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

YOU ARE CORDIALLY INVITED

to the Annual Volunteer & Community Picnic

celebrating the 11^th Anniversary of the

Cascade Rail Foundation / Friends of the South Cle Elum Depot

The Cascade Rail Foundation (CRF) is hosting its annual volunteer picnic with a special presentation for he coveted “volunteer of the year award” on Saturday, September 11.

The picnic event will all take place at the Depot.

Cascade Rail Foundation has been working in cooperation with Washington State Parks at the South Cle Elum Rail Yard, which includes the Milwaukee Road depot built in 1909, the brick substation #24, the site of the former Milwaukee Road rail yard with an interpretive trail, a rib side Milwaukee caboose and an assortment of artifacts and documents from the Milwaukee Road. The depot is open for visits by arrangement and the railyard has a self-guided interpretive trail. This represents the culmination of eleven years of activity as volunteers have been working to preserve and rehabilitate the remnants of the Milwaukee Road. The group first met in Fall of 1999 as the Friends of the South Cle Elum Depot and have grown into the Cascade Rail Foundation.

The picnic/potluck event takes place Sat., Sept 11th after the monthly Board Meeting (11 AM – 12:45 PM).

All are invited to JOIN US FROM 1-3 PM for our volunteer-of-the-year announcement and

potluck lunch from 1-3 PM.

A-L…….salad or hot entrees *

M-Z……snacks/dessert

* for those wishing to have something grilled, we will have the BBQ set

up outside.

Coffee, tea, and sodas will be provided.

An RSVP is requested from all. Please contact CRF President Bruce Reason at:

bereason@inlandnet.com

The 2010 Milwaukee Road Modelers meet will be held August 27-29 at the Cedar River Watershed Education Facility near North Bend, WA.

Admission is $10 per day.  Pre-register for both Saturday and Sunday for $15.  The tour on Friday is an additional $10. Download the registration form here:

"2010 Cascade Rail Foundation’s Milwaukee Road Modelers Meet Registration Form"

The planned program is described below.

Friday, August 27th: 10:00 AM – 4:00 PM.

Cedar River watershed tour of the Milwaukee Road Right of Way

Bring your own lunch and arrive at 9:30, tour ends at 4:00.  A history tour of the watershed, stops at bridges, Cedar River yard and remaining Milwaukee Road structures.  Limit is 21.  Contact David Newcomb to reserve a seat on the tour.

Saturday, August 28th: 9:30 AM – 6:30 PM.

Bring your models to display (any scale) from 9:30 – 12:00.

Modeling clinics start at 1:00 PM:

• Doug Nighswonger – MOW equipment

• Mike Faletti – Building bridge/structure & freight car prototypes

Milwaukee history presentations:

• Al Currier – slide show

• George Werkema – Bellingham branch line slides

Sunday, August 29th: 9:30AM-6: 30 PM

Slide and video presentations:

• Allen Miller – slide show

• Paul Krueger – the Gary Parson slide collection taken at South Cle Elum

• John Crosby – his DVD cab ride through the Cascades with Q&A after

• Noel Holley – His GE collection of B&W photos taken in Montana

Location:

Download a flyer about this event to printout and share!

Click the thumbnail or link below for a printable PDF.

"2010 Cascade Rail Foundation’s Milwaukee Road Modelers Meet info"

 

See you there!

Work Party Report
Spring Cleanup at the South Cle Elum Railyard

On Friday, April 23, volunteers and State Parks personal worked together at a spring cleanup of the site of the rail yard, the interior of the substation and the historic depot. Volunteers from the John Wayne Pioneer Wagons & Riders, the horse group with is active in riding and maintaining the John Wayne Pioneer Trail, Cascade Rail Foundation volunteers, and personal from Lake Easton State Park all joined forces for a spring cleanup and doing something green to commemorate Earth Day as well.

We had an excellent turnout with Doug Schmitt, Sharon Schmitt, Nicole Schmitt, Zachary Schmitt, Terry Wade, Judy Westall, Ray Ewing and John Lidral from the John Wayne Pioneer Wagons & Riders. Representing State Parks was Ranger Tim Schmitt and Josh White, equipment operator from Lake Easton State Park. Cascade Rail Foundation volunteers included Mark Borleske and Bruce Reason.

The electric substation needed cleanup and Tim Schmidt and volunteers worked on organizing, consolidating and sorting material in the substation. This is in preparation of anticipated rehabilitation and renovation of the substation building by contractors.

Meanwhile, outside in the rail yard, John Lidral was busy operating his track hoe, cleaning out brush and debris from the rail yard and loading it into a dump truck provided by State Parks and driven by Josh White. By the end of the day, the dump truck carried seven loads of organic clean and green material for composting, a total of 11,940 pounds of material, nearly six tons! A load of debris weighing 1440 pounds was also taken to the transfer station.

Ray Ewing performed his chainsaw magic to trim back trees encroaching on the trail and manicuring other trees in the rail yard. Judy Westall, Terry Wade and John Lidral joined him in transplanting some eight trees to serve as a windbreak and a natural border between public and private property.

Meanwhile, members of the Schmitt family for their work on the Easton shack, with the substation cleanup and the overall cleanup out in the rail yard. The Easton Telephone shack, located on the right of way at the far west end of the yard, received some light maintenance and a damaged window frame was repaired and painted.

Bruce reason, president of Cascade Rail Foundation, was busy during the day, cleaning, painting and preparing the exterior of the depot for painting.

This was a most successful work party and a good way to celebrate Earth Day, perform a Spring Cleaning and continue to improve the grounds in anticipation of the John Wayne Pioneer Wagons & Riders annual ride. This year the John Wayne group will overnight at the west end of the railyard on Saturday, May 22 and ride out on Sunday, May 23. The Cle Elum stop is always a special and memorable event on the annual two-week cross state ride with the John Wayners.

by Mark Borleske

The John Wayne Pioneer Wagons & Riders made an overnight visit Saturday, May 24, 2009 to
the old South Cle Elum Rail Yard last Saturday. South Cle Elum is just one
of many overnight stops for the horse group as they travel across Washington
on their namesake, the John Wayne Trail. The riders have been taking part in
an annual ride across Washington State on the route of the former Milwaukee
Road since 1981. This year, the ride started in Easton on Saturday and will
end up in Tekoa, Washington, near the Idaho state line, on June 6th.

The John Wayne Pioneer Wagons and Riders, and their namesake John Wayne
Pioneer Trail, are closely linked. In 1977, the Milwaukee Road went bankrupt
and in 1980, the railroad cut their service in the west. The group persuaded
the State of Washington to acquire the former railroad right of way as a
recreational trail. By 1981, the John Wayne riders were making organizing
their first ride, the initial one was from the Columbia River to Easton.
Since then, the ride has expanded and has been well-received by communities
and some ranchers and farmers who act as overnight hosts to the group and
provide camping space. The John Wayne Trail is now managed by Washington
State Parks as a part of Iron Horse State Park. Other portions of the trail
in Eastern Washington are managed by the Washington Department of Natural
Resources. Volunteer members of the John Wayne riders have spent countless
hours making improvements on the trail, to trailheads as well as locations
along the trail. In Spring of 2009, for example, volunteers have work
parties planting trees and cleaning up brush in the rail yard at South Cle
Elum. They also has a work party doing cleanup and making trail improvements
at the Thorpe trailhead.

On Saturday night, the riders were hosted by the Cascade Rail Foundation, a
volunteer organization which works with State Parks in managing the South
Cle Elum Rail Yard and the historic depot. Over one hundred people enjoyed a
steak cookout in front of the historic depot building.  On Sunday morning,
the riders were treated to a continental breakfast at the depot before
riding out.

As it was time to move on, the riders hit the trail, traveling east, with a
procession of horses and bicycles, moving at their own pace. Due to State
Parks recent closure of the tunnels on the John Wayne Trail, including two
in the Yakima River Canyon, Sunday’s ride was more like an excursion, out
and back instead of traveling on to the overnight destination at Thorpe.
Later in the afternoon, the riders broke camp and traveled with their
vehicles, horse trailers and horses and bicycles to Thorpe. In addition to
the overnight stays at Easton, South Cle Elum and Thorpe, the riders will
continue with stays at Kittitas, Renslow (I-90 Trailhead/Army West), and
Wanapum, on the Columbia River; all in Kittitas County. The ride continues
east of the Columbia River with visits to Othello, Warden, Lind, Ralston,
Revere, Ewan, Malden, Rosalia and ending in Tekoa.

The US Postal Service will have a special pictorial cancellation honoring the centennial of the depot at South Cle Elum. The postmark will be available by visiting Depot Days or through the mail. The postmark features a side view of the depot at South Cle Elum and includes the words:

MILWAUKEE ROAD STATION, Centennial 1909-2009, SOUTH CLE ELUM, WA 98943.

The postmark will be dated June 12 or June 13th.

A special cachet, or illustrated envelope for a postal cover will be available during Depot Days. The cover features a two-color map of the Pacific Coast Extension of the Milwaukee Road, from the Dakotas to Puget Sound.

The cover includes the words: THE MILWAUKEE ROAD,
PACIFIC COAST EXTENSION CENTENNIAL, 1909-2009. Two historic color logos of the Milwaukee Road are included on the cachet.

To order the cachet and special postmark, send payment and a self-stamped addressed envelope (SASE) to:

Cascade Rail Foundation

DEPT. RPO

PO Box 462

South Cle Elum, WA 98943

The covers are $2.00 each or 3 for $5.

The postal covers can also be purchased at the depot during the Depot Days event, Friday, June 12 and Saturday, June 13.

The South Cle Elum depot is the centerpiece of the South Cle Elum National Historic District. The depot rehabilitation of the depot was a project of Cascade Rail Foundation and Washington State Parks. The rail yard and depot are open for visitors and is a part of Iron Horse State Park and is an important historic site on the John Wayne Trail, which extends across Washington State.

Public Invited to Celebration!

The clock will be turned back to 1909 for a celebration of the 100th Anniversary of the Milwaukee Road railroad depot in South Cle Elum. The beautifully restored Milwaukee railroad station and the South Cle Elum Rail Yard Historic District will be the setting for Depot Days.  Events includes historic walking tours, visits with characters right out of 1909, silent movies, a working telegraph to send messages, a special post office for a commemorative postmark, refreshments and more. The festivities will be held Friday, June 12 and Saturday June 13 from 10 a.m. until 5:00 p.m. On Friday evening there will be a special showing of silent movies. A special feature of Saturday’s event will be reenactors from 1909 and live music. Admission to all Depot Days events is free to the public.

The depot will come to life as the click and clack of Morse code resounds from the telegraph office.  The authentic telegraph office will be operating and telegrams may be sent and received. Telegraph and communication equipment has been reconditioned and installed at the depot office just as it was in 1909. Morse Telegraph Club volunteers will demonstrate the telegraph and Morse code.

There will be a 1909-style reenactment in an authentic vintage setting. Costumed presenters will share their experiences of life in small town Cle Elum, on the railroad and as fashionable travelers making the train trip to Seattle to visit the 1909 Alaska-Yukon-Pacific Exhibition. Cascade Rail Foundation volunteers and State Parks rangers will conduct tours inside the depot as well as out in the rail yard on an interpretive trail. Tours will be held regularly throughout both days.

A special  “Movie Night at the Depot” will take place Friday evening. The movie selection will include silent films from the turn of the century. The classic blockbuster hit of 1903, “The Great Train Robbery” will be featured. It is regarded as the first movie “Western”, even though it was filmed in New Jersey.  Other short silent films will round out the program.

On Saturday, music from turn of the century will be performed at the Depot. Enjoy the popular music of the era, including songs we still remember; In the Good Old Summertime, Take Me Out to the Ballgame and Give My Regards to Broadway were favorites of the era. You might even sing along to some old familiar tunes.

The US Postal Service will have a temporary post office, known as “Milwaukee Road Station” at the depot in South Cle Elum on both Friday and Saturday. The postal station will use a special pictorial cancellation of the depot with the words Centennial 1909 – 2009.

The Cascade Rail Foundation is offering a specially designed cachet envelope depicting a map of the Milwaukee Road Pacific Coast Extension from the Midwest to Puget Sound. The two-color envelope also features two logos of the Milwaukee Road, or the Chicago, Milwaukee & Puget Sound as the western extension was initially called. It can be ordered by sending $2.00 for one and $5.00 for three. Send self-stamped addressed  #10 envelope to Cascade Rail Foundation, Dept. RPO, PO Box 462, South Cle Elum, WA 98943. The commemorative postmark will available both days at the depot, a ticket window serving as a retail counter for the Post Office. Cachets are will also be sold at the depot during the event. $2.00 each, 3 for $5.00.

Inside the depot, a small museum will features the history of the Milwaukee Road and South Cle Elum in photos, vintage advertising, artifacts and stories.  Refreshments and light snacks will be available at the depot lunch counter during the event

Mark Borleske
Depot Days Chairman

Download a Free Printable Event Poster to Display

2009 Depot Days Poster (136)

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