Laupahoehoe Train Museum

After our brief taste of summer, the weather in Seattle has returned to a very normal spring. Which means frequent rain and not a lot of chances to get outside and work on the railroad. It should start drying out soon so I can get back to work on projects like the half-finished retaining wall. In the meantime I thought I'd share a few pictures from the last train museum I visited.

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The Laupahoehoe Train Museum is the only train museum on the island of Hawaii and is housed in one of the only remaining train related structures on the island, a former station agent's house adjacent to the Laupahoehoe Station on the Hāmākua Division of the Hilo Railroad, built between 1909–1913. This division was an engineering marvel and incredibly expensive to build, resulting in the railroad going into receivership by 1916 and then being reorganized as the Hawaii Consolidated Railway. The railroad operated up until 1946, when a tsunami did such extensive damage to the line that it was cost prohibitive to rebuild.

The museum was opened a little more than 20 years ago after an extensive restoration of the building. It's small, beautiful and charming, and clearly a love of labor for the community.

A map showing the full extent of the Hawaii Consolidated Railway in 1945, a year before a tsunami brought an end to the railroad. Laupahoehoe is the fourth station from the end of the northwest branch.

Inside one of the rooms in the museum, filled with pictures, documents and various pieces of train paraphernalia.

This old boxcar used for hauling explosives was found abandoned in a gulch and donated to the museum.

The concrete platform in front of the museum is the original platform for the station. 

A train shed next to the museum houses a few scale layouts, including this one modeling a sugar mill. I saw some G scale pieces of rolling stock and some track, but none of that was set up yet. Maybe next time I visit!

The view from Laupahoehoe point.