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Conservation and Restoration Center, July 2006Engineer and daughter on NP locomotive Reconstruction of North Bend Way signals and crossing in 2001 Snoqualmie Depot circa 1896 Eccentric crank on locomotive 11


Welcome to the Northwest Railway Museum

Visit a Victorian depot. Learn how the railway changed Washington and influenced settlement. See and feel the excitment of a working railroad. Experience what travel was like before Interstate highways. Hear all the bells and whistles. Travel back in time. See the sights. Shop in a book store. Enjoy it for the pure spectacle!

 

Museum news-

Day Out With ThomasTM 2008 tickets are sold out click to expandClick to collapse
Day Out With Thomas’s only Washington appearance this year is at the Northwest Railway Museum in Snoqualmie July 11-13 & 18-20, 2008. Tickets for this 7th annual event went on sale to the public on April 19 and are now sold out. Click here for more information about the event Day Out With Thomas Copyright 2008 Gullane (Thomas) Limited.
Special Day Out With Thomas hotel rate at the Eastgate Silver Cloud Inn click to expand Click to collapse

Special hotel rates are available at the Silver Cloud Inn at Eastgate during Day Out With Thomas. The family room rate is $129 and is available to book online here by using group name DAYOUT and password THOMAS. You can also book a room by calling the Silver Cloud Inn directly at (425) 957-9100 or (800) 571-9926 and asking for the Day Out With Thomas rate. 

The Silver Cloud Inn Bellevue - Eastgate is located near I-405 and I-90., with easy access to Seattle, Bellevue, and Snoqualmie. Their Special Rate of $129 for a room with two queen beds includes an expanded continental breakfast and free parking. Every guest room has 42" high definition plasma TVs in addition to complimentary wireless and wired Internet access, refrigerators, microwaves and coffee makers.   And the Silver Cloud Inn is 100% non-smoking! To view more details about the hotel, go to www.silvercloud.com/eastgate.htm.

Rehabilitation of White River Lumber Company caboose 001 completed - click to expandClick to collapse

7 & 28 May 08 - Rain, sleet, freezing rain and snow. Those conditions made riding on log cars not only unpleasant but dangerous. These conditions were likely a factor in Washington State enacting a rule that required a caboose on log trains of more than 10 cars. That law (probably) resulted in caboose OO1, a short caboose at just 24 feet but nonetheless an improvement allowing a safer work environment and a safer train.

 

The caboose was built at Enumclaw in 1945 and that original construction required approval of the wartime ration board. Trucks from a log car and other recycled parts were used to construct the caboose because steel and other raw materials were in short supply. Stock lumber from around the mill was used to frame and clad the carbody.

 

Caboose 001 was constructed by carpenters at the White River Lumber Company and represents the innovation, adaptability and elegant simplicity that characterized logging by rail in the Northwest. It is framed like a building and lacks most of the joinery common on mainline rail cars. It has no insulation, no kitchen, no toilet, no running water, and no beds. But it does have a table and bench seating, oil heat, and early on was equipped with an Onan light plant to provide electricity for interior and exterior lighting.

 

The caboose is at the end of an extensive multi- year reconstruction project and is presented as it appeared in 1949. This work is being made possible by the Museum's new Conservation and Restoration Center, a specialized collection care facility completed in 2006. Collection care has taken 4,400 skilled man hours and an expense of over $35,000 for materials.

Caboose after painting
Tail end of caboose 001
Caboose 001 2008 rebuilder photo

Caboose with new cladding

 

Caboose in March 2008

Front door of caboose

Caboose bench

New exterior cladding appears and then primer. Over4,400 person hours are transforming this badly deteriorated artifact into a signature piece for the Northwest Railway Museum.

The caboose was repainted several times during its service life and were matched to samples found on surfaces protected from light and rain.

Museum honored with heritage tourism award from 4Culture click to expand Click to collapse

Golden Rain Globe Award recognizes achievements in sustainable heritage tourism

24 April 08 - 4Culture, King County’s arts and heritage agency, has awarded its 2008 Heritage Tourism Award to the Northwest Railway Museum of Snoqualmie. The “Golden Rain Globe” highlights an individual, organization, or agency that has most effectively shared the distinctive cultural heritage of King County through successful promotion beyond the local level. This prestigious award was presented April 22 to the Northwest Railway Museum staff and board of trustees, before a large gathering of their peers at the Museum of History and Industry during the Association of King County Historical Organizations’ 25th annual Awards.

“Since 1957, the Northwest Railway Museum has grown into one of the most exciting heritage attractions in King County,” said 4Culture Executive Director Jim Kelly. “With more than 80,000 visitors a year, the museum is a model for sustainable development that serves multiple local, national, and international audiences.”

"Cultural tourism is an important part of our museum's model for sustainability, particularly as we partner with the
City of Snoqualmie to become the anchor attraction in the historic downtown,” says Richard Anderson, Executive Director for the Museum. “We feel very honored to be recognized by 4Culture for our efforts in this regard."

4Culture inaugurated the award in 2007 as a way to recognize the contributions of heritage organizations to the county’s growing heritage tourism industry. The recipient must demonstrate successful adherence to the five principles of sustainable heritage tourism established by the National Trust for Historic Preservation:

• Collaborating with partners
• Finding balance between community and tourism
• Making sites and programs come alive
• Focusing on quality and authenticity
• Preserving and protecting heritage resources

Disaster reconstruction completed click to expand Click to collapse
23 April 08 - Aided by a $49,000 US Small Business Administration loan, the Northwest Railway Museum has completed reconstruction of 1.1 miles of mainline track damaged by the November 2006 flooding. Nearly 300 new wooden crossties and 1,000 tons of rock were required to line and level the track to its predisaster alignment. This work supplements emergency repairs completed in mid November 2006 that have allowed the track to continue in service until this final work could be completed. Ace Rail of Graham, Washington performed the surfacing work while tie change out and other work were handled by other contractors. Main track
Land exchange creates new Railway History Center campus click to expandClick to collapse

Museum campus concept plan

The draft site plan was developed in 2007 and shows the planned facilities including a Train Shed and Roundhouse for
exhibits, a library/archives, and a turntable.

9 Nov 07 - A complex real estate transaction involving a land swap with Meadowbrook Farm has been completed providing four additional acres for museum develop-ment. The Farm, owned jointly by the City of Snoqualmieand the City of North Bend, is public

Mayor Larson, Director Anderson, Mayor Hearing

open space. In exchange, the Museum has gifted a parcel of commercial land to the Farm that is located near the Mt Si Quarry. The process involved detailed appraisals, and the approval of six agencies: City of Snoqualmie, City of North Bend, Meadowbrook Farm Preservation Association, King County Department of Natural Resources and Parks, Washington State Recreation and Conservation Funding Board, and the Northwest Railway Museum. Click here to read the joint Snoqualmie - Northwest Railway Museum news release describing the transaction.

The Museum is grateful for the support of Snoqualmie, North Bend, their respective mayors Larson and Hearing, their respective city councils, and key staff members including Snoqualmie director of communityplanning Nancy Tucker and city attorney Pat Anderson.

 

The next steps involve design and permitting for the next structure: the train shed. The train shed will be used to exhibit and store transportation artifacts including locomotives, coaches and freight cars and will incorporate 25,000 square feet.

Snoqualmie Mayor Matt Larson, Museum Executive Director Richard R. Anderson and North Bend Mayor Ken Hearing signed the real estate exchange agreement at a brief ceremony held at the Snoqualmie Depot on November 8, 2007. Construction is expected to begin in mid 2008 and has a projected cost of $3.2 million. Over $2.4 million has been secured from State and Federal government, private companies, foundations, and individuals.
Artifact rehabilitation for the Renton History Museum click to expand Click to collapse

The Northwest Railway Museum is rehabilitating a coal mine car that was used in a King County coal mine. This representative piece is from the Renton

Coal car delivery

History Museum's collection and will be rehabilitated at the new Conservation and Restoration Center in Snoqualmie. Work will include document-ation, fabrication and assembly of a new wood carbody, cleaning of steel and iron components, and limited painting. When completed in spring 2008, it will be returned to Renton where it will be placed on exhibit inside the Renton History Museum.

The project is being funded by 4Culture and represents a new type of partnership between two history museums. For Renton, it represents one of their largest artifacts and one that requires a different type of care than most of their collection. For the Northwest Railway Museum the project represents typical collection care work that will be performed to the Secretary of the Interior standards for the treatment of historic properties. Click here for more information about this project from the Renton History Museum website.

Scott Sleeth helps unload the coal mine car at the CRC on a chilly January 25.
Regular trains running weekends click to expandClick to collapse
The Snoqualmie Valley Railroad is now offering excursions most weekends through October.   Click here for schedules.
Museum hosts promotional video shoot click to expandClick to collapse
Museum hosts Hewlett Packard promotional video. The fictitious "Impossible IT" staged a contest between an IT (information technology) professional and a 1954-built Baldwin locomotive. Who won? View the video on HP's web site to find out: Impossible IT

Site last updated: 3 July 2008 21:20


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The Northwest Railway Museum is located in Snoqualmie, Washington.

Please call us at (425) 888-3030, or email to