September, 2022
This blog post has more photos than any other blog post I’ve ever posted. I couldn’t help myself! For one thing, I really liked the day today and found all manner of ideas and gadgets and tools and historic things and other objects that fascinated me. And for another thing, there are a number of readers here who love trains, so I’m sharing more of what I might share ordinarily, so you folks can see more of what might interest you.
Let’s go!
Today I visited the Northern Pacific Railway Museum in Toppenish, WA. Yes, the same town where the American Hop Museum is located. In fact, the two museums are right across the street from each other. Before I came here, I knew about the hop museum but I didn’t know about the railroad museum. After I left the hop museum and stood on the sidewalk a few moments, I looked across the street and discovered … the railroad museum! I knew where I’d be headed the next day for sure. Right here!
Note: I might comment here and there above or below the photos and videos below, but mostly I’ll let the photos tell the story. Please ask questions in the comments if you wish, and I’ll answer as best as I can. Keep in mind that I don’t know a great deal about trains, so maybe readers here who do know about trains can fill in lots of information. Please do!
Ok, now … let’s go!
Let’s go inside. I’ll tell you how I got inside even though the place was supposed to be closed and locked. It’s a great story. 🙂
Want to hear one of these chimes? HERE is a great video with information about why these were used, their history, and how they sound. 🙂 Dinner time!
And then I went outside the train station building, out into the yard. Today, unfortunately, the paid crew and the volunteers were working on specific things in the yard, so no one was there to talk with visitors, or monitor visitors, etc. At first, I was told I couldn’t be out in the yard, or even in the building since there were no staff or volunteers available. I sure didn’t argue with them. But I HAD made a really great first impression.
When I first walked into the building (way above at the beginning of this blog post), when I first walked into the building, there were four men (most in their 70’s, one in his early 80’s) standing around the counters just inside the front door (which they had forgotten to lock). The sign outside the door said “Come on in and see some great old equipment … trains and all things about them.” Well, I walked in the door, saw these four guys, who were shocked to see me because they thought the door was locked. And then without thinking, I blurted out (but with a smile on my face) … “Well, the sign said come in and see some old equipment, but I didn’t think that meant you old geezers!” They roared with laughter. They loved that. So I’d made points. 🙂 And so they let me stay inside the building by myself, and then they let me come out into the yard too. I promised not to get run over by a train, and so they let me wander around the yard outside too.
The sign below describes the very tall semaphore signal above.
No information posted about the obviously old box car below.
The steps up to a very old passenger car (below).
And some of the mechanics underneath that passenger car (below).
Below … locomotive 2152, built in 1909. What a beauty, what a powerhouse.
And then on to more “modern” rail cars ….
An old caboose above, built in the early 1950s, used here on the west coast of the USA all its life.
Then there was this huge shed (below) where they were restoring an OLD steam engine. The signs said “stay out”, but no one was around. I even hollered and walked all around outside the shed. So, what could I do? Look at those wrenches all lined up so neatly and professionally on the left. It just seemed a place I should be. [In fact, I realized that if I lived in Toppenish, I’d be volunteering here.]
So, I walked in and took these two photos.
The stuff (above) that makes everything tick fascinated me. Diagnosing, repairing, finding original parts to install, all of that … how things work fascinates me, whether it’s math or mechanics. It was obvious that the people who were working on this engine were doing excellent work. Yes, still a work in progress, but I loved it.
Then back again outside …
And right about then, I heard a diesel train engine start up … rumble, rumble, rumble, rumble. So I looked around and found that the fellow in the yellow vest (in the video below) was standing on the gravel and looking for me. They didn’t want to run over me! He had already talked with the older guys, so he knew I was out there, and he was very willing to let me stay in the yard while they moved a couple of cars out, then move another car back over to another yard, and then eventually they would bring in a nice green passenger car back into the yard near the railway station building. Here are four videos that I’ve pieced together into one video. Notice that the fellow in the yellow vest knows when to lean over and plug his ears because of the train whistle!
I thanked that fellow profusely. He said the guys are still talking about my comment about “old equipment”. They loved it.
After a couple of hours out in the yard, it was time to head back into the building for a few more photos.
I would have thought that the RED light meant “do not move”, but not so.
There was SO MUCH to see inside this building. I can’t begin to show all of it. But here are some more highlights.
And then it was time to leave. I walked outside the Northern Pacific station museum onto the very large, covered wood platform between that building and the railroad tracks (railroad tracks still being used today). I stood out there a bit. Then that fellow in the yellow vest came by and said the southbound empty grain train from Tacoma, WA, was due to come by in a few minutes. It was headed south to load grain in Gibbon or Pasco (or other towns) further south and east of Toppenish, and then head back north, past Toppenish again, and then west to Tacoma, where it would unload the grain into grain silos, where the the grain would then be loaded into huge grain ships to be taken out to countries all around the Pacific Rim, to countries and islands all over, all around, the Pacific Ocean. I remember seeing that train arriving in Tacoma, when I was on my boat out on Commencement Bay in Tacoma, years ago. But I had no idea where that train came from. Now I know.
And so, today here in Toppenish, at the railroad museum, on that platform, that fellow in the yellow vest stayed and chatted with me for awhile. But no train came by for 15 minutes or so … so he left to do other chores, and I walked back to the parking lot and jumped in the big white truck and headed north through the town of Toppenish … towards Yakima and my campsite.
But I wanted to see that train. So I found a spot on a small side street still in Toppenish and just pulled over and waited.
Not two minutes later! I heard her coming. Turn your sound up!
4 engines in front … 152 grain cars … 1 engine behind. each grain car is 60′ long with a little space in between them. Which means this train was almost two miles long.
I saved this one photo (below) for last. It was inside the train museum. It seems so charming to me, with such history behind it. The people who made the North Coast run happen, and who made all of this history happen, are terrific.
I don’t know if the “North Coast Limited” is still running, but whether there’s a train still running across the northern parts of Washington and Idaho and Montana, or whether there’s one still up in Canada just north of the southern border of Canada, I’m thinking I’d love to take a trip like this, and just sit and look out the window and watch the gorgeous scenery go by … and wait for that dinner chime to ring! 🙂
There have been a number of your blogs that I claim each of them as my favorite as you post them, but this is the best of all of them! I love trains! Been across the US and Canada, up and down the west coast, on a few trains in other countries. I love trains. What a great entrance you made ..ha! 🙂 No wonder they let you stay in the building and then out in the yard. Thanks for the videos and the sounds. I’ll be replaying all of this many times!
Oh Jamie, thank you. That makes me smile a big smile. 🙂
And what stories you must have! I’d love to hear them and learn of your journeys. Do you post any of that online? If so, please share links here in the comments.
Me too! I’m mostly a hiker and back country camper but I’ve been on so many train trips I can’t count them. This was great. Took me way back. Well, some of it was before my time. 🙂 But still, that one photo of the Northern Pacific Vista Dome North Coast Limited, I don’t think they’re running those anymore and I sure road on a lot of them. And yes, there was always a stewardess on board who was also a registered nurse. My first ride on one was in the early 1950s and I think they had been running for a few years by then, but not many years. Wow. Thank you!!
Ha! Indeed, most of the train stuff I saw this day was before my time too, fun comment, Steve. 🙂 You’re right, the North Coast Limited cars aren’t running anymore. A website tells me that the first North Coast Limited domeliner car ran in August, 1954, and ran between Seattle and Chicago until 1970. But there are now Amtrak journeys across the northern USA. I’m thinking about taking a winter trip on Amtrak through our gorgeous mountains.
This was great. Love those old posters. We haven’t taken a train trip in years. But we sure are thinking about it now. Even if we just go from here to there and back again not even overnight, just ride the rails. 🙂
Oh yes, the posters are fun, aren’t they? And yes, jump on a train and ride those rails! I’m seriously thinking about it too, sometime this winter. Let’s go, Shawn!
I didn’t know trains were so fascinating, but they sure are. The video is great. The sounds are great. The history is super. The personal interaction you had with those guys is terrific. I just looked online and found a railroad museum in Great Falls, Montana, we’re on our way! Well, maybe this next weekend. 🙂 Thank you!
I didn’t know trains were fascinating either, Tim. But I sure think they are now. Keep us posted about your visit to the Great Falls train museum, ok? If I remember right about where you two live, I think Great Falls is a bit of a drive north of you, but not too far. Keep us posted!
Wow, so many bolts on steam engine 2152! I bet the pressure inside an engine like that justifies every one of those bolts.
Love that dinner chime! I might go find a sound file of it online and use it when company comes. 🙂
I loved those bolts! As a retired truck mechanic, I love that stuff. When I saw that firebox with all those bolts, I just stood there in wonder … just like you, thinking about the pressure that must be inside that engine when it’s running such that it needs all those bolts to hold it together. Wow.
Oh! Great idea, Ruth! To use those dinner chimes … either get a set of chimes, or get a soundfile of them … and use them at home with company when dinner is served. What fun. 🙂
The old guy comment was perfect. Ha!! I don’t know a lot about trains either but I sure liked this. Learned a lot. Liked the dinner chimes. Like the locomotive stuff. And the old posters. Maybe I’ll see you on a train journey through the winter mountains, how cool. 🙂
A winter train journey through the mountains sounds great, doesn’t it? Let’s go. Thanks Ben. 🙂
Brilliant! So much the same to what we have here in England and yet much is different to what we have here and how the cars are built. During my years on rail cars, I don’t remember a dining chime used in trains that had a restaurant car. Today, there is only one company in England that has a restaurant car still in use. Excellent photos!
Henry, you are terrific. I don’t know how you found this USA camper/caravan blog, but I sure like that you are here. You contribute a lot! I wish I could sit with you of an evening and listen to your stories about your life in railroad. Only one rail company in England with a restaurant car, oh that’s a shame. I suppose people bring their own food or buy “fast food” on rail cars nowadays. My very best to you. Thank you for being here. 🙂
Lol! Ann, they say “beauty is in the eye of the beholder “. Engine 2152 is proof of that.
In 1961 my mother and I rode the Empire Builder (with the dome cars) to Chicago, where we caught the Pennsylvania RR to Philadelphia and then the Reading to Perkasie. The Reading had wooden sash windows that could be opened . My Mom remembered riding with open windows and the ash and cinders flying in.
We have long trains that match your description (3-4 engines in front, rear pusher engine, l50 cars) that I always assumed were coal trains. Now I wonder if some of them are grain trains. The coal is carried in open cars and you often see it, but some of the trains you can’t see any coal. Might these be grain trains? Yes or no, they still tie up traffic. Two miles long?!!
Last note: The Mt Rainier Scenic Railroad in Elbe runs a steam train trip, just a short one up and back to Mineral, where you stop at a logging museum. Also their maintenance shop is open to visitors. Sound like fun? Let’s go.
Fritzi, you always have such great stories. And your mom was so wonderful. I loved both your mom and your dad. What a great story you tell of that trip with your mom, just in a couple of sentences. Next time we get together, I want the whole story please.
Hmmm, because of your comment, I started researching coal cars vs. grain cars. Looking at just images, I found they were difficult if not impossible to tell apart. Yes, the one grain train that barreled past Toppenish this day was two miles long!
I’ve been on that Elbe train, would be more than willing to go again. Let’s grab one or two (how about two) of your kids and head up there.
Ah, indeed engine 2152 is beautiful. 🙂
Years ago (years! ago) I took my two young daughters across the northern USA to visit their grandparents in Maine. We had a super trip! Then about 23 years later, I took my two granddaughters on almost the same trip tho the train took a little bit different route by then. Those girls and I had a super trip, too! What great memories. For both trips, we flew home from Maine back to WA State. We had calm clear weather for each of those flights and could watch the midwest fields pass by below us, then watch the Rockies coming up, and then under us. Both times we partly circled Mt Rainier as we approached the airfield in Seattle, stunning. Then a quiet bus ride home. What great memories. Ok, I have the photo albums hauled out, ones I haven’t looked at in 15 years or so. I now have two great grandsons. Maybe a trip is in our future?
What a super story! Counting you as the first generation, there are three generations of young girls, women, who will rememer those trips all their lives. Oh my word I’m so jealous. 🙂 What a wonderful thing you did for them. Yep, get those grandsons out on the rails too. I really like your comment, June. Thank you!
And the plane circling Mt Rainier … I’ve been on commercial passenger planes when they did that … so spectacular.
I hope your daughters or granddaughters might help with digitizing/copying your photos so they have copies of them too. How special. Thank you. 🙂
Oh, a train ride across the country would be so fun! This was a great tour of the museum, thanks for taking us along. We went to a subway museum in Brooklyn that was really fun. Lots of old subway cars to sit in and imagine the day. Kind of similar to your train museum.
Oh, a subway museum, yes that would be fun. Old stuff is fun to see and experience. And then I think about the people who will be around 50 or 100 years from now and I wonder what museums they’ll be visiting that have “old stuff” not used anymore by them … cars with gasoline engines? airplanes that run on jet fuel? cell phones? Hmmmm.