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Wood & Iverson Log Train Wreck

Written by Anton Faulk
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By George Chambers

Now with the Department of Natural Resources (DNR) land back open after being closed for Covid-19, I got in a hike to the February 23, 1925 log train wreck site on Tiger Mountain near Issaquah. When the over loaded train ran out of air for its brakes and jumped the tracks near Holder Creek, the 3-truck Climax locomotive, flat cars carrying rail, a passenger car and the Clyde track laying machine went off the rails. Some car parts, wheels and the Clyde track laying machine are still there after 95 years.
I began my hike to the wreck site from the DNR Tiger Summit Trailhead parking lot off Highway 18. The first part of the hike is on the Iverson Railroad Trail which goes 1.5 miles to meet the DNR West Side Road. About half of this trail is on an old logging railroad grade. Any bridges at creek crossings are long gone. I then hiked west on the DNR West Side Road for 0.3 miles to the junction with the Tiger Mountain Trail. I turned right and headed north on the TMT to Zeig’s Zag. This is at a switchback on the old W&I logging railroad grade. I continued north a short distance on the Artifacts Trail to the train wreck site. You can see some wheels, car parts and the remains of the Clyde track laying machine. It is a six mile round trip hike to the wreck site to see the artifacts.

  • Wheels at the log train wreck site
  • Wheels and car parts
  • Remains of the Clyde track laying machine
  • Another view of the Clyde track laying machine

I have been to the site several times. There are many other old logging railroad grades to hike on in the Tiger Mountain State Forest. DNR uses some of them for trails. I have hiked them all. Note: you need a Discover Pass for your car to park at the trailhead.
A good book to read and has photos of the log train wreck is, “Wood & Iverson: Loggers of Tiger Mountain”, by the late Ken Schmelzer.

George

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Reminder – NMRA Clinic Special Interest Discussion Group

Written by Anton Faulk
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Don’t forget that Jim Betz created a Special Interest Discussion Group last month called PNWRRModelers. It can be found at:

https://groups.io/g/PNWRRModelers/

PNW Railroad Modelers is a discussion group for model railroaders in the Pacific Northwest

To gain access you will need to click the “Join The Group” button and then make a post to it to introduce yourself to the other members. The first post will go to Jim and he will approve it (this discourages scoundrels) and you will be live from then on.

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More News From Triple T

Written by Al Babinsky
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Article & Photos By Al Babinsky

Last year the Triple T acquired another unusual piece of rolling stock, a Wismar Railbus from the SVG (Sylter Verkehrsgesellschaft) Sylt Transportation Company. The SVG operated a Narrow Gage, Meter gage, rail road on the island of Sylt in Northern Germany. The railbus was originally purchased by the Kriegsmarine {Navy}for transportation of personnel and cargo to their bases in the North and South of the island. After WWII the railbus became property of the Sylter Inselbahn (Sylt Island RR) the fore runner of the SVG. It was in storage until steam operation ceased in the 50ties and operation began with railbuses. The Wismar railbus was powered with two Ford engines one on each end, they powered the axle on their end. During operations one of the engines suffered major damage and could not be repaired. Instead of scrapping the railbus the SVG removed the engine hood and all and replaced it with a Borgward truck engine and front end. The LGB model represents this particular railbus T 25 and the sound system also represents the different sound of the two engines. When changing directions, the proper engine starts and you can tell the difference in the sound. The accompanying photos shows the railbus after the replacement with the Borgward front end, you can see the difference in the hood and the radiators. The photo of the camouflaged version during operation of the Kriegsmarine as apparent by the uniforms. This particular bus was number 22 and had a trailer number 14. The bar that you see hanging under the front end was the coupling bar for the trailer. I believe the person standing in front of the door was the conductor/driver of the bus and a civilian. You can see the writing in the white band says Sylter Inselbahn to give the appearance of a civilian operation, the fact was that the military had control before and during the war. The personnel of the railroad before the takeover stayed on during the war and afterwards the state took over and then turned it over to private hands.

  • Ford front end
  • Borgward front end

Al

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Nothing To Do?

Written by Anton Faulk
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Article & Photos By Greg Price

Thought I’d share my most recent “stay at home“ project. This is a standard DPM building with my own touches. Painted with spray paint followed by joint compound colored w/ gray acrylic paint. Then acrylic paint was used to paint window frames and corbels and lintels. I then weathered it with alcohol & India ink and Bragdon’s weathering powders. I made a sales showroom out of styrene as well as numerous washers, dryers, stoves and refrigerators. I then lit it with surface mount LED’s. I also used BarMills signs mounted on wire.
All in all a nice project for my city of Matheson!

Greg Price
Matheson & Western RR

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