World's Greatest Hobby on Tour

Model train show season has begun and the Northwest Railway Museum was present at one of the best train shows around this past weekend: The World’s Greatest Hobby on Tour, originating in Illinois.

Thousands of families and train lovers gathered in the Showplex at the Puyallup Fairgrounds for a train palooza, featuring model train layouts by local groups, retailers and manufacturers, and heritage preservation institutions such as the Northwest Railway Museum.

The Museum put on a well coordinated three-faceted display. The diorama depicting the Railway History Center has been refurbished with new covers, paint, and touch-ups to the modeling. Referencing the completed Conservation and Restoration Center, the currently under construction Train Shed and the future Library and Roundhouse helped visitors visualize the completed center. The Museum’s newest exhibit, “North Bend’s Own Train,” which tells the story of the importance of the railroad in North Bend, Washington, was well-received. An operating model train layout by Ron C. and friends completed the Museum’s display. This layout depicts the countryside in Great Britain, such as is frequented by Thomas the Tank Engine™. Children of all ages enjoyed operating Thomas by remote control.

In 2010, the Museum will be exhibiting in Seattle, at the Pacific Science Center Model Train Show, January and in Monroe, at the United Northwest Show at the Evergreen Fairgrounds, in February.

Good conductor, bad conductor

Weyerhaeuser Timber Company White River Branch #1 is a diesel-electric locomotive built in 1951 during the transition from steam to diesel. It is an important object in the Museum’s collection for the era in which it was built, because it represents local King County history (Enumclaw area), because of its connection with the forest industry, because of its builder (Fairbanks Morse) and because it worked together with White River Lumber caboose 001 that is also in the Museum’s collection. And, well, just because (yes, Spike disliked that reason too!)

Diesel-electric refers to the power transmission. A diesel engine turns an electric generator and relays control how much electricity is sent to electric traction motors that are mounted on each axle. It is a very efficient design and similar to the concept used in hybrid cars, except there is no storage battery.

Locomotive 1 is operationally complete and for nearly 20 years regularly pulled trains on the interpretive railway. Unfortunately, electrical problems developed a few years ago and the locomotive has been out of service ever since. Unfortunately, electrical problems concomitant with managing old locomotives because wires and components that are nearly 60 years old tend to be bad electrical conductors when they should be good, and good electrical conductors when they should be insulators. (In this context, conductor is not the boss of the train, it refers to the electrical properties of something. If something is a good conductor, electricity will probably flow easily through it.)

Locomotive 1 is slated to go on long term exhibit in the new Train Shed when that structure is completed later next year. In preparing for that exhibit, the Museum’s staff has been attempting to address known issues including stuck fuel injectors (Fairbanks Morse Engine sent out a crew to fix this problem) and electrical problems. For the 1, electrical problems appear to be confined to two traction motors that have an unusual buildup of carbon dust. In that situation, we would call that carbon a very bad good conductor: it allows the high voltage intended to power the electric traction motor to leak into areas where it is not supposed to. If an attempt were made to operate those electric motors, the result would be a very bright flash and a lot of molten copper, and that would almost certainly make future operation unlikely.

Over the past several months, various cleaning techniques have been applied to the locomotive 1’s traction motors. It is too soon to tell if the locomotive will be able to operate with any regularity, but some of the results are promising enough that a new set of carbon brushes – an essential component in a direct current traction motor – has been installed.

We have a lot more information to share about locomotive 1 – and even an exciting announcement or two – so watch for more posts in the coming weeks and months.

Happy Birthday, Washington State

Why be modest? We’ll take credit for Washington State’s 120th birthday.

Washington became the 42nd state when President Benjamin Harrison signed a proclamation on November 11, 1889. It’s not coincidental that D. H. Gilman was signing Seattle, Lake Shore and Eastern Railway Company stock certificates (shown here) in 1888, or that investors were planning the town of Snoqualmie in 1889, or that the Snoqualmie Depot was built in 1890. Railroads were crucial to Washington Territory’s development and statehood.

Before railroads, you got here by wagon or ship. The first trains began operating in Washington Territory in the 1870s. In 1883, a spike driven in Montana completed the second transcontinental railroad, this one reaching the Pacific Northwest. (The first connected the East Coast to California.) Washington State’s population surged to 357,232 by 1890, a five-fold increase in 10 years. (In case you’re wondering, we’re past 6 1/2 million now.) Seattle's population grew from 1,107 residents in 1870 to 3,533 in 1880 . . . to 42,837 in 1890. Trains, of course, didn’t only bring an influx of people. Trains carried goods and materials essential to the region’s growth and development.

The Seattle, Lake Shore and Eastern connected Snoqualmie to Seattle in 1889, the year Washington became a state. Does the Northwest Railway Museum have any artifacts from that era?

The Snoqualmie Depot, shown here around 1896, was built in 1890. About 150 feet of original track remain in front of the depot today. The final image shows original SLSE rail laid in 1889. This was the main track until about 1963. Rail behind the depot is also from the period. However it wasn’t laid here until 1999. It came from local logging lines.

Bridge 35 over Snoqualmie River’s South Fork provides a view of the most common bridge design of that period. The through-pin-connected Pratt truss bridge was built in 1891, although it spanned a river in Montana before being relocated to North Bend in 1923.

The Northern Pacific day coach 889 is considered the oldest railway car/large object in the Museum’s collection. It was purportedly built in 1881, though it could have been built a few years later. (We have no definitive research yet.) The Canadian Pacific 25 was built in 1881 but didn’t find its way west until the 1890s.

You can see a picture of a steam locomotive built in 1885 (not in our collection) on the Washington State Steam Railroads and Locomotives website.


Sources:
Secretary of State blog
Seattle History Examiner
History Link
Seattle Times
Encyclopedia of Western Railroad History: Oregon, Washington, by Donald B. Robertson

More on regulation

Ballast regulation that is.

Progress on rehabilitation of the Museum’s Kershaw ballast regulator was featured in an August post and the project is nearing completion. By November 6, Rich W. completed rewiring. He installed new switches, wires, a new battery, and a battery isolation switch. Additional work was performed by Brandon C.

Rich also applied all new flood lights, a new fan for the cab, and new ignition wires. Later in November, new sealed window units will be installed and a new cab heater too. The hood and wings will be reattached and the project will be all but complete.

Also noteworthy this month was receiving correspondence from Knox Kershaw of the Knox Kershaw Company. He shared with Museum staff how he remembers in 1965 seeing models just like the Museum’s regulator being assembled on the factory floor. He expressed how delighted he was to see photos of the Museum’s regulator from the August Blog post.

Movie Night Nov 4 offers train scenes, suspense & fun

In less than a week, a one-of-a-kind theatre, a movie full of action and suspense, and a lively museum team up to offer you a casual evening out with family or friends. And the best part is . . .

Actually, there are a lot of “best parts” to next Wednesday’s movie night fundraiser for the Northwest Railway Museum.

For some it will be the great footage of Idaho’s Camas Prairie Railroad splashed across a big screen.

For others it will be not having to decide whether to spend extra money on popcorn and soda, because it’s all included in the $10 ticket price.

For others it will be knowing that part of their $10 goes to the new Train Shed exhibit building now under construction in Snoqualmie.

For still others it will be a sneak preview of a Wellington exhibit planned for next year, along with a Train Shed update, recent museum project highlights, and a personal welcome from Museum Executive Director Richard Anderson.

For me, it’s the fact that the museum keeps coming up with intriguing fundraisers that offer the community genuinely fun events directly relating to the museum’s mission, instead of following generic fundraiser models.

Whatever your “best part” is, we look forward to seeing you.

Breakheart Pass
Wednesday, Nov. 4, 7:00 PM
North Bend Theatre
125 Bendigo Blvd. N
Click here for directions
$10/person includes popcorn & soda

NO CREDIT CARDS accepted. Cash & checks only.
Cash machines next door at Cascade Bank and Bank of America.

Oh, so you want to know what the movie is about? Breakheart Pass, a 1975 film starring Charles Bronson, weaves a tale of an 1870 Army outpost, a conspiracy between a group of killers and a tribe of Indians, an undercover agent posing as an arrested criminal, the lure of gold and silver, plenty of deception, and a rescue train carrying medical supplies and assorted passengers. As the train crosses the Rocky Mountains, passengers are murdered one by one. . . . But that's all incidental, right? We're all coming for the scenes of a Camas Prairie steam locomotive and wooden railway cars.

Family attends Santa Train 37 years in a row

Dick and Charlsia Schall were enjoying a Sunday drive with their three children when they stumbled upon Santa Train and decided to hop aboard. That was 1972, and they haven’t missed a year since.

As they waited to board, Dick remembers watching a flagpole. When a pennant matching the color of their tickets was raised, it was their time to ride. A steam locomotive pulled the train from Route 202 about 1/4 mile into a forest where Snoqualmie Parkway is today. The Schalls stepped off the train and gathered around a bonfire, where they were served hot cocoa and homemade cookies.

Santa Train has evolved over the course of 40 years. (It began in 1969.) But cocoa and cookies remain a constant. Today, guests file through the museum’s historic railway kitchen car to receive cookies baked inside coal-burning stoves. Hot chocolate is warmed in a huge pot on top of the stove.

Why did the Schalls keep coming back? “It was good entertainment for the kids,” says Dick. “They liked to ride on the train.” OK, be honest now. Dick adds, “I have always been fond of the railroad and trains.”

That excitement over the train ride is another constant. “The kids all remain the same,” says Charlsia. “It’s still the same kind of family involvement.”

Dick, Charlsia, Tim, Peter and Andrick have attended Santa Train in sunshine, snow, sleet, rain, even floods. One year, Dick and Charlsia thought their children had outgrown the event. But when they announced they wouldn’t be going, one son would hear none of it. It was tradition. And now the tradition includes Dick and Charlsia’s granddaughters, Teagan and Shaleigh, as well.

The story doesn’t end there. In 1999, Dick and Charlsia began volunteering for Santa Train. In the years since, they’ve baked cookies, decorated the Snoqualmie Depot, assisted Santa, and led singing on the train. A young boy dubbed Dick “Mr. Bells,” because Dick wears bells on his cap to amuse toddlers. Their son Peter has also volunteered for Santa Train. And now, Dick and Charlsia volunteer at the Northwest Railway Museum year round once a week, helping with collection care, archiving, preparing mailings, and other vital projects.

So this year, ride Santa Train if you dare! You never know where it may lead.

Hoboes allowed on Halloween Train

If you’re looking for something creepy and frightening this Halloween . . . you won’t find it at Halloween Train.

Nothing here to spook the wee ones that love train rides so much. The Northwest Railway Museum offers three days of delight-filled, history-rich autumn fun for all ages: old-fashioned cider press demos, a train ride of course, a craft to make and keep, a model train display, and bluesy ballads and fiddle tunes performed live by the Holy Hoboes. Show up in costume, and you’ll get $2 off your train ticket.

Special treat alert! Swing by George’s Bakery (127 W North Bend Way, North Bend), and get a free cookie when you show your Halloween Train ticket.

Where:
All special activities are at the Snoqualmie Depot
When:
3 days - Sat. Oct. 24, Sun. Oct. 25, & Sat. Oct. 31
Train schedule:
Click here to view the Fall train schedule
Train fare:
Click here to see train fares ($2 off if you wear a costume)
Holy Hoboes performance schedule:
All 3 days - 12:40-1:25 PM and 2:05-2:50 PM

Remember to come in costume! If you show up as a hobo, we promise we won’t throw you off the train.