Northwest Railway Museum dedicates Railway Education Center building

Published 8:30 am Monday, September 26, 2016

A celebration to dedicate the Northwest Railway Museum’s new Railway Education Center building will be held at approximately 11 a.m. Saturday, Oct. 8. The ceremony will follow the arrival of the train excursion departing the Snoqualmie Depot at 11 a.m.

This special train will take guests to the dedication ceremony on the Railway History Campus and, following tours of the new building and the Train Shed Exhibit Building, passengers will ride to the top of Snoqualmie Falls before returning to the depot. During the train ride, guests will enjoy music by members of local band “Tinkham Road,” along with light refreshments.

Passengers riding the train from Snoqualmie at 1 or 3 p.m. that day and passengers riding the 1:30 p.m. train from the North Bend depot will also have an opportunity to visit the new building. There will be no 11:30 a.m. departure from North Bend.

The new education center will take the nonprofit museum’s visitor experience to the next level when it opens for the 2017 season. It will also increase accessibility to the museum’s collection throughout the year. The new building is one of the final planned pieces of the museum’s campus. It will offer restrooms, a bookstore, classrooms and a public reading room. The latter will also safely house historical documents for the use of researchers and students.

With the opening of the Railway Education Center, museum staff will also be combined in one building.

The Northwest Railway Museum, founded in 1957, is the state’s largest and most comprehensive railroad museum. More than 120,000 people participate in its programs each year, which include the annual “Santa train” and other steam-train trips from its historic Snoqualmie depot. Learn more at www.trainmuseum.org.