Vote to fund restoration of a railroad car!

You can vote daily between now and May 12 to help determine which historic preservation projects receives a share of $1 million in the Partners in Preservation Seattle Initiative. To get more information and link to the voting site, visit Northwest Railway Museum

Railroad preservation and the Northwest Railway Museum have secured an incredible opportunity: the National Trust for Historic Preservation and the American Express Foundation have selected a railroad chapel car to compete for funding in the Partners in Preservation Seattle initiative. This is the first railroad car and railway museum to be involved in this five-year-old initiative that distributes $1 million annually to qualified historic preservation projects. In all, 25 projects are competing for a share of funding; project values range from $65,000 to $125,000.

Funding awards will be decided in part by a public vote conducted between April 15 and May 12. Members of the public may vote daily and the top vote getter will be awarded full funding; additional projects will be funded based in part on the public response.

Chapel car 5 Messenger of Peace was built by Barney and Smith in 1898 and served the Baptist Publication Society, Baptist Home Mission Society and the Railroad YMCA for fifty years. It operated in at least 11 states and traveled extensively in the Pacific Northwest. After retirement, it was used in several creative ways from 1948 until 2006 including as a roadside diner, seaside cottage, and an unlicensed pharmaceutical distribution facility. In 2007 it was donated and moved to the Northwest Railway Museum in Snoqualmie, Washington. It is listed on the National Register of Historic Places, the Washington Heritage Register and is a City of Snoqualmie Landmark.

The chapel car requires extensive rehabilitation and restoration to return it to its period of greatest significance. A Save America’s Treasures grant awarded in December 2009 will combine with a Washington State Historical Society grant, funding from 4Culture and private contributions to allow carbody work to begin. Partners in Preservation funding, if awarded, will allow substantial completion of the project including fabrication of missing pews for the sanctuary.

To learn more and vote, visit Northwest Railway Museum

There is a web page with "all chapel car, all the time" at Chapel car 5 Messenger of Peace

You can also find a Facebook page just for the chapel car at Chapel car Facebook page

Thanks,

--Richard