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Just got the official confirmation that this trip is a go.
Mt Rainier Scenic RR will be operating out of Tacoma on June 2nd and 3rd, in conjunction with the grand opening on the Lemay Auto Museum at the Tacoma Dome.
The train will depart from D street, adjacent to Freighthouse Square. Trains will run up the Gulch and depart on the hour starting at 10:00 AM each day.
The train will be a push pull operation, with 2-8-2 #70 and NP 7012 (I think it will be 7012, not positive though...)
No advance reservations needed, tickets sold on a first-come, first served basis.
Nice job, Bob! I just logged on to post the announcement, and there it was already! Yes, we will be running F9 #7012A on the downhill (east) end of the train, just as we did last year.
Brian Wise
General Manager
Mt. Rainier Scenic Railroad
I'm going to try to shoehorn my long-suffering wife into visiting the Lemay museum and grab some shots of the train.
The weather isn't supposed to be great, though, this weekend...
Great news guys. Wish I could be here this weekend. Hey Tom get some shots for me too. Don't play it off, you know you love clearing trees and stuff. Should call you Paul Bunyan you've taken out so many trees. ;-)
I wish I could join the fun! Last year I came up from Denver to see the action. I am still reminiscing over last year. Maybe something will happen later in the year. I miss those double headers with the #17 and #5 and the Chahalis #15 pulling the train to Fife and back.
I was standing in line at the opening of the Lemay museum when I heard 70 depart with the 11AM trip, didn't see or hear anything after that, was too wrapped up at the museum. It was a madhouse over there, I hope that led to a lot of riders!
In Portland OR with a day to kill on Sat 6/2, I called good friend Zac Hastings to see if he would be interested in driving up to Tacoma to ride and photograph MRSR #70 on the 3.8% run up the ex MILW gulch. Of course, Zac was interested, so we headed to Tacoma. We arrived just before the 11am trip returned. Purchasing tickets for the next trip at 1pm, I got a few pictures when #70 was cut off to add some water to the tank.
The ride was spectacular and the 70 really puts on a stack sound show as she blasts up the gulch with 3 cars and F9 7012A on the rear. The F9 appeared to be in throttle 2, just enough to pull her own weight, but not contributing much to the train.
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1) F9 NP 7012A leads the train as it returns from the 11am run. New construction for Sound Transit's Lakewood extension is evident in the "D" street loading area.
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2) A couple of MRSR volunteers chat at the rear car of the 3-car train. 7012A is coupled to the downhill end of the train.
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3) #70 receives some service from the MRSR engine crew volunteers
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4) #70 is ready to cut off the train and move to the water stop just a few feet away.
I spent a good bit of the day on Sunday trying to find a way to get a photo of both the train and the LeMay museum. The tracks are close by, but down in the gulch, so they don't really line up, and there's a bunch of freeway ramps obscuring any view.
The only shot I could find was at C St, and things just didn't quite line up. If there was only a way to back the engine up about 40 feet. At the end of the day, I realized I had my chance. The F9 was cut off to go pick up a couple pieces of rolling stock. That meant the #70 could back up without fouling D St. A quick consultation with the engineer and conductor "How long will it take?" "About a minute..." and they backed things up a bit to line everything up. The resulting photo isn't great, but at least you can see the museum and the train all in one shot. (The museum is the grey/silver building with the arched roof and large windows.)
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