New restrooms for the Depot

The Northwest Railway Museum’s Snoqualmie Depot receives about 90,000 visitors per year. Most arrive as families and many have young children. In those families, most decisions about family outings are made by mothers. Not surprisingly, most mothers rate clean, safe and accessible restrooms as essential to a successful and repeatable family outing.

The existing depot restrooms were constructed in 1979 as a component in the original Depot restoration. Over the last 30 years, these restrooms have served an estimated 2.5 million visitors. Despite a number of minor upgrades, the restrooms are at the end of their design life. In addition, they were constructed prior to passage of the Americans with Disabilities Act (“ADA”) and consequently are not technically accessible.

Over the last decade or more, the City of Snoqualmie has conducted a number of surveys, studies and development plans intended to help guide downtown redevelopment. Accessible and clean public restrooms have consistently rated highly. So new public restrooms were accepted as a city priority and Snoqualmie City Council – on the recommendation of the Lodging Tax Advisory Committee - designated lodging tax revenues to fund the project.

So it has been a priority of the Museum and the City of Snoqualmie to provide clean and accessible restrooms for tourists visiting downtown Snoqualmie. Unfortunately, the cost of a new stand-alone restroom facility was financially out of reach for the City; reconstructing the Snoqualmie Depot restrooms was financially out of reach for the Museum.

In an unusual but mutually beneficial arrangement, the City of Snoqualmie has formed a partnership with the Museum to fund the complete replacement of the Snoqualmie Depot restrooms. This will construct public restrooms at less than half the cost of a new stand-alone facility. Under the agreement, the Museum agrees to allow public access to the Depot, the City funds the construction, the Museum provides the space for the restrooms, and the City provides daily cleaning and maintenance of the facilities.

The new restrooms were designed by the Miller|Hull Partnership, a Seattle-based architectural firm also involved in the design of the new Train Shed. The construction contract for this $160,000 project has been awarded to North Bend-based Mr. K’s Construction. Subcontractors performing work include local businesses Bob’s Electric and Falls Plumbing. Construction began earlier this month (Jan 10) and will be completed by April in time for the beginning of the 2010 tourism season.

New public restrooms. Thanks to the City of Snoqualmie, and its forward thinking Mayor and Council, the depot restroom project is a win-win and an example of efficiencies a Public – Private Partnership can bring to a project. Notwithstanding, the biggest winners of all will be the thousands of visitors who will benefit from the use of new restrooms.

Delegates and Students from Our Sister City Make Themselves at Home

Are you familiar with Sister Cities International, a program that originated with the Eisenhower administration? “It is a non-profit citizen diplomacy network which seeks stronger economic and cultural ties at the municipal level between the US and international communities.” The citizens of Snoqualmie, together with the people of Gangjin, South Korea, have formed a lasting bond, which is being strengthened by visits between the two cities.

Recently, the Northwest Railway Museum had the honor of showing 33 students and delegates from Gangjin, plus Mayor Matt Larson, Sister Cities Board Member, Tina McCollum and Gangjin city representative, Gil Jae Oh, the view from a coach window, aboard the Museum’s antique railway. Stops were made at Bridge 35 in North Bend, at the Conservation and Restoration Center on Stone Quarry Road, at Snoqualmie Falls and at the Snoqualmie Depot. At the CRC, the group had a tour by Richard A. and especially admired a Northern Pacific boxcar with the monad (or yin yang) symbol freshly painted on it. The monad can be found in several places throughout history, but the Korean students recognized it from their national flag. Northern Pacific regarded it not merely as a good luck symbol but also as a symbol of good transportation.

The Sister Cities Association is working to forge strong relationships between countries and individuals. By sharing our cultures and information about educational and economic practices, we can foster understanding, peace and prosperity between our two cities and in the world as part of a larger global effort. Here is a chance to see life through another’s eyes, to gain a sense of their perspective. The program offers diverse groups the opportunity to learn from each other, and gives all who participate a wider window on the world we share.

(In attached photo by Tina McCollum, left to right in front: Hye Jin Yun, Jeong Min Lee, Min Seon Jung, and Hwa Yeon Kim. At the back, Snoqualmie Mayor Matt Larson, and Gangjin Education Director Seon Gil Kang)

A new city hall for Snoqualmie

A healthy and prosperous community has many dimensions, and according to A healthy community: a strategy for giving report released by the Seattle Foundation in June 2009, arts and culture are a vital part of it. But a healthy community is also more than a museum, and includes substantial investment by many stakeholders including private property owners and government. So the Northwest Railway Museum is pleased to see completion of a new Snoqualmie City Hall in historic downtown. This is an impressive vote of confidence in the community, and will prove to be a substantial economic stimulus.

The $6 million project was dedicated on 9 January 2010 and consolidates most city services and functions in one location. It is just one block from the Snoqualmie Depot and represents a significant investment in the historic downtown Snoqualmie. Snoqualmie could have easily built the new city hall on Snoqualmie Ridge or near the new fire station on the parkway, but chose to invest in the heart of the original town. This took great courage and determination, and additional expense to mitigate poor soils and a location in an urban floodplain. But the results are spectacular and are a credit to the community.

Check out the stunning views Mt. Si, the historic Methodist church, and the River Street railroad crossing seen from Mayor Matt Larson’s office. Congratulations to the City of Snoqualmie, and thank you for making this substantial investment in the historic downtown.

Siding for coach 218

Rehabilitation of the coach 218 has been underway for two years now. This comprehensive project is addressing nearly every aspect of this 1912-built coach to prepare it for its return to passenger service.

The Barney and Smith Car Company applied everything they knew about coach building to the 218; it was one of the last wooden coaches built for service on an American railroad. This allowed it to reliably serve as a coach for the Spokane, Portland and Seattle Railway for nearly 40 years, and then for another 35 years as a dormitory for track work crews.

Work efforts to date have completed replacement of floor sills, roof carlines, lower roof decks, all missing or damaged window posts and studs, repair of carbody blocking, and repair of the letter board. Application of new exterior cladding/siding is now underway and approximately 25% of the carbody application is complete. Thousands of hours have been contributed by project volunteers including Alan W., Roger S., Hugh H., Bob M., Bob Mc., Russ S., Mike G., Kaila, Dan D., George H., Chuck S., Dan C., and Chuck M.

Rehabilitation efforts will continue into 2010 with substantial completion planned by summer 2010.

Steel erection begins!

The Train Shed is now beginning to take shape. On Tuesday, December 22, 2009 subcontractor CHG Building Systems began erecting steel columns for the Train Shed. CHG is not a newcomer to the Museum – they were also involved in construction of the Museum’s Conservation and Restoration Center in 2005 and performed work on that project to a high standard. For this repeat performance, CHG is using a crane, telescoping lifts and of course a highly skilled team of erectors, and the building is beginning to take shape.

The Train Shed will be a fully enclosed and semi conditioned exhibit building for the Northwest Railway Museum’s collection of railway transportation artifacts including locomotives, coaches and freight cars. Priority exhibits will include the most vulnerable objects – typically the oldest and those built predominantly of wood – and will include the 1898-built Chapel Car 5 Messenger of Peace, White River Lumber Co caboose 001, and Northern Pacific Railway steam locomotive 924.

Construction began in July 2009 and substantial completion of the steel structure is anticipated in March 2010. Track construction will begin after the building is completed; project will be dedicated in August 2010. This nearly $4 million project has been in development for five years.

Major funders include the Washington State Historical Society’s Capital Projects for Washington’s Heritage, McEachern Charitable Trust, 4Culture, The Seattle Foundation, TEA-21 Transportation Enhancements, Puget Sound Energy Foundation, Nysether Family Foundation, Osberg Family Foundation, Washington Department of Commerce, Schwab Fund for Charitable Giving, and hundreds of individuals. Additional support is requested and can be made through the Museum’s web site here or on the American Express Giving Express site here.

This Santa drives a train

“On, Comet! On, Cupid! On, Donner and Blitzen!” may have a better ring than “On, Weyerhaeuser Timber #6! On, Coach NP X-46 and Caboose NP 1203!” But train, not sleigh, was the transportation of choice for Brian Norvell, Santa Train’s very first Santa.

The year was 1969. During warmer months, the Puget Sound Railway Historical Association offered steam train rides for a dollar. Brian’s mother Hazel Norvell and other members of the Women’s Auxiliary conceived of Santa Train as a way to thank the community for its support during the past year. (Women’s auxiliaries were a sign of the times.) They had no idea how many people to expect, but if they charged 25 cents a ticket and if maybe 500 people showed up, it would serve as a fundraiser, too.

So one Sunday in December, Hazel prepared hot chocolate in a stationary kitchen car (NP X-127, a car configured with a coal stove and eating area for railroad workers), and Brian a.k.a. Santa headed down the hill on board the train in hopes of greeting a few folks.

And 1,800 people showed up.

Families rode the train with Santa up the hill on a spur where Snoqualmie Parkway is today and disembarked for cocoa and cookies. (Says Brian, “I felt like a sardine getting squooshed out of the car.”) They stayed as long as they liked, singing carols around a bonfire. Trains came and went. Cookies and hot chocolate ran out, and the Women’s Auxiliary ran all over town in search of more.

The event expanded to two Sundays the next year and two weekends the third year. Guests visited Santa, now seated in an overstuffed chair in a stationary bunk car, and then walked through to the kitchen car for treats. In 1973, Santa handed out candy canes from a big chair on a platform in a combine car’s baggage room that volunteers decorated with leaded glass chandeliers and a tree.

Norvell qualified as a locomotive engineer in 1968. So after sitting for hours in his Santa chair, he enjoyed wrapping up the event by taking over as engineer for the last run. He invited the final family of the day, after they had waited so long to visit him, to ride with him in the locomotive as Santa engineered the train down the hill.

Brian’s parents, sister, wife and children have all contributed to Santa Train’s success. Norvell speaks of the incredible dedication and devotion of volunteers, especially in those early days when they worked entirely outdoors (which was “pretty brutal”), monitoring pipes during freezing weather so they would have running water, making sure there was enough firewood. What a change from today, he notes, with a fully restored depot and new buildings under construction. “It’s wonderful to see the dream we all dreamt as teenagers finally coming to fruition,” Brian says. “That’s awesome.”

Then he muses about this year’s 40th annual Santa Train, “We probably have grandkids of those who sat in my lap.” In fact he’s right. You can read about that here. Santa Brian and his mother started one fine tradition.


Photo: Santa Train's very first Santa Brian Norvell (right) poses with the 40th annual Santa Train's Santa.

Save America’s Treasures

Chapel Car 5 Messenger of Peace has been awarded a prestigious Save America’s Treasures grant. On 9 December 2009 the Institute of Museum and Library Services – in collaboration with the President’s Council on Arts and Heritage, the National Endowment for the Humanities, the National Endowment for the Arts and the National Park Service – announced selection of the chapel car project from a pool of 402 eligible applications. In all, $9.5 million funded 41 applications.

The Chapel Car will receive $180,000 that will match funding awarded from the Washington State Historical Society’s Capital Projects for Washington’s Heritage program ($125,000), 4Culture’s Landmark Rehabilitation and Landmark Challenge grant programs ($37,000), a 4Culture Collection Care grant ($4,000) and a variety of private contributions.

Chapel Car 5 was built in 1898 for the American Baptist Publication Society. For 50 years it traveled through Washington and 10 other States bringing modern evangelism to the frontier. For two years it promoted the Railroad YMCA, and in its later years was used to conduct revivals. In 1899 a fatally ill Reverend Moody of the Moody Bible Institute traveled in the car on his final trip home.

In 1917, Car 5 traveled through Snoqualmie to conduct services in North Bend and later traveled to Issaquah to serve that community at the onset of America’s involvement in WW I. The car served dozens of communities in Western Washington and King County. After retirement, the car was adapted for use as a road side diner near Snohomish, WA, and later as a cottage at Grayland, WA. The artifact was donated to the Museum and moved to Snoqualmie in 2007.

Messenger of Peace is listed on the National Register of Historic Places, the Washington Heritage Register, and the King County and City of Snoqualmie Landmarks Register. It is recognized as the only Nationally-significant object in the Museum’s collection and this status helped secure the Save America’s Treasures grant.

The Save America’s Treasures grant will allow substantial completion of the Chapel Car rehabilitation. Work is expected to begin in second quarter 2010 following preparation of a detailed work plan and a successful review of that plan by the Washington State Department of Archeology and Historic Preservation. Work will take between 18 and 24 months to complete.