Do you want to work in a museum?

Update: marketing/events position has been filled.

The Museum staffs its programs and events with volunteers but program management is performed by a staff of five full time professionals. As 2014 begins, one of these positions is vacant: the marketing/events manager; the Museum is now accepting applications.

The new marketing/events manager will become a vital member of the management team and help shape the continuing development of the Museum. The successful candidate will be responsible for marketing all programs, and managing the annual Snoqualmie Railroad Days community festival. 

Does this sound interesting?  Read on to learn the details:

Position announcement – MARKETING/EVENT MANAGER The Northwest Railway Museum is located in Snoqualmie approximately 30 miles east of Seattle, Washington.  The Museum operates an historic depot and museum, exhibits, and an excursion railroad between Snoqualmie and North Bend, Washington.  In 2012 the Museum received more than 88,000 visitors and has an annual operating budget of more than $700,000. 

The Museum has a full time employment opportunity for a HIGHLY motivated individual who possesses marketing and event management experience (at least three years), exceptional organizational skills (we will check!), outstanding oral and written communications skills (we will test you for this), and possesses at least a general understanding of the environment in which museums and nonprofits operate (we'll quiz you on this too). 

You will become a member of the Museum’s management team of five with whom you will work closely.  You will be accountable for successfully marketing all Museum events, and will be responsible for managing the annual town festival.  Other specific duties and responsibilities include marketing and community outreach efforts, social media, Internet listings, web site maintenance, addressing visitor issues, managing volunteers within your responsibilities, managing ticket agents and ticket sales, and additional duties as assigned. 

The successful candidate possesses a minimum of a Bachelor degree or better education, has prior nonprofit and/or museum experience, and will be able to pass a criminal background check and drug test.  Other desired qualifications include prior volunteer recruitment and management experience, strong computer skills including web site administration, clear and concise writing skills, and a demonstrated ability to work under deadlines; you must be a self-starter and be responsible. 

The position is salaried and overtime-exempt.  You will be required to work the hours necessary to successfully fulfill your responsibilities; this may include weekends and holidays during major Museum events and outreach efforts.   

Merry Christmas!

Deputy director Jessie C., Visitor services 
James S., Volunteer coordinator Cristy L., 
Bookkeeper Jennifer Y. and Director 
Richard A.

Christmas and the railroad

In their roles as museum educators, staff work hard to remain truthful and accurate in creating interpretive programming. However, they must also use today's conventions to help people understand yesterday's.  Identifying the year-end holiday season as "Christmas" considers a recent Angus Reid Global poll that found 80% of people in the United States, Britain and Canada prefer to call the holiday season "Christmas." That is a pretty convincing majority!

So what do a refer car, box car, brakeman, coach car, express car, locomotive, conductor, railroad bridge, depot, and chapel car all have to do with "Christmas?"  Everything!

While examining the impact of railroads on the Northwest it is nearly impossible to ignore the role of significant cultural practices, including the celebration of Christmas. Why? Christmas and other major holidays have had - and continue to have - a tremendous impact on railway transportation including express, freight and passenger service.  Railroads brought (bring) families together, letters and packages to family members, and goods to retailers. Railroads even transport many Christmas trees from farms to your local communities.  So Christmas might not be very merry without the railroad!

Thank you to everyone! 

As another successful Santa Train program is completed and 2013 draws to a close, I am delighted to reflect upon another great year at the Northwest Railway Museum. In doing so, what is clearly evident are all of the generous contributions of time, talent and funding that have helped make the Northwest Railway Museum and its programs possible.  By the numbers, the human side of the Museum's success was a handful of management and other key staff, a dozen trustees and advisers, a gaggle of special contractors, more than 125 volunteers, and hundreds of donors. They all worked together to serve more than 90,000 guests who got to see and understand the role railroads played in the development and settlement of the Northwest.  

From all of us to all of you, have a Merry Christmas!

--Spike

New tools of the trade

The Museum's "new" Northfield model 4

Many skilled professionals will agree: having the right tool for the task is worth at least half the effort.  And so it applies to railroad cars and locomotives, but the tools are a little bigger than most people are accustomed to. 

Recently, with funding from a heritage 4Culture fixed asset grant, the Northwest Railway Museum added a power feeder and large table saw to the tool inventory. These acquisitions improve safety and efficiency for collections care efforts performed in the Conservation and Restoration Center. 

The Museum purchased a Northfield model 4 table saw complete with a 7.5 HP motor.  The 1990s-vintage saw tips the scales at nearly 2,000 pounds and will accommodate a blade diameter up to 20 inches.  It was located in Kentucky and shipped to the Museum in November.


Bob models the new 1 HP power feeder

The Northfield model 4 remains in production today in their factory in Minnesota.  Parts are available and so is technical support.  A new model 4 retails today for more than $16,000; the Museum paid less than 1/3 of the new cost for its lightly-used model 4.  This newer and larger saw is more stable and will allow workers to rip thicker and harder wood than the saw is replaces, which was built in 1926 and weighs "only" a few hundred pounds.

A new Grizzly-brand power feeder now graces the spindle shaper table too.  The Museum’s Oliver shaper features a 5 HP motor and hand feeding of stock is incredibly dangerous.  The new power feeder has been sized for this application and is used to slowly feed wood into the cutter head.  It was recently used to shape the rails and stiles for new coach 218 windows.  The shaper is also used to shape the moldings used both inside and outside the coaches.

4Culture offers the fixed asset equipment program to arts and heritage organizations located in King County, and funds the awards with lodging tax revenue.  Sound systems, stage lighting, instruments, shelving, and image scanners are other examples of purchases funded by the program in King County-based museums and arts organizations. This recent award is the Northwest Railway Museum's first fixed asset grant.

Thank you 4Culture!
 

Bridging the gap

Bridges are vitally important to railroads.  They allow trains to cross rivers and gullies, swamps and streams, roads and highways, and sometimes other railroads, too.  It was evolving bridge technology that allowed steel bridges to be built in remote areas of the west, and for the train and locomotive mass to rise dramatically.

Railroad bridges are different than other kinds of bridges because they are subjected to unique dynamic forces.  An interesting historical fact is that even today railroad bridges are designed using the Coopers loading system, a system developed in 1894 and based on the loading of two consolidation-type steam locomotives. 

The Northwest Railway Museum has a collection of bridges representative of those that transformed the west.  Timber trestles, open and ballasted decks, a pin connected truss and even a voided-slab concrete span are all critical structures on the Museum's railroad.  All these structures are inspected annually by an independent railroad bridge inspector, and periodically by Museum staff.

During bridge inspections components are inspected and rated.  Elements that remain effective but show any signs of deterioration are placed on a watch list.  On each subsequent inspection, the "watch" parts can be closely examined and an informed decision can be made about when to replace a part.

To change a cap, the stringers and

bridge deck are jacked and supported

from adjacent pile caps.  This removes

the weight from the affected cap and

allows it to be changed.

During the 2013 inspection, two pile caps were identified for replacement.  Caps are large timbers that sit on top of the piles and support the stringers, the long beams that run from one pile cap to the next and support the deck.  The inspection team estimated that they each had less than two years of life remaining.  So in Fall 2013, two recycled old growth timber caps each 14 inches by 15.5 inches and 14 feet long were purchased from a dealer and installed.  Each cap took approximately 7 hours to exchange and work was completed without delay or incident.



With the weight off the cap, the old one is removed and a new one is inserted. 

Shims are inserted to make up any difference in height between the old and

new cap.  Then the weight is placed back on the cap and everything is bolted

together again.

 

A floor for coach 218

Rehabilitation of coach 218 is involving nearly every aspect of the car. This fall, the focus has been returning the floor to its former grandeur. The solid maple floor was badly deteriorated and the decision to completely replace it was made early in the project.  The completed floor is now ready to receive its first guests!

New sugar maple flooring was supplied by a regional wholesaler and installation began in late August.  (A botanist confirmed that samples of the original flooring were hard or sugar maple.)  A layer of roofing felt was applied below the flooring.  To help stabilize and strengthen the floor, a 3/8 plywood underlay was installed over the sub floor.  This feature was a departure from the original design but was added to improve stability over the bolsters at the car ends.

Each 1x4 was carefully positioned and hand nailed.  Then, many hours of sanding ensued to assure a smooth, even and attractive surface. To finish the floor, the Glitza floor finish system consisting of two seal coats and a semigloss top coat was applied. Funding of this work was made possible with the generous support of the Snoqualmie Tribe and 4Culture.  

Day of Caring 2013

Each September, United Way of King County organizes Day of Caring, an event where thousands of volunteers take the day off from work and volunteer in their communities.  United Way asks non-profit organizations to sponsor projects, and group leaders from the supporting businesses select projects and organize volunteers.  This year, on September 20, 2013, the Northwest Railway Museum participated in Day of Caring by sponsoring a series of projects. 

This year there were a variety of projects at the Railway History Center to help preserve and share railway history.  Teams of volunteers set up more than 1,200 cubic feet of new collection shelving, moved a substantial number of additional shelving pieces, planted native plants and gardened around the Train Shed, worked on window screens and seats for the Spokane, Portland and Seattle coach 218, prepared windows for painting on coach 272, did a thorough cleaning of the Chapel Car, and generally had a fun time of helping care for the Museum.  A total of 35 volunteers from Microsoft participated, and they were assisted by several regular Museum volunteers who helped coordinate the event.

The Northwest Railway Museum thanks all of the volunteers from Microsoft and the Northwest Railway Museum.  It was a very successful day that allowed projects to be completed in one day that would have otherwise taken months to complete.  If you have a group that would like to volunteer for a day, please contact Volunteer Coordinator Cristy Lake.  Volunteering as a group for the day can be a fun way to serve the community and have an enjoyable time with friends and coworkers too. 

Copper for a coach roof

Individual copper sheets were attached

with a folded seam and soldered.

Most early 20th Century railroad coaches had canvas roofs.  Some railroads specified that the entire roof be clad with canvas while others preferred copper cladding on the car ends. Copper was not an afterthought but an option specified when the cars were built.  Oxidation and the limitation of black and white photography often make it difficult to identify this in the 1912-era photos, but the Museum is confident that coach 218 was built with copper hoods. 

Completed lower hood.  One improve-

ment over 1912 materials is the use of

marine calking to seal edges.

Certainly one of coach 218's distinguishing features is this copper cladding on the roof ends, but unfortunately the original surviving copper was brittle and riddled with perforations.  So restoring these to their "as built" appearance and condition has been one of the project priorities. These "hoods" feature compound curves and are areas where it is more difficult to keep out rain water on this design of railroad car.  The copper cladding improves durability and reduces long term maintenance. (Some years ago, Spike had an opportunity to work on two Canadian Pacific Railway passenger cars that featured full canvas roofs and can attest to the fact that the canvas fails first on the compound curve at the ends of the cars.)

Bob M. attached the last of the clere-

story cladding to allow the final piece

of copper to be attached.

The design of the hoods is simple but the tin smith skills to install it are no longer common.  Fortunately, Gary J. is a highly accomplished marine carpenter and this work was an easy adaptation for him.  To begin, copper sheets were cut into small rectangular sections that would conform to the roof curve.  The edges were bent up or over to allow a folded seam with the adjacent roof panels.  All the seams were tapped flat and then soldered to provide a watertight seal.  The final product mimics the original roof but the appearance of the soldered seam is slightly different, probably because of the difference in performance between an internally and externally heated soldering iron.

Completed copper hoods debuted dur-

ing Railroad Days 2013.

Work continues on coach 218 but completion of the copper hoods allowed its use during Railroad Days 2013 where it carried an estimated 120 additional passengers.  Work is being funded with the generous support of 4Culture, the Nysether Family Foundation, proceeds from GiveBIG 2013, the Snoqualmie Tribe, and individual contributions from people just like you!