Big Creek, big old steam trains

July, 2019

Hissssssss! Hissssssss! You can hear the hiss and the squeal of the steam gushing out of the locomotive, can’t you? Hissssssss!

Just down the road a bit from Big Creek Campground is the town of Elbe (pronounced ELL-bee) and the historic Mount Rainier Railroad with its two great old steam locomotives, many old passenger cars, and an assortment of old cabooses. You can ride this very same train on an old rail line through the forest (photo below). All board!! Listen to the steam whistle blow … whoo-woooooo!

If any of you readers are train aficionados and live anywhere near this area south of Tacoma, WA, you need to go here and ride this train. Train rides happen every Saturday and Sunday from Memorial Day to late October. You can even ride IN the locomotive (for a bit more money). Here’s the website … https://mtrainierrailroad.com/.

I was here during the week, so I didn’t get a ride, but I wandered around that locomotive and the cars, and even crawled around under some of the cars. There weren’t any access restrictions. It was pretty cool. 🙂

 

 

Besides locomotive #7134 (an ex-Army locomotive built in 1942) and the old passenger cars attached to it that were all still in service, there were lots of other passenger cars and box cars and even some cabooses here that had been converted to rentable over-night accommodations. These other rail cars didn’t move, they were no longer “rolling stock”, but they sure looked comfy and welcoming and would be fun to stay in.

 

To make your stay here even nicer (or for day-time visitors), there’s a dining room car … and a bar car. I thought the name of the bar car was fun … Side Track Room. You surely could get sidetracked in the Side Track Room which was, of course, parked on a side track.

There’s another old passenger rail car here (not photographed here) that’s been converted into a pizza parlor, with some of THE best pizza I’ve ever eaten.

 

I resisted the urge to sample the offerings in the bar car and prowled around the old steam locomotive and its passenger cars instead.

 

 

The original systems used on 7134 were patented in both the USA and Canada.

Above … locomotive to the left, hitched to a passenger car immediately behind it on the right.

Photo above … how two of the passengers cars are hitched together, including wiring connections and hydraulic lines for brakes, etc.

Photo above … the brake system on one of the passenger cars.

I always wondered about the mechanical and fluid systems on board passenger rail cars … where was the water kept? how was electricity supplied for lights? what happened when one flushed the toilet? I wondered if tanks and such were built into the body of the rail car so they weren’t out in the weather. The answer for this one old passenger car is above … the batteries and tank systems are attached under the car … easy access for servicing but I might guess they would freeze in the winter.

A block or two away from all of that railroad stuff was this one very old steam locomotive (below). It was permanently parked on a side track just outside the Railroad gift shop there in Elbe.

This old locomotive is a Heisler “geared” steam locomotive built in 1912. It was operated by the Pickering Lumber Company and was known as “PLC #10”. It was used to haul logs out of the forest to places where the logs could be loaded onto trucks. Geared steam locomotives were better suited to steep grades and uneven tracks.

 

 

“PLC #10” did her job for many decades and was eventually retired.

Today, logs are loaded out in the woods at the site of harvesting directly onto great big diesel trucks. The truck in the photo below just happened to drive by “PLC #10” while I was standing across the street.

I’ll leave you with two really nice videos below, the first has more detailed information about different types of engines (or trucks or tractors as they are called). All three of these old locomotives are still running today.

And finally, here’s a great video of this train on its journey outbound, and then back to Elbe. This is the kind of gorgeous country you’ll be traveling through if you buy a ticket. Go! Buy a ticket! All abooooooard!!

There are plenty more videos online about the Mount Rainier Scenic Railroad. Take your time, put your feet up, listen to that whistle, and just enjoy the ride. 🙂