Keeping track safe and reliable

The grade immediate below the track

structure is called the subgrade.  It was

disturbed by an excavator during a

recent construction project conducted

adjacent to the track.

Good track is easy to take for granted, but a safe and reliable railroad depends on it.  And good track requires a stable subgrade, especially within the 1:1 live load zone beneath the track.  (The 1:1 live load zone is the area that extends downward from the ends of the ties at a 45 degree angle.)  Steep slopes, poor soils, seasonal flooding, adjacent uses, earth quakes, and heavy annual precipitation are all among the conditions that must be considered to ensure stability.  So when recent construction activities were found to have affected the subgrade at Snoqualmie Falls, immediate steps were taken to protect the track and trains. 

A rock slope was constructed to stabil-

ize and strengthen the subgrade for

more than 200 linear feet.  Geotextile

fabric was placed below the rocks to

improve performance of saturated soils.

First, for trains already operating, speed was immediately reduced to a crawl to reduce dynamic forces on the track and subgrade.  Second, a licensed geotechnical engineer was called in to inspect the subgrade below the track and determine if and under what conditions trains could continue to operate.  Third, rehabilitation work was performed to mitigate the issues discovered in the affected area using a design that was reviewed by other engineering professionals. 


A new rock slope below

the track at Snoqualmie

Falls.

The long term rehabilitation plan was developed by the Museum's geotechnical engineering consultant at PanGEO Inc and reviewed by other knowledgeable professionals including Museum volunteer Dave H., who is a civil engineer - thanks Dave!

The design uses "heavy loose rock," which are large rocks 30 inches and more across.  It relies in part on prior stabilization work performed when soil anchors were driven under the track and a retaining wall was installed at the toe of the slope.  To address the current issue, the slope on the subgrade below the track was covered with geotextile fabric and the heavy loose rocks were keyed into the sloped using an excavator.  This design places several hundred tons of rock on the subgrade slope and restores integrity to the 1:1 zone beneath the track.  However work did not stop there.  Areas affected by construction activities that were outside the 1:1 zone but within the 2:1 slope of the railway grade are being strengthened with a foot or more of quarry spalls three to six inches in diameter.

Work took three days to perform and was completed between scheduled trains.  What is most impressive to Spike is that the total elapsed time between discovering the issue and implementing final rehabilitation was just four days!  Trains are continuing to operate and will resume track speed when authorities determine that stability has been fully restored.  So a stable subgrade once again supports good track.

A day of firsts

Coach 218 pauses outside the Train Shed prior to being switched onto the train.

The first passengers since the 1940s and the first five-coach train since 1988!  On July 13, 2013, coach 218 was marshaled into the passenger train in Snoqualmie creating the Museum's first five-coach passenger train since 1988.  Coach 218 then carried its first revenue passengers since the 1940s! 


218 prepares to depart for Snoqualmie

Falls with 30 passengers, its first

revenue run since the late 1940s.

Coach 218 first entered service in August 1912 for the Spokane, Portland and Seattle Railway.  By 1948 it had been replaced by more modern cars and relegated to work train service where it served as rolling accommodation for railway workers.  It was purchased at auction by Museum supporters in the early 1980s and stored.  In 2007 the Museum made the decision to rehabilitate the car and work began soon after.  The primarily volunteer-led effort completed much of the carbody work and beginning in March 2013 several grants have funded two full time carpenters to continue work on the car, but with continued substantial volunteer support.  Support from 4Culture, The Snoqualmie Tribe, the Nysether Family Foundation, proceeds from GiveBIG! 2013, and other private funders is helping advance this important project.



Temporary "parlor" seating is in the

coach 218 to allow Day Out With

Thomas visitors to ride inside.  An on

board docent explains the state of the

project and a diagram shows the name

and function of all the exposed wooden

parts.

A project of coach 218's complexity always involves a few surprises.  On July 1 the Museum learned that the paint supplier "lost" the formula for the deep coach green paint that had been accurately matched from original samples.  To move the project forward, the car has been temporarily painted with a similar color created from one part jet black and five parts jade green.  The correct color will be matched and applied later this summer.

After years of effort, 218's carbody rehabilitation was substantially completed earlier this month.  Considerable effort remains to complete the interior appointments and lower window sashes, but with a visit from railroad royalty (Thomas the Tank Engine) it was difficult to resist the opportunity to "try out" the 218!  And after Thomas departs for his next museum venue, coach 218 will return to the Conservation and Restoration Center where work will resume on the interior.

Thomas the Tank Engine arrives!

Thomas the Tank Engine has returned  to the Snoqualmie Valley for Day Out With Thomas 2013!  The really useful engine arrived at the North Bend depot today for a visit from the Island of Sodor.  He will be visiting with young children and their families in Snoqualmie on July 12 - 14 and 19 - 21, 2013.  Tickets are $21 and are available via the link or phone number here.  You may also purchase tickets in person (and avoid service fees) at the Snoqualmie Depot, 38625 SE King Street, Snoqualmie daily from 10 AM - 5 PM.

 

Day Out With Thomas is a fun-filled event for young children and their families.  Admission includes a ride on a train with Thomas the Tank Engine, but also a variety of activities including a bouncy house, story time, a puppet theatre, motor car rides, locomotive cab tours, model trains including live steam, temporary tattoos, and live music by Eric Ode, Nancy Stewart, and Brian Vogan and his good buddies.  Check out the accompanying video images from one of our recent Day Out With Thomas events (this year will be similar, but even better!) and see what you have been missing!  Why not join the fun this year?

 

Winning the lottery?

 

Well, sort of. Two new lottery commercials were filmed in Snoqualmie, and one of them featured a locomotive from the Northwest Railway Museum's Collection.  So for several local businesses, a church and the Museum it was sort of like winning a small prize in the lottery.

A film crew sets up the interior shot of

"Jim" operating his locomotive.

The Museum hosted the Washington State Lottery and their film production partners on a recent warm and sunny day.  (Those days have not been plentiful this year, but that is another story.)  

The commercial filmed at the Museum features "Jim," a character who wins the lottery and upgrades his HO scale locomotive to a full size model.  Of course the real locomotive happens to be the Museum's locomotive 201, a model RSD-4 built by the American Locomotive Company in 1951 for Kennecott Copper.  This 1,600 HP locomotive is similar to the once ubiquitous ALCO road switchers that operated on more than a dozen railroads in the Northwest.  The bright orange behemoth was pulled by one of the Museum's Baldwin RS4TC locomotives, which was "removed" from the film in post production.  An actor sat in the engineer's seat pretending to operate it.  A home and garage were also added in during the post production process.

Locomotive 4012 pushed and pulled

the 201 but was rendered invisible

during post production.

Thanks go out to the many Museum volunteers that met or exceeded the client's expectations and made it all come together for a clever and amusing ad.

The commercial is now running on local television; watch for it!

Coach 218 windows, part 2

Clerestory windows are a distinguishing feature of early 20th Century coaches.  Obviously, these windows let light in but their primary function was - and is - to provide ventilation in an era before air conditioning, not to mention daily showers! 

Coach 218 was built in 1912 and has 41 of these attractive windows.  Rehabilitation and reinstallation of these windows is an important part of the coach's rehabilitation so that museum visitors traveling in the car will experience it like travelers did in the 1920s. 

Dedicated volunteers repaired, rebuilt or recreated all the color glass glazing, which is set in zinc came and soldered together.  In May and early June 2013 all 41 windows were reinstalled into coach 218.  Rehabilitation and reinstallation took nearly 800 person hours of labor, a significant amount of it performed by volunteers!

The clerestory window hinges are unusual; the design dates from the 19th Century.  They were produced by Dayton Manufacturing, the hardware manufacturer owned by the Barney and Smith Car Company in Dayton, Ohio.  Later, similar hinges were produced by Adams and Westlake, a company that remains in business today.  A few of those "replacement" hinges are in the car and were likely installed as a result of a broken hinge.

So another milestone is achieved.  Rehabilitation of coach 218 is moving towards completion when it will enter service on the Museum's interpretive railway. Remaining work includes rehabilitation or repair of lower window sashes, exterior painting and lettering, metal work on end roof hoods, interior floor (maple) installation, interior paneling (mahogany) panel rehabilitation or replacement and installation, lighting and seating.

 

Clerestory windows

separate the lower and

upper clerestory.

Clerestory windows swing into the car.

Windows fit snuggly in the openings.

These windows have

unusual hinges made by

Dayton Manufacturing.

Each is custom fit for an

opening.



Flashing is formed and soldered under

and around each window opening to

keep the water out.  Note the window

hinges, a segment that looks like part

of a wagon wheel, and a spring

housing.

Chapel car photo opportunity



The chapel car 5 Messenger of Peace achieved substantial completion in April.  This 1898-built mobile church has been under rehabilitation in the Museum's Conservation and Restoration Center ("CRC") beginning in February 2011. 

In May, though a little dusty, the car was temporarily moved to the Train Shed to allow coach 218 to occupy track two in the CRC so it can have some of its new windows installed.  Later this season the Messenger of Peace will return to the CRC for lettering.  But on a beautiful sunny day in May just a few days short of the 115th anniversary of its dedication in Buffalo, New York, the chapel car posed for outdoor photos in Snoqualmie, Washington.  And its first trip outside the CRC in over two years!












Chapel car organ plays on!

In March Spike reported on the acquisition of an organ for the chapel car 5 Messenger of Peace.  In April Brian Tate and Wes Spore offered to rehabilitate the "new" organ by cleaning the reeds and repairing anything that wasn't quite right.  Wes put many of the rehabilitative hours into the organ and in the end even replaced the bellows, the heart of a pump organ.  The results are spectacular; check out the unique and awesome sound of this newly rehabilitated Estey pump organ!

The work that Wes has performed is truly remarkable.  Although the organ was functional when it was acquired, his work has restored its brightness and clarity to how we believe it sounded when it was new over 125 years ago.  His skill has prepared the organ for use during the chapel car's next 100 years!

Here is a brief description of some of the work Wes and Brian performed:

• Dismantle and blow out accumulated dust.
• Clean reed chest, action parts, keyboard, etc. to best remove old stains and previous tape repair gumbo.
• Clean reeds (gentle brass brush) replacing one previously ruined.
• Remove and clean all pallets – no insect damage noted.
• Repair several wood/felt rod bearings.
• Redo cloth hinges on front wood swell and back swell (two inner and two outer)
• Rebuild Vox Humana – removing old cardboard from grooves in center stick and glue in new cardboard.
• Replace broken drawknob end and replace action rod wood yoke.
• New spring wire felt pads and two new spring wires.
• Repair damage to two white key tops (hole carved into two adjacent keys).
• Clean and remove old cloth from pump feeders and main bellows. Redo with new rubber cloth.
• Redo flapper valves and main gasket. (This consumed half the labor!)
• Casework – cut away portion of previously added plywood at lower frame to allow for normal pedal travel. Add felt stop for pedals. Glue down portions of pedal covering and oil pedal hinges.
• Rework under keyboard front middle panels for correct alignment and removal.
• Tune reeds that are out of tune with majority pitch (about 12).
• Level keys – looks quite presentable but there is some slight twisting of a few keys.
• Test drive organ to discover any problems (usual couple of reeds sucking in dust and going silent; one reed slow to speak; otherwise working fine).

Thank you Wes Spore and Brian Tate!