Northwest Railway Museum

A few weeks ago we visited the Northwest Railway Museum in Snoqualmie. It happened to be the one day this summer that the Seattle area received any measurable precipitation, but the rain was so light and refreshing we hardly noticed it.

The museum operates trains on the weekends that originate at the historic Snoqualmie Depot, originally built in 1890 by the Seattle, Lake Shore and Eastern Railway. The building had been heavily modified since then and used by the railroad up until the line was abandoned in 1975. At that time the depot and several miles of track were donated to the Northwest Railway Museum, which restored the depot in 1981 to better reflect its original appearance in 1890.

Snoqualmie Valley Railroad #4024, idling in front of the historic Snoqualmie Depot, is warmed up and ready for another day of passenger service.

On the back side of the depot you'll find a Baldwin 2-6-6-2 Compound Mallet built in 1926. After retirement from active service it was placed on display on the University of Washington campus from 1961–1972. After some work by museum volunteers, it steamed under its own power from UW to Kenmore before the old SLS&E tracks were removed to make way for the new Burke-Gilman trail.

The SLS&E was chartered in 1885 with the ambitious plan of crossing the Cascades to connect Seattle with Spokane. A line was constructed east from Seattle in 1887-88 as far as Sallal Prairie, about seven miles further east from Snoqualmie. And in 1888-89 a line was constructed west from Spokane which made it as far as Davenport. Those two lines never went any further.

A third line was constructed in 1889-91 from a junction in Woodinville north to Sumas on the Canada border where it met the Canadian Pacific. It was clear this was the most important line and the Northern Pacific took a strong interest in the railroad, viewing the Sumas branch as a route into the Vancouver area. After falling into receivership during the recession of 1893, the railroad was reorganized as the Seattle & International Railway Company in 1896, and was fully merged into Northern Pacific in 1901.

The day we visited the museum was operating a diesel switcher pulling three passenger cars. We rode in the back car, ex-Spokane, Portland & Seattle car 272, a combination baggage/coach car built in 1915 by the Barney & Smith Car Company of Dayton, Ohio. We sat in the baggage area as the baggage doors were open so we had an unobstructed view.

Locomotive 4024 is a Baldwin RS-4-TC built in 1954 for the U.S. Army.

SP&S 272 is the car we rode in next to the open baggage door.

SP&S 218 was originally built in 1912 by Barney & Smith Car Company. It was in use throughout much of the 20th century and was purchased from Burlington Northern in 1983. It has been substantially and lovingly restored to its 1912 appearance.

Another view of SP&S 218 from the interior. Look at the beautiful green stained glass along the clerestory windows. By chance, later in the day we ran into the volunteer who did the glass restoration work on those windows.

The third passenger car on the train was completely empty as the crowd wasn't very big for this run, and everyone apparently preferred the other cars. 

The train travels along a section of the preserved SLS&E track between Snoqualmie Falls and North Bend. This is an orphan stretch of track -- it no longer is connected to the outside world. Much of the former line out to Snoqualmie has been converted to the Burke-Gilman multi-use trail.

The train excursion includes a stop at the museum’s Railway History Center, which includes a the Conservation and Restoration Center, a Railway Education Center, and the Train Shed Exhibit Building which houses several locomotives and pieces of rolling stock in various states of restoration. Some of the pieces have been meticulously restored to like-new condition, while other pieces are waiting for their turn. Unfortunately the train was behind schedule that day so we didn’t have as long at the exhibit building as we would have liked. We’ll just have to go back again sometime soon!

For additional information:

• Northwest Railway Museum
• Wikipedia article on the Seattle, Lake Shore and Eastern Railway. It's relatively brief and not entirely accurate, but it provides a nice overview.

One of the preserved but not restored Northern Pacific cabooses in the train barn.

A restored 40-foot Northern Pacific wooden boxcar. It looks like it just rolled out of the factory.

After lunch, we went to the Puget Sound Energy Hydroelectric Museum, which includes two beautifully restored and preserved structures. One is the Snoqualmie Falls depot, and the second is a former machine shop which is the structure on the right. Both buildings now house museum exhibits about the Snoqualmie Falls hydroelectric project.

It was the middle of summer so the river was running quite low, but the falls were still beautiful.

The train passes right next to Twede's Cafe in North Bend, which I still refer to as the Mar-T Cafe, and is known by the residents of Twin Peaks as the Double-R Diner.