Mt. Rainier Railroad and Logging Museum Press Release

Railroad Dream Team Forms in Elbe, WA

Big changes are taking place in the small town of Elbe, Washington.
Railroad pioneer and founder of the Mt. Rainier Scenic Railroad Tom Murray, has handed the baton to industry entrepreneur Al Harper and entertainment expert Wayne Rankin. The Mt. Rainier Scenic Railroad and Museum (MRSR) is now Mt. Rainier Railroad.

“Exciting changes are taking place," said Wayne Rankin, President of the new company.

Al and Carol Harper, rail transportation experts and owner of two of the nation’s most scenic and historic railroads, bring their expertise to Elbe. Mr. Harper will help rebrand and make immediate and major improvements. With a career that spans 40 years in tourism and development, Harper’s experience is a welcome addition that opens up new opportunities, said Rankin.

The MRSR was founded in 1981 as a result of the passion of Tom Murray who helped build one of the most comprehensive collections of steam powered logging locomotives and equipment in North America. A former employee of Disney and Sega-GameWorks, Wayne Rankin, who has served as MRSR’s Executive Director of the past 2 years, is an entertainment and hospitality industry veteran with 30+ years of strategic business and operations experience.

Harper spoke of the changes ahead. “Visitors can expect a whole new production. We’re taking what we know works and applying those best practices to operations. We’re doubling the size of payroll and making an immediate investment into the railroad. We’re rebuilding the guest experience from the ground up.” Harper has considerable experience with productions. He and his wife Carol also own Rail Events, a popular series of live events at railroads across the United States and Canada, including the Warner Bros. production Polar Express™. Last year over 7000 visitors flocked to the tiny town of Elbe to ride the Santa Express, but with the addition of Polar Express™ ridership is projected to increase up to 18,000 passengers.

“Preservation of the historic steam train collection and steam train excursions is our priority. We will continue with a larger vision for the future and we plan to dramatically increase ridership and improve the guest experience,” said Rankin. “We plan to expand, enhance our facilities, install new exhibits and host exciting special events. We’re also focused on bringing interactive elements to the museum to blend education with entertainment. We look forward to welcoming guests in the spring.”

About Mt. Rainier Railroad and Logging Museum

The Mt. Rainier Railroad is a steam-powered railway operating in Washington State. The museum is a nonprofit organization operating under the direction of Western Forest Industries Museum. Approximately 60,000 visitors are expected to ride the train to visit the museum. Weekly scheduled departures run May through October with the Polar Express™ excursions scheduled to start in late November and run through the month of December. Passengers travel through the forest and foothills south of Mt. Rainier, over the glacial fed Upper Nisqually River to the museum. For more information visit MtRainierRailroad.com or call 888-STEAM-11.


Locomotive
Railway

Just curious,

How are the for-profit and non-profit entities separated? Who owns what now? I'm very interested in seeing how this will be set up.

Dave

I've seen the changes happening already. The transformation of their shop facility at Mineral into the museum is spectacular. There is room up there for a huge facility. I would love to see an expansion of their operating territory clear into Mt. Rainier National Park. I'm pretty sure the tracks run clear to Paradise.

What really needs help is the tracks themselves which I think are owned by the city of Tacoma. The cars are rocking side to side and bouncing up and down almost as much as they're moving forward.

But I like what I see so far!

The tracks don't go into the National Park, but end somewhere near Ashford, WA. if I remember correctly. This is about 6 miles from the park entrance. I suspect this stretch is very overgrown and would likely have to be completely rebuilt. There's likely to be a number of residences/people that would fight this.

Steve

It's great to see that place start to live up to it's potential. No more honeybucket and losing the arc in the welder when the shop air compressor starts up......... this is great news and best wishes to all concerned.

I am not privy to any specifics on the deal. Just passing on the press release.

I'm guessing you have never driven to Paradise? That would take a cog railway. In any case, it's a national park, so you might as well build a line to the moon.

The line has always ended at Ashford, about 5 miles from Park Junction (named after the national park) and well outside of the national park. The tracks beyond the Junction are out of service, some have been removed, and it's very unlikely that they'll ever be put back in service.

Over the years, various "Train to the Mountain" schemes have been floated, and most had a goal of hauling passengers to Ashford, just like the old days. Whether or not the new owner has any interest in reviving that grandiose plan remains to be seen. It would be a massive project on the scale of the Grand Canyon Railway restoration. 100 ton hopper cars full of $100 bills type of project.

Ashford is the short line into the park from the wye between Elbe and Mineral (Park Junction). The rail line continues south from the shops at Mineral all the way to Morton. There was a large sawmill shipper here in the early to mid-2000s. I chartered a train from Morton to Tacoma back in 2006 when the route was open for the freight business. The mill closed a few years later, and as far as I know, trains haven't been south of Mineral since the mill closed.

The Ashford line is roughly 5 miles long, from Park Junction to Ashford/National. It's about 5 more miles to the national park entrance. The track has never entered the national park, or even come close.

The Tubafor mill in Morton is alive and well. (Ironically, the Tubafor mill does not make 2 x 4's. But if you have a cedar fence and live on the west coast, it may be from that mill.) In fact, Tacoma Rail did extensive work on the wye track in anticipation of running more trains. After the work was completed, but before a train was ever able to run, the line washed out along the Tilton River. A few years later the line suffered an additional washout on the approach to one of the tall timber trestles. The line could, in theory, be re-opened. It would require significant funding, and the in water work along the river would be tricky.

Tubafor - that's the name! I remember that it had a "cute" name related to cut lumber. Glad to hear that it is not closed, just not shipping by rail. We did a photo runby with the Heisler at the mill on a heavy morning - great steam work for photos.

The Morton depot, which was near the mill, was moved to the end of track in Morton, and looked good a few years ago when I cut through the area on the way much further north.

The depot move was directly related to the mill, they wanted the ground the depot was on for additional lumber storage. A deal was worked out between the mill and the city to move it. The new location is close to Jubilee Park, home of Morton's famed Logger's Jubilee.

Usually you wait at the depot for the train to go by. On this day, the train waited for the depot to go by...



The depot was moved down the tail track of the wye for about a block and a half.



Approaching the new location.

^Thanks for the pics!

The Tacoma Eastern reached Ashford in June 1904. The last train east of Park Jct. was a load of logs from the reload at National around 1975. Early on there was talk of using the old dry kilns at National to store some of the Mt. Rainier Scenic's equipment but this never happened. To the best of my knowledge the MRS never ran anything to National much less Ashford.

John T

The tracks to Ashford, if they even exist anymore, are so grown over you wouldn't see them. I know, as I once looked.
The grade crossing on the road to Ashford has been paved over long ago. Even in the late 90s, it was impassable by rail anyway.

I'd be very interested in this information as wel.

Jim