well have been written for museum curators.  “Dirt” threatens museum collections, whether it be in the form of mold, dust, rodent droppings, or just plain sand.  Long term preservation needs demand that artifacts be clean and the environment that they are stored in be just as clean.

A museum vacuum has variable speed to allow control over the amount of suction, and a HEPA filtration system so that hazardous substances – such as mold or Hantavirus – are not sucked up and transmitted around the room.  So a Nilfisk model GM 80 vacuum with a museum kit has been purchased with the collections care grant proceeds.  The museum kit provides a HEPA filter, variable speed to control suction, and special attachments to get into unusual spaces.

So thanks to a 4Culture collections care grant, the Northwest Railway Museum is able to make additional improvements in collections storage conditions.  This is helping ensure the Museum’s collections will survive long into the future.