It appears that they have painted-up this ex-GN heavyweight recently!! Drove thru town today, and found this right behind the depot, nice!! It's been BN MoW brown as long as I can remember.
Nice to see "old things" that worked hard for an entire career rejuvenated!! Now if we could do the same for people...... Jim another "old thing" (not rejuvenated)...LOL
I am so hoping to get through the area this summer. Want to stop here and ride the train again. Been far too long since I last visited my old home Snoqualmie Valley area.
Let me know when your in the old neighborhood again, we can meet up and go ghost hunting! I stumbled across this trestle yesterday driving around, must have passed it a few times over the years!! Do you know what railroad it was? Milw or NP?
Compass, NW of the depot. Back toward the Falls, just east bank of Kimball Creek. It crossed the highway and led to the Weyerhaeuser mill. There was a steel truss across the Snoqualmie River. Trying to remember the year flooding washed out the pilings, mill end of that truss. 1989? 1990? (I was out on that bridge only a few hours beforehand. Eerie. The flood debris was bashing against those pilings and the whole structure would shake and vibrate!) The photo shown is on the mill end. Just behind the photographer was a small railroad yard, within the Weyco sort yard. Three tracks as I remember it. Those tracks actually continued through that mill, and connected to the former MILW at the NW end of their yard.
Did I live on Connelly Road where the road goes under about a 12 foot high trestle? Can't remember anymore. Jim
The track venturing off to the left, is that the Mill lead? Seems if that was to cross the road, that'd be close to where it would tie in with that bridge and trestle.... This is looking south, towards the depot.
View is south-east. Looking across Kimball Creek. Tracks in distance were the old NP log yard, this side of the river. They also had a small yard within the mill, just across Mill Pond Road from the bridge. Track at right corner is what we knew as Kimball Creek Junction. Leading to the old museum yard on the "Niblock Spur". (Named after the person who built that original industrial track.) Long, long pre-museum, this led up the hill to some coke ovens. This was when Peter Kirk, whom Kirkland was named for, was going to make Kirkland the "Pittsburgh of the West". Yes, there is iron ore in the Cascades! The Denny family and others who landed with them had real estate holdings and mining claims in the eastern King County and Cascade Mountains areas. (Believe it or not, such as coal, gold, silver, copper, iron ore...)The museum re-laid track on the long abandoned Niblock roadbed, early 1960's. Anyhow, those oven remains might still exist. With development of real estate as of today, they may have been bulldozed. Track at left is indeed the old NP lead to the Weyerhaeuser mill. I have been across that track aboard a train, a few times! Until BN abandoned the ex-MILW line from Maple Valley through Cedar Falls to Snoqualmie Falls, that track at left was how most equipment was brought to Snoqualmie, across that bridge.
This rotary was specifically designed and built to be used on the old NP Stampede Pass line. The tender is Milw #908142 Water Tender- From Milw 4-6-2 Engine #849
As an area native, I can tell you is is well worth some time exploring that museum and the surrounding scenery.