I have no financial or other interest in the Mt. Rainier Railroad & Logging Museum (formerly Mt. Rainier Scenic), other than I've been a big fan of the MRSR (and now MRR&LM) logging steam since the early '90s, riding many regular and special excursion trains with them over the years. But I just have to say, it does my heart good to see what Mr. Al Harper and his talented group of railroad employees have done improving that operation, so I just wanted to spread the word about the goodness happening there.

Mrs. Squatch and I--along with our friends from Portland--attended the Rails-to-Ales event at the Mt. Rainier Railroad & Logging Museum in Elbe, Washington last weekend, and I just wanted to say how fun the whole event was, and how very cool the steam excursion was! Icing on the cake was that Mt. Rainier ("Tahoma" to the native Americans) was out for viewing, and the view from the train of that snowy volcano jutting above the trees here and there was amazing!

We rode behind 1922 Baldwin 2-8-2 Mikado "Polson #70" from Elbe to the Mineral site's hops and logging museum, about a 35-40 minute ride. "Polson #70" is a beautiful logging steamer and has a real bark to her stack talk, and her Russia Iron blueish boiler sheathing now has a very nice workaday patina to it; not dirty by any means, but very clearly well taken care of and lubed and polished where desired in a way that seems to have aged well on this engine. Our first-class air-conditioned coach was equipped with dining tables and chairs (4-tops), and the train also had two air-conditioned coaches with nice high-top comfy seats.

This was an adults-only excursion, and along the way we were served several tasters of local craft brews, and the railroad provided nice cheese, meats 'n crackers snack packs to munch on with our beers. (They also provided neat steam locomotive-shaped chocolates for dessert later, on the return trip). Later at the BBQ, those same beer crafters had kegs on hand to fill our souvenir pint glasses with pours...1/2+ glass fills for each of the tickets we were provided, and we each had plenty of tickets so did not go wanting for suds!

Once at Mineral, we de-trained and for about two hours were free to roam the pre-fab sheds where the steamers are stored: one for the rod logging lokies (the "Rod House"), and one for the geared logging lokies. The "Gear House" also displayed Mr. Tom Murray's (one of MRSRs founders) live steam collection of about eight large logging lokies, which can be admired in their separate shop area through nice-sized windows in the shed wall.

We also wandered over to the shops for a look at where they do their locomotive rebuilding and general maintenance work, and along the way we had several fun and informative conversations with MRR&LM's employees, including our hogger and fireman, brakemen, one of the managers, and the lovely wait staff ladies aboard the train. To a person they were all extremely friendly, helpful and very professional. Their care for what they do is very apparent and at all times they took good care of us and our friends. We also toured the very cool logging museum on site next to the yard tracks. It is made up of former logging bunkhouses--the kind the logging railroads would move from camp-to-camp on railcars--that historically were last located at Rayonier's Lake Quinault Camp and St. Regis Paper Company's Lake Kapowsin Camp up until the early '60's. The bunkhouses each display a different aspect of camp life and include period logging equipment, tools, clothing and cookware, etc. It's really a great look back in time at an industry that help build the Northwest. Additionally, local volunteers were present all over to interpret the museum artifacts, and explain in detail all you could want to know about the logging lokies, logging itself, and anything you wanted to know about the Mt. Rainier National Park just up the road, which I thought was a very nice and friendly touch. The people there were wonderful to talk with, and seemed to take joy in their interactions with the public.

During the layover, the band "Brothers Rowe" band rocked out with great rock 'n roll covers and fast country tunes while an excellent BBQ meal was served under an outdoor wedding-style tent located in a shady, tree-lined field beside the yard tracks. You could watch with a cold beer in your hand as MRR&LM's freshly-painted (in Milwaukee Road Hiawatha colors, yet!), ex-Army GP10 do its tourist train switching moves while listening to the band and enjoying a relaxed and tasty BBQ lunch; truly a perfect way to spend a pretty summer day! Our Portland guests clearly had a great time being exposed to tourist steam at MRR&LM.

After our return to Elbe, it was just a quick walk across the street for some "Scaleburgers", an Elbe tradition served out of a restored old log scaling shack, and for this cheeseburger fan, it was like "goin' home"!

I've rambled on long enough, but I just want to say, if your plans call for a trip up here to the beautiful Pacific Northwest, or if you live around here but haven't visited for awhile, I highly recommend making the drive out to Elbe for a great train ride, especially if you attend one of the special events like the Rails-to-Ales trip (there are two more scheduled for this summer), or one of the several holiday events. And congrats to Mr. Al Harper and his dedicated crews and employees who are clearly putting their hearts into reviving and improving this wonderful tourist railroad. Our group had an excellent time and we're all still talking about it.

Please give them a try if you're out this way and enjoy supporting logging steam in the Pacific Northwest!

-Tom

PS...there are lots of photos already on the net of this operation so a little searching will reveal those for you. I did not take photos, but my friends claim they'll send me some of theirs. If they do, I'll post them; but until then, if anyone else attended the Rails-to-Ales event last weekend, please feel free to add your photos below.