Here is the latest news from Cascade Rail Foundation (CRF).

Review of Cooperative Agreement and Strategic Plan
As part of the November board meeting, CRF board members met with State Parks staff to review the 2004 cooperative agreement between CRF and State Parks regarding operation of the South Cle Elum Rail Yard. The primary outcome of this review will be the development of an addendum to the agreement that includes all the procedures and related forms necessary for implementing the agreement. The group also discussed the next steps in implementing the strategic plan for the Rail Yard. The pros and cons of different projects were debated. State Parks will try to make a State Parks facilitator available to CRF at a future board meeting to assist the board in clarifying priorities. The strategic plan for the South Cle Elum Rail Yard is available on the CRF web site at: http://www.milwelectric.org/download/index.html

Collections
The Pacific Northwest Railroad Archive web site is now up at http://PNRArchive.org. PNRA expects to have the building permit for improvements at the archive facility by early December. If the weather cooperates, CRF plans to start moving collections over to the PNRA facility in Burien from Cle Elum in January.

Depot Café concession
The CRF board is reviewing a proposal from a concessionaire to operate the Depot Cafe. The concessionaire proposes to operate the café all year, with regular hours on the weekends (Thursday night through Sunday) and special events scheduled during the rest of the week.

Interpretive trail panels
The manufacturer of the panels on the Interpretive Trail is providing replacements for all of them because they were made with defective material. CRF should receive the new panels soon.

Grant applications
This month CRF learned that two grant applications were unsuccessful. One application was for federal transportation enhancement funds to purchase Substation Operator Bungalow Number 1 (the Douglas Munro home). The other application was for the annual Trains magazine preservation award, requesting funds for archive equipment. Other funding sources will be pursued for these projects.

The Mountains to Sound Greenway Heritage Study
The Mountains to Sound Greenway organization is coordinating a planning process that involves multiple jurisdictions, agencies, and private organizations that have a stake in the greenway. The purpose of the process is to establish a formal boundary for the greenway, identify important assets within the greenway and establish a framework for cooperatively managing those assets. The study may identify funding sources that could be used for projects within the greenway. CRF has a representative on the Kittitas working group and has submitted a list of potential projects to be considered during the planning process. More information can be found on the Greenway web site: http://mtsgreenway.org/heritagestudy/heritagestudy.

Snoqualmie Tunnel repairs
State Parks has told CRF that the work on the tunnel lining near the portals is going a little slower than planned. However, the work should be done early in December. Next spring the drainage work will be done. State Parks expects that the tunnel will be reopened July 1, 2011.

Cascade Rail Foundation (CRF) is pleased to announce that it has joined the railroad history organizations leasing archive space from the recently formed Pacific Northwest Railroad Archive (PNRA) in Burien, WA.  This will improve storage conditions and public access for our collections of documents and photographs.  The rest of our collections will continue to be stored in South Cle Elum.

CRF works to further the public understanding of and appreciation for railroad history in Washington, particularly the history of the Milwaukee Road.  Our collections support this purpose, and includes material pertaining to the Pacific Coast Extension as well as system-wide materials that provide insight on activities of the railroad in Washington. These materials are key to the development of books, magazine articles, and exhibits that tell the story of the railroad, which are necessary to perpetuate the memory of the Milwaukee Road and the efforts of the individuals that made it work.

Help Needed
We hope the Milwaukee Road community will support us in this endeavor.  While financial support and donations of Milwaukee Road materials are needed and greatly appreciated, to make our collections truly accessible we are establishing a group of local, dedicated volunteers to organize, digitize, and catalog material.  We’d like to organize regular work parties at the archive in Burien at least once a month starting in 2011.  If you’re interested in participating, please contact me directly at kruegerp@nwlink.com.

About PNRA
PNRA’s mission is to provide affordable, secure archival space and services for the participating railroad historical organizations that will enable them to make their materials available to the general public.  By combining efforts of the organizations through joint use of shared facilities, equipment and training, each organization can forgo the significant expense of operating their own archive.  The emphasis at PNRA is on preserving collections both physically and digitally, while making the collections much more accessible.  The internet will be the primary venue for providing access to the collections, though researchers will also be able to access materials in the physical collections by appointment.  Other organizations currently leasing space at PNRA include the Northern Pacific Railway Historical Association and Great Northern Historical Society.  More information is available about PNRA is available at http://pnrarchive.org/.

Paul Krueger
Secretary
Cascade Rail Foundation
www.milwelectric.org