Restoring a truss

Pullman builder's photo, courtesy of the
California State Railroad Museum library.

Parlor car 1799 is a Pullman Company product  constructed almost entirely of wood, and completed in 1901.  The car was built for extra fare (first class, similar to business class today) service on the Northern Pacific Railway's Lake Superior Limited serving between Minneapolis/St Paul and Duluth.  Later, the car was transferred to Washington State where it operated on the North Coast Limited between Seattle and Spokane.  The car was retired in 1940 and sold for use as a cottage on Whidbey Island.  It was donated to the Northwest Railway Museum and moved to Snoqualmie in 2018.  

The cottage era doors 

were removed earlier this 

year.

During the cottage era when it resided on Whidbey Island, two entry doors were cut into the carbody in the center of the car, one on each side.  The key objective of the rehabilitation and restoration is to return to the car to its period of significance when it operated on the Northern Pacific Railway.  So the doorways had to be removed and the missing components in the truss restored.  

Floyd cuts a truss component to

length for use on the 1799.

Floyd V. took the lead on this part of the project and fabricated in kind replacement sections of compression truss from southern yellow pine.  Next, the truss plank was replaced in kind using two large planks of Douglas fir.  Then the inter truss blocking was replaced with Douglas fir planks, though they were originally yellow poplar heartwood, which is not currently available to the Museum.  New sections were attached to old with lap slices, wood screws, and marine epoxy.  A replacement window sash set will be fabricated and installed later; new exterior cladding will be applied soon.

The cottage-era doorway is no more; a window will be placed in the opening.

Rehabilitation and restoration of parlor car 1799 is continuing inside the Northwest Railway Museum's Conservation and Restoration Workshop. Funding for this phase of the parlor car project has been provided by individual contributions, the Washington State Historical Society Heritage Capital program, the Washington Trust for Historic Preservation, and by the Nysether Family Foundation.

Your support is welcome, and will be used to complete this major effort!.  Please click here to be directed to the Museum's contribution page.

New wood is seen in the compression

truss on parlor car 1799.

This 1909 cab builder's diagram illustrates

the carbody structure in a modern wood car

that is normally invisible to passengers.

Snoqualmie Railroad Days returns!

Snoqualmie's original fire truck 

On August 28 and 29, 2021, Snoqualmie Railroad Days made a triumphant return to the live event scene.  Despite the lingering effects of a global pandemic, the annual town festival that has been hosted in downtown for more than 80 years was able to return with a Grand Parade, an impressive car show, and of course the trains.

924 attracted attention

Of course there were many precautions.  Even with local vaccination rates of more than 85%, masks were mandatory inside buildings and on the train.  There were no outside food vendors this year.  Many participants practiced social distancing, and some activities including the wine bar and jazz stage took this year off.  

924 began the parade

The steam locomotive NPR 924 operated on Saturday as a demonstration.  It paced the honor guard leading the Grand Parade.  Then it shuttled between Newton Street and Fir Street all day long, with a brief pause in the north siding at Northern Street to allow the regular train to pass.

Traditionally, Saturday morning of Snoqualmie Railroad Days weekend sees a Grand Parade, and 2021 did not disappoint.  Fancy cars, the Mt Si marching band "Band Is Back!" local politicians and more provided a 45 minute experience.  The parade also included dancers, drill teams, service clubs, local merchants, unicycle demonstrations, and the Grand Marshal.  The 2021 Grand Marshal was the Snoqualmie Valley Healthcare Worker, and was represented in the parade by a diverse group of healthcare workers, and backed up by the Snoqualmie Valley Hospital.

Every four years Snoqualmie elects a mayor, and Snoqualmie Railroad Days often sees competing candidates in the parade and in booths along Railroad Ave.  This year Katherine Ross is facing off against Peggy Shepard.  Both candidates made an impressive showing.

Vendors are always an important part of Railroad Days, too.  Local honey, Gideon Bibles, African art and hand made instruments were just a few of the unique offerings in booths along Railroad Ave.  Other vendors included hand made clothing, book dealers, and a candle maker.

The highlight of this year's event was the Sunday car show.  Hosted by the Roadsters Northwest Club, almost 100 automobiles graced the streets of Snoqualmie on Sunday.  Muscle cars, antique cars, collector cars, sports cars, hot rods and even a few antique pick up trucks were on display.

The Northtwest Railway Museum is delighted that Snoqualmie Railroad Days 2021 was able to proceed despite the lingering effect of a global pandemic.  Thanks and credit to the success go to the Railroad Days Committee and the City of Snoqualmie, but especially to first-time Coordinator Emily B., and to Cole VG. who masterfully pulled off a memorable Grand Parade as the first-time field marshal!

Stay tuned for announcements regarding Snoqualmie Railroad Days 2022!  Meanwhile, join us again for steam this fall; check TrainMuseum.org for dates and times.

Day Out With Thomas with a destination!

Thomas the Tank Engine returned to the Snoqualmie Valley in July, but it wasn't just any visit.  During last year's pandemic closure, the Northwest Railway Museum made many site improvements to the Railway History Center.  This prepared the new campus for its first-ever visit with Thomas the Tank Engine!

Prior Day Out With Thomas events were held in historic downtown Snoqualmie.  The grounds around the Snoqualmie Depot were fenced off, tents were erected, and a variety of event-related infrastructure was set up to support the event.  This resulted in successful events, but the site was smaller than the Museum preferred, and it was costly to provide all the temporary infrastructure.

The "new" Day Out With Thomas was a very different experience: Thomas the Tank Engine took all his guests to a museum.  

Passengers boarded the train downtown at the historic Snoqualmie Depot for a short excursion to the Railway History Center.  They arrived and were greeted with a Thomas-themed museum experience that included a visit with Sir Topham Hatt, live music by Eric Ode on the BIG Cedar Tree Stage, bubble tables, a hay bale labyrinth, outdoor games, model trains and more.  

Guests got to tour the exhibit hall and see steam locomotive 924, the chapel car, and even tour a caboose.  Then they boarded a train with Thomas the Tank Engine for a SECOND excursion that took them to Snoqualmie Falls, and then safely returned them to the Snoqualmie Depot.

The "new" Day Out With Thomas was so successful that a second event is now planned for September 11 & 12, 2021.  Why not let Thomas take you on a trip?  Please visit Thomas.TrainMuseum.org for more details or to purchase tickets.

Creating the Japanese Railroad Workers Exhibit

Exhibits take lots of time, planning, research and resources to create, the Museum’s new Japanese Railway Workers exhibit is no exception.  The process began in 2018 when staff members discussed the railways’ connection to the Snoqualmie Falls Lumber Company that the history of the Japanese community there was an important story that was not regularly told to the wider community.  Seeing this gap in historical interpretation, the Museum felt that creating an exhibit to share this unique history was important. 

Jessie Cunningham, the Museum’s Deputy Director began the research process and applied for a 4Culture grant to produce it.  Ms. Cunningham worked with Robert Fisher at the Wing Luke Museum, as well as Densho and the Snoqualmie Valley Museum. She also independently researched the topic to begin creating what became the exhibit.  Inspired by her research, the exhibit grew from just focusing on Japanese Railway Workers at the Snoqualmie Falls Lumber Co to also introducing the wider history of Chinese and Japanese Railway Workers.

One major challenge Ms. Cunningham found in the research phase was the lack of information and having to piece the story together from limited resources. But of course, that is why the story is so important!

Cristy Lake, the Museum’s Collection Registrar, is also the Assistant Director at the Snoqualmie Valley Museum and helped Jessie in her research throughout the project.  Dave Battey, a Snoqualmie Valley Museum board member and official historian for the town of Snoqualmie Falls, provided research material including a powerpoint created by the now closed Weyerhaeuser Archives and digital copies of documents from the George Abe family. 

The Wing Luke Museum and Densho provided many images and Densho also provided the an oral history interview with a former resident of Snoqualmie Falls. Special thanks to Dana Hoshide from Densho for helping obtain usage permission.

In 2019, 4Culture awarded a grant to create the exhibit. Ms. Cunningham spent much of 2019 researching and creating text for the sections of the exhibit. When, later that year, Ms. Cunningham took a position at another organization, Ms. Lake took over completing the exhibit.  Ms. Lake worked with Arisa Nakamura and Emily Halladay-Ptaček-Choi of Japanese Cultural and Community Center of Washington to provide feedback and recommendations on the content and with Northwest Railway Museum staff members Richard Anderson, Emily Boersma and Peggy Barchi to review the final exhibit content drafts.

Due to space limitations, after much review, the exhibit was streamlined. This proved a difficult task as there were so many important stories waiting to be told. After much work, the exhibit content was sent to Lee Ater of Lot22 Creative who designed the exhibit panels.  Gary James, the Museum’s Shipwright, fabricated the panel stands. Arscentia printed the panel text and images.

In all, the exhibit would not have been possible without the collaboration of numerous people, organizations and businesses; hundreds of hours of work; and supported with grants from 4Culture and the the Quest for Truth Foundation, and by the Museum's general fund.

You can visit this new exhibit in the Museum’s Train Shed Exhibit Hall, currently open Wednesdays through Mondays, 11am to 4pm.

Japanese railroad workers in Snoqualmie

Japanese immigrants to Washington were influential in railway construction, and other industries including forestry. Workers of Japanese ancestry made up the largest ethnic group of workers at the Snoqualmie Falls Lumber Company, outnumbering even Scandinavian immigrants.

Japanese immigrants settled in several regions of the country, but the Northwest was a particularly popular destination. This new exhibit acknowledges the role of Japanese immigrants and their children in the construction of railroads, but also in the success the Snoqualmie Falls Lumber Company.  

In the Snoqualmie Valley, the earliest known Japanese connection was through the construction of the Seattle, Lake Shore and Eastern Railway.  The Chinese exclusion act combined with Japan's emergence from isolationism to position Japanese immigrants as the predominant group recruited for railroad construction and maintenance in this region.  Usually, a contractor provided a Japanese worker to a railroad, and that worker was then required to pay a fee to said contractor, often as much as 10 cents a day.

Persons of Japanese ancestry were part of the fabric of Snoqualmie Falls, but it was an imperfect tapestry: persons of Japanese ancestry lived in a separate bunkhouse or a different part of the community than those of European ancestry.  However, they did attend the same schools. 

The Snoqualmie Falls Lumber Company - and the Snoqualmie Valley - was devastated by the 1942 incarceration of persons of Japanese ancestry.  Overnight, this Weyerhaeuser Timber enterprise lost a significant portion of its work force, and these people - many of whom were either born American citizens or had been living in the United States for decades (Asian immigrants had no path to citizenship) - were interned in camps only because of their ethnic origins.

Japanese Railroaders was funded in part by 4Culture and the Quest For Truth Foundation.  It is a permanent exhibit at the Northwest Railway Museum and is open now in the Train Shed, 9320 Stone Quarry Road, Snoqualmie, WA, Thursday - Sunday, 11 am - 5 pm.

Sign language

Successful heritage tourism is an important goal in our local community, and to successfully attract an audience there are many preconditions.  However, being able to successfully find and then identify the Northwest Railway Museum is one of the key requirements.

Over the last few years, the Museum has been working with Lot22 to develop a successful brand and apply it to every aspect of the marketing effort.  The most recent efforts involve new signage in Snoqualmie.

The "original" Snoqualmie Depot monument sign was installed in 1974, and no longer reflected the image the Museum wanted to convey.  A new sign was developed by Lee A. at Lot22 and fabricated by Northwest Sign.  It incorporates elements of the Museum's brand awareness and includes a reference to the Museum, Depot Bookstore, and the Snoqualmie Valley Railroad.  Construction features a massive cedar plank, and installation was completed by Floyd.

The Museum includes several sites in the upper Snoqualmie Valley and visitors have often been confused about the interconnectedness.  Landscape artist J. Craig Thorpe created a watercolor map to illustrate the operating territory of the Snoqualmie Valley Railroad and identify stops and connected attractions, but chiefly to show where the various parts of the Museum are located.  These new way finding maps are being placed at the Rotary Snowplow at the foot of the Snoqualmie Parkway, and by the exhibit building at the Railway History Center.  Later, another map will be placed at the Snoqualmie Depot.

Though elegant and simple in design, these new signs represent a significant investment of time and money.  The Northwest Railway Museum is grateful for the vision and design work contributed by Lee A., and for the funding contributed by the City of Snoqualmie from the Lodging Tax Fund.  And special thanks to Floyd for installing them!

Restoring a truss - part one

Parlor car 1799 was built by Pullman in 1901.  After 38 years of service for the Northern Pacific Railway, the car found a second use as a seaside cottage.  That new adaptive use removed the distinctive truss rods, queen posts, and needle beams from the wooden car's underbody that supported the car while in service.  These components were vital for the car frame to span from one truck to the next, but no longer required once the car was set on a foundation.  So naturally for the car to return to its appearance and function as a railroad parlor car, the trusses required restoration.

The parlor car was moved from Whidbey Island on Puget Sound to the Northwest Railway Museum using a temporary steel frame.  This adjustable device had been used to move countless homes and served the same purpose for the parlor car.  Once unloaded at the Museum, the car was supported with wood and steel car stands, but to allow the car to return to its former glory as a Pullman parlor car, the truss had to be replaced.

The Museum was fortunate to have retained the needle beam and queen posts from a former Canadian Pacific officials car.  These hardware components were standardized by the Master Car Builders, the forerunner of today's Association of American Railroads.  So the queen posts and needle beams manufactured in the Hochelaga Shops of the Canadian Pacific Railway in Montreal were visually and functionally nearly identical to the components manufactured by the car builder in Pullman, Illinois.

The rehabilitation and restoration of parlor car 1799 to its appearance and function during the early 20th Century is being supported in part by a grant from the Heritage Capital Projects program of the Washington State Historical Society.  Many staff costs are used to meet the obligatory cost share and are funded by the Museum's operating budget, which has been seriously compromised by the closure necessitated by the pandemic.  Your support helps this project continue through to completion, and ensure the museum continues to serve its educational purposes.  

Please consider a contribution to GiveBig 2021.  Your support will help this project overcome the pandemic.