Seattle – Mount Rainier

Friday, July 18th was the day we had designated to visit the Mount Rainier Scenic Railroad and its museum. The museum contains the world's most comprehensive collection of steam logging locomotives.

This sign at the bend in the road at Elbe, WA told us we were at the right place.

John & Sue and Frank & I had tickets for a 12:45 pm train that would take us on a round trip excursion. Leaving from a quaint depot in Elbe and traveling to a museum in Mineral, we would have about 30 minutes to explore up close the logging equipment of a by-gone era before boarding for the return trip. We picked our tickets up at will call and watched as they brought in the logging steam engine that was to power the passenger train.

John, Sue , Frank, and I watch as the steam locomotive is jockeyed into position.
Although still steam, the boilers were fueled by recycled diesel oil rather than wood.

We were excited to get primo seats in one of the open air cars that allowed for excellent viewing opportunities. Shortly after we were underway, we were reminded of the smells and by-products of steam-powered travel. On the return trip we sought out and welcomed seats in the closed-in, air-conditioned, dining car. The views were just as good and the conveniences of a more modern mode of travel were appreciated.

Frank and John rode backwards and sat opposite Sue and me for the outbound trip.

The steam train wound its way through the scenic woods from the depot at Elbe, WA to the museum at Mineral, WA. It started off east paralleling the National Park Highway, although we were screened from the roadway by a thick band of trees. The route then turned south and we intermittently crossed meadows or streams while steaming mostly through wooded areas.

This is the route of the railroad from depot at Elbe to museum at Mineral.
It was approximately a 10 mile round trip.

As the train crossed trestles, we caught glimpses of the rushing waters beneath and, as it wound its way through the woods, we were surprised when clearings we crossed yielded breath-taking views of the not-so-distant Mount Rainier.

We crossed rapidly running white waters several times.

Several times during the outbound trip we were surprised at the appearance of Mt. Rainier off to our left.

When we reached the museum at Mineral, we explored the equipment outdoors and other railroad cars and engines under restoration in the buildings. The official opening of the expanded museum was slated for the next day but we wisely chose to go a day before its opening to avoid the crowds. We may have missed a few pieces of additional equipment they were installing that night but, for the most part, it was a wise decision as we still were able to get the flavor of the place and we got to see a lot more in the time allotted due to fewer people milling about.

We arrived at the museum location at Mineral, WA.

We saw the historic equipment on display outdoors, went into the restoration shop, and visited several other buildings as well. We were advised to keep on the paved pathways between buildings.

You can go to http://www.mrsr.com/museum/museum.html if you want to read more about the museum expansion. Frank was delighted and fascinated by a rare piece of logging equipment called a Williamette Unit. This huge but portable piece of machinery was a steam "donkey" engine that could both "yard" and "load" logs. It could be moved from site to site wherever needed. Very few still exist.

This car mounted Williamette Unit was vital in the logging industry.

The Mount Rainier Scenic Railroad was proud to have this rare unit for display.

Inside one of the restoration sheds was this relatively small engine. Made in 1885, it had been displayed outside in Auburn WA since 1995 and so its wooden parts had decayed. The Mount Rainer Scenic Railroad is nearly finished restoring it. It is quite popular with kids because its somewhat smaller size makes it easier to relate to. We were allowed to board the cab area. 

This Satsop engine is a 0-4-2 meaning it has 0 leading wheels, 4 driving wheels and 2 trailing wheels
according to the Whyte notation for classifying steam locomotives.
This engine is the smallest of steam locomotives.

Kids and those who are kids are heart were allowed to ring the locomotive's bell. After posing for pictures inside the cab we took turns ringing the bell as we got out. You can hear how the bell sounds here at this youtube video https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=t-7WfTgioss.

All aboard! Sue, John, I, and Frank pose for a picture taken for us by one of the museum guides.

Once back at the depot end of the line in Elbe, we walked along a line of cabooses now repurposed as lodging or restaurants.

A line of cabooses stretched far.

One of the wheel bearings in one of the cars bore the name Hyatt. Hyatt was a division of the General Motors company that made bearings. I worked at the Hyatt plan inspected bearings the summer between my sophomore and junior years at college. I did not work on the huge railroad bearings but they were at the other end of the plant from where I was stationed visually inspecting rollers and races, or noise testing and packing other bearings.

In the early 1970s I worked a summer at the New Departure Hyatt Roller Bearing factory, in Kenilworth, NJ.
It was a division of Genreal Motors.

All this was so interesting to Frank we had to almost drag him away from it all. We were hungry and had not yet eaten the picnic lunch we had brought along. We had chosen instead to use all our time exploring the museum at Mineral.

This certainly applied to Frank's sense of time spent!

As we made on our way eastward back to our lodgings at Ashford, we looked for a spot to eat lunch. We found this shady area with picnic benches and tables along side the lake next to the National Park Highway.

We munched on sandwiches lakeside. Frank and Sue are discussing her aversion to steep drop offs,
whether by lakes or along hiking trails.

Along the road back we came upon an outdoor sculpture garden by an artist named Dan Klennert. Not only did the metal sculptures capture the very essence of the machines and animals he interpreted, but his methods were the ultimate in recycling. He scoured junkyards and old homesteads for his raw materials and his philosophy quoted the phrase EX-NIHILO, which is Latin for "Something made out of nothing". Strolling around the lusciously green sculpture park was a pleasant low-key way to while away some afternoon time.

Dan Klennert's works are unique, eclectic, whimsical, huge, ecologically sound, and just plain fun.

Ok, Sue and John.     Lean into it...     Hi-ho, hobby horse... away!

Frank, the leader of the pack... Vroom, vroom!

Penny (farthing) for your thoughts, Diane.

We never did have the urge or make the time to visit the Seattle Art Museum. After reading their rejection letter to this talented artist I am not dismayed in the slightest. I guess if you want to be impressed with more of his work you may need to go to Elbe, WA or at least to his website http://www.danielklennert.com/home.

"... too whimsical to be of interest for the Seattle Art Museum..."
Sounds like a pretty stodgy attitude to me.

After our tour of the metal sculpture garden we found a place for dinner in Ashford just beyond the turnoff for our cabins. We stopped at Alexander's Country Inn, established in 1912. The weather was balmy again and very pleasant so we opted to eat outdoors, next to the trout pond. We could see the leaping fish and small gentle waterfall a short distance away across the pond. The food was good.  Lamb shanks for Frank and veal parmigiana for me are two dishes I remember. The white local wine, Snoqualmie Riesling, was good and kept us in our relaxed mood.

The building and grounds of Alexander's Country Inn were beautiful.

We ate outdoors next to the trout pond because, as Frank said "I have never eaten next to a trout pond before."
Notice the dainty waterfall far in the background.

After dinner Frank & I retired back to our cabin with John & Sue and watched the Disney DVD Frozen. Sue's high school students had wanted to use the song Let It Go from Frozen for one of their projects. Sue wanted to see the song in context and the movie was relatively short. So we all "chilled" while we watched it before John & Sue went on back to their own cabin for the night. Twice before Frank had tried to watch this movie, once in the theatre and once at home. The third time was the charm. He stayed awake for the whole thing this time! Maybe it was the company that did the trick.

Watching Frozen with friends was
a happy ending to a fun-filled day.