Opportunity Knocks in Snoqualmie at the NW Railway Museum

Russ Segner, 4D Superintendent

There is a lot going on at the Northwest Railway Museum even though it is the off-season. There is exciting and big work happening and this is an opportunity to get involved. Several of us in the 4^th Division are already involved – in particular Ken Liesse and Mike Donnelly.

The Museum is going to start construction on the Railway Education Center this spring. We are restoring the Combination Coach 272 giving it a water tight roof and a new floor section. We are switching to a 2-hour train schedule for the upcoming season and excursions will include stops at the Train Shed for all passengers to wander through.

How You Can Help

Starting immediately, we are having work parties every weekend in February to move crossing materials and equipment from around the Railway History Center Campus to prepare for construction. We need a couple of extra hands each day to help with this. More importantly we need anyone who has experience operating the Pettibone. The materials need to be moved by March 1^st.

We will be switching in the Train Shed on Tuesday, February 16^th. Crew call is at 10 am. We need one more switchman to help with pushing speeders, grabbing extra chalks, etc. Dan Dawson, Dave Olix, and Ken Liesse will be heading this project.

We have hung new chains and signs across the vestibules of the cars in the train shed. Some of the chains and signs need to be fiddled with to make them look more pleasing to the eyes. It is likely a half day’s worth of work.

We will be building a new platform at the Railway History Center and to do so need to level the siding. If there are five or six of you who would be interested in doing this as a work party one weekend contact Christy Lake (contact info at end of this post).

It will likely be a six to nine month process to build the Railway Education Center and then several months (possibly around Santa Train time) to move in. Plan on it not being “usable” to the public until next season. There will be a classroom for programming, public restrooms, and a proper collection storage for the small artifacts and Library and Archives. Expect the construction company to be onsite late winter through early spring.

On February 20^th there will be a Train Crew Training Day starting at 10 am. This is mandatory for all Train Crew to attend. If you are interested in serving on the Train Crew and cannot attend on the 20^th there will be a second day on a Sunday in late April, either the 17^th or 24^th. This class will cover the new schedule, expectations for visitors, volunteers, and staff in the Train Shed, a tour by our docents, an update on the Railway Education Center construction (what to tell visitors), hand signaling clarification and practice, a Rules Class, and test at the end for those wishing to take it. Pizza lunch will be served. Such training is mandatory to serve in the train crew.

There will be a docent training class starting March 19^th.

If you are interested in getting involved in any of these activities, please contact Cristy Lake, the Volunteer Coordinator and Registrar, at cristy@trainmuseum.org or 425-623-4861.