Built to last: Northwest Railway Museum celebrates start of new Railway Education Center, plans for preserving and sharing more state history
Published 2:45 pm Monday, May 2, 2016
The ground was obviously already broken Sunday when the Northwest Railway Museum invited guests on a special construction train, to celebrate the start of its new building. That wasn’t a deterrent for Snoqualmie City Councilman Bob Jeans.
Standing at the podium to congratulate the museum on its future Railway Education Center, Jeans turned to museum executive director Richard Anderson and said, “We’re here to break ground. Richard, I want a shovel!”
Behind Jeans, an open pit with rebar already in place for the foundation to be poured Monday, marked the future home of the building that will enable the museum to serve visitors year-round when it’s complete in October.
Jeans didn’t get his shovel, but he was no less happy to be a part of the occasion, to celebrate another accomplishment of the museum, started 60 years ago in a Seattle hobby shop. Other achievements, he listed, included the preservation and restoration of many train engines and carriages, such as the beautifully restored Coach 218 with its mahogany interior, and the 1898-built Messenger of Peace chapel car.
More recent accomplishments included the construction of the 11-year-old train shed, and the 2011 Conservation and Restoration Center, all on the same site as the future library.
“All of you are very lucky to have Richard Anderson leading these efforts,” Jeans said.
Anderson in turn talked about the great partners the museum has had on this and past projects. To build the current $3 million Railway Education Center, the museum received support from the Washington State Historical Society, which awarded the project a $750,000 grant, King County’s 4Culture, which has contributed about $250,000 in various grants for design and construction, and several project foundations, including the Schwab Fund for Charitable Giving and the Burlington-Northern-Santa Fe Railway Foundation.
Additional grants are possible, too, now that construction has begun, Anderson said.
State Representative and enthusiastic engineer Chad Magendanz also spoke at the celebration. He had as much praise for “the engineering chops” of the people who built the railroads more than a century ago as he had for the museum and its work preserving that history.
“Nothing, as an engineer, makes me more aware of our engineering history, than when I step onto one of these trains,” he said.
County Councilwoman Kathy Lambert also commented on the importance of keeping history alive through the museum’s dedication and hard work.
Railway museum board president Dennis Snook saw something symbolic in the start of the new building, saying “It’s taken us 60 years to get here, but I can honestly say we have arrived… Now, we commence the building of the Railway Education Center!”
Anderson added, “We served about 138,000 people last year, and we’re going to serve a lot more when this thing is done.”
Visitors will be able to drive to the building when it is open, whether or not the train is running.
Trains run on weekends from April to October and for other special events throughout the year.
Learn more at https://www.trainmuseum.org.
See more photos of the celebration at https://flic.kr/s/aHskzy7r9D.
