Western Railroad Discussion > Tacoma Rail Open House

Tacoma Rail held an open house today at their main facilities in Tacoma, Washington. They had their shop open, a locomotive available for a cab tour, an ex-Chehalis Western caboose open, two modular model railroad displays, and the requisite BBQ and clown for the kids. In addition, they were offering rides around the port facilities in their passenger train, which was powered by the Polson Logging Mikado #70 on one end, and their brand-new genset on the other. It made for an interesting contrast in motive power technologies, for sure.

Lots of people turned out to ride the train and take the tour. I was in the neighborhood to run an errand so I stopped by and grabbed a few grab-shot pics.

Images 1-3 are the new genset, unit #2100. This loco was spotted in Minneapolis Northtown Yard about a week ago, as seen here: http://www.trainorders.com/discussion/read.php?1,2544923,2545361#msg-2545361. The unit made it to Tacoma just in time to take part in the open house.

Rick Selby
Redmond, WA
Pacific Northwest RPM



Edited 1 time(s). Last edit at 08/28/11 00:34 by RAS.

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There was also a dirty UP ES44AC on display, with all the hood doors open revealing the prime mover and other assorted mechanical bits.

Polson 70 looked wonderful. What a nice restoration job the Mt Rainier Scenic crew did on this loco.

There were some new-hire conductors keeping the left seat warm in the new genset....

Rick Selby
Redmond, WA
Pacific Northwest RPM



Edited 1 time(s). Last edit at 08/28/11 00:37 by RAS.

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There were two foreign visitors in town, too. MRL 346 was fresh out of the Progressive Rail paint booth (the old CEECO facility), presumably ready to head back to Montana for a coat of soot on that shiny blue paint. Sorry for the crappy pic - it's a tight crop from a 300MM shot.

Also in town was Pacific Harbor Lines #20, being shuffled around by one of Tacoma Rail's MP15s, having just been pulled from the Progressive Rail facility. This was a grab shot out the car window - it snuck up on me when I wasn't looking....

Tacmoma's always a good place to see something interesting, and today was no exception. It's pretty nice that the Tacoma Rail organization does this event every year, especially in this era of budget cuts and frugality. It's even more encouraging to see that thousands of people that come down to support the organization, see the trains, and go for a ride. Hopefully it'll continue for years to come.

-Rick

Rick Selby
Redmond, WA
Pacific Northwest RPM

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Fantastic series, Rick! Thanks for dropping in...

~ BZ

Great article. The paint scheme and logo is very well thought out and pleasing to look at. You are very fortunate to have the event in today's times. Thanks for letting us look.
Brian Stevens

The MRL 346 has been ready for over a week now. Getting the BNSF to move it to the yard so it can depart towards home is ALWAYS an issue. Sometimes it may take a month to get the BNSF local to make the pick up.

Once back to the MRL the 346 will be paired with MRL 4312 for gas train service. Both units have the new redball Washington Corps logos to show off in the HQ city.