Northwest Railway Museum

The first time I visited the Northwest Railroad Museum was 4 years ago when my grandson, Nathan, was just 2.  It was a special weekend as Thomas the Train was visiting, as he does every year, and Thomas took us for a ride. The train was decorated just like Thomas, and the children got Thomas goody bags filled with all kinds of Thomas memorabilia .  Needless to say, there were many, many children and their adults there. In addition to Nathan crying when it was time to leave, what I remember most about this day was visiting the Train Shed Exhibit Hall where the histories of this railroad and those across the Pacific Northwest are creatively displayed.

The Historic Snoqualmie Depot Campus, the Railway History Campus, and the North Bend Depot in North Bend all makeup the Northwest Railway Museum, the region’s largest railway museum with 5.5 miles of track and campuses. The museum exhibits, preserves, restores, and operates trains that are available for the public to experience. The railway was constructed in 1889 by the Seattle, Lake Shore and Eastern Railway as part of Seattle’s response to the Northern Pacific selecting Tacoma as their western terminus.  The railway was later purchased by the Northern Pacific Railroad.

Snoqualmie Depot

This historic Snoqualmie Depot, has been named as part of the National Register of Historic Places, and is a landmark of the City of Snoqualmie and King County. It is the longest continuously operating train depot in the state of Washington. In the long building, which is similar in style as many train depots across the country, visitors can see railroad history exhibits in the former gentlemen’s waiting room and freight room. The former ladies’ waiting room now houses the Depot Bookstore, with books for all ages about railroad history and a gift shop. The Depot is surrounded by historic trains such as this U.S. Plywood Compound Mallet Steam Locomotive below.

Train Ride

The museum offers train rides on historic coaches, some dating back to 1881, and a steam locomotive built in 1889. The red velvet seating, polished wood, and the colorful stained glass are examples of the beauty the trains in those early days.  It was fun watching families and young children staring out the window to seeing how quickly the train flew by everything outside of it. The two hour ride can start at either the Snoqualmie or the North Bend depots. The train runs along the Northern Snoqualmie Valley and makes a stop at the historic top of Snoqualmie Falls, just above the falls, with a view of a sacred site of the Snoqualmie People. The North Bend Depot is the next stop to let passengers on or off if their cars. Heading back through Snoqualmie the train takes a 30 minute break for passengers to enjoy the Railway History Campus, before returning to their starting point.

The Railway History Campus,

Not far from the Snoqualmie Depot Campus, the Railway History Campus contains the Train Shed Exhibit Hall, the Conservation & Restoration Workshop, the Railway Education Center, and the future Roundhouse Exhibit Gallery.

The Railway Education Center houses the Research Library and the Archives. As our visit was on a weekend, this building was not open for visitors. But during the week the reading room in the Education Center is open to the public.  The Education Center also contains administrative offices, classroom space, and the research library.The Research Library maintains information about railway history, from across the globe, many of which are primary sources. The Archives preserves the tremendous amount of historic  material that come through such as letters, diaries, organizational records, as well as union materials and promotional resources. It was eye-opening to learn about the activities and resources that are available for staff to work to preserve the railway’s history. 

I was able to arrange a visit to the Conservation and Restoration Workshop which, until that day, was not yet open to visitors. Both full time and volunteer staff perform almost magical work on old railway pieces including locomotives, passenger and freight cars, and special railway maintenance vehicles.  They rehabilitate, restore, and reconstruct in an 8200 square foot building.  Unfortunately, we were prohibited from photographing anything, including some of the remarkable items we saw.

·      Many of the tools used are antique or created specifically to be used with the cars of their eras.

·      A 1940 railroad car became a beach cottage in its later years, however, it has now returned to its original state.

·      Railroad cars that are still using their original stained glass, requiring creation of missing windows in exactly the same colors, materials, and design.

·      A first-class parlor car with 28 reclining seats, carpets, and decoration is requiring all new carpet that has to be reproduced to look like the original carpet.

Because we had spent all of our allotted time during the History Campus train stop in the Conservation and Restoration Workshop, we returned to the Train Shed Exhibit Hall after our train ride was over. Having unlimited time there made it easy to spend all the time we needed to explore, to learn, and to enjoy this fascinating treasure trove of railroad inventory. The 25,000 square feet Train Shed Exhibit Hall houses locomotives, passenger cars, freight cars and maintenance-of-way cars that inspect and maintain railroad tracks. There are exhibits and artifacts from the early years of railroads. All of these help visitors to understand how railways influenced settlement patterns, foodways, trade networks, industry, and leisure activity in the Pacific Northwest. There are exhibits that recognize significant and restored pieces representing specific periods of time.  The building itself protects against rain, rapid changes in humidity or temperatures, and light which are some of the most threatening elements to these valuable pieces of history. And of course, there is a gift shop where you can buy all kinds of train and railway books, toys, and memorabilia..

I’m looking forward to the future when the Roundhouse Exhibit Gallery will be completed.  Part of the Railway History Campus, the Gallery will interpret the role of railroads in the development and settlement of Washington State. It will include a “HO” scale model railway exhibit within a 5,000 square foot space that will demonstrate how railways determined present  and previously inaccessible settlement patterns. There will be specific learning areas for children and much more gallery space.  Lastly there will be a traditional railway turntable used for turning locomotives and cars to face in the opposite direction, and to access tracks in a roundhouse. This will be the outdoor centerpiece and an important  and exciting outdoor attraction.

Do you want to learn to operate a train?   You can join in the Running Trades Program and become a Car Attendant to interact with passengers, a Conductor who is responsible for the movement of the train and passenger safety, Brake persons and Fire persons maintain a clear track and call out switches and signals, and Engineers learn how to operate and maintain diesel and steam engines.

 All-Aboard!!!