
Special Thanks to Dr. Jim Hannum, Olympia
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Northern Pacific North Coast Limited at Tacoma
Union Station in 1968 on a route between Seattle and Chicago. Photo by
Jim Fredrickson. Courtesy of Washington State University Press. Published
in "Railscapes: A Northern Pacific Brasspounder’s Album |
Seattle to Hoquiam train at Olympia
Northern Pacific station Feb. 14, 1956. Photo by Jim Fredrickson.
Courtesy Washington State University Press. Published in "Railscapes: A
Northern Pacific Brasspounder’s Album |
1901 Port Townsend Southern depot just north of the current 4th Avenue Bridge, Olympia. Conductor Morrow is pictured on the ground standing next to a Porter engine (built in 1897) and engineer. Engine 6 became part of Northern Pacific livery in 1902. Photo courtesy of Peter Replinger and Jim Hannum. |
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Chambers Prairie Union Pacific Depot,
May 22, 1928, jointly used by passenger and freight trains on the
Prairie Line between Tenino and Tacoma. Later renamed East Olympia,
predecessor of Olympia-Lacey Centennial Station. Photo by James Fisher.
Courtesy Northern Pacific Railway Historical Association. Ainsworth
Collection. (WWANL-T03-096) Edited. |
The original Tenino Station, circa 1877,
four or five years after the Northern Pacific Railroad arrived to what
is now the town of Tenino. This started passenger rail service for South
Puget Sound. You could board the NP in St. Paul, Minn. that year and
Tenino Station would be your last stop after a train ferry ride on the
"Tacoma" across the Columbia River near Kalama. NP spent some time
deciding whether to proceed from Tenino to Olympia, Tacoma, or Seattle.
It eventually chose Tacoma. I appreciate the assistance of Tenino
Historian Rich Edwards for locating and identifying this photo believed
to be taken by Hiram Hoyt, Seattle, between 1876-1878. Station
named after the Oregon Navigation Co. Columbia River Sternwheeler "Tenino"
(1860) or later "New Tenino" from Celilo to Wallula. |
Oregon Washington Railway and Navigation
Company Office in downtown Olympia on Fourth Ave. Company owned by Union
Pacific. Part of the building still stands today. Photo by Marvin
Boland. Circa 1920s. Courtesy 2009.34.57, Washington State Historical
Society, Tacoma (Wash.) |
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Sheldon Station on the Olympia-Tenino
Railroad. Address is about 9600 Highway 99, Tumwater. With NPs decision
to build track to Tacoma from Tenino, Olympia interests built this track
(initially narrow gage) from Tenino to what is now Capitol Lake in 1877.
Also known as the Olympia and Chehalis Valley Railroad before acquired
by Northern Pacific. Some of those pictured are believed to be members
of the Sheldon Family including children Lena, May and Earl. Thanks to
Ron Nelson for his assistance. |
Passenger train Tacoma-bound from Lacey
Northern Pacific Station in 1912. Photo from the Harold Meir Collection,
Courtesy St. Martin's University Abbey. Special thanks to Father Peter
Tynan, University Chaplain and Abbey Monk. Locomotive is a Baldwin 4-6-0
built about 1890. |
Chambers Prairie Union Pacific Station
located off Rich Road south of Olympia. This station was the forerunner
of Centennial Station off the main line at Yelm Highway. (Courtesy Jim
Hannum, Olympia. Lacey Historical Museum) |
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Yelm Northern Pacific station. Photo by
Virg Holloway (Courtesy Northern Pacific Railway Historical Association,
Fredrickson Collection JMF04-02998.0) |
Tumwater Station. Streetcar station was
operated by the Olympia Power and Light Co. (later acquired by Puget
Sound Power and Light in 1924.) This station and adjacent tracks may
have been used in about 1902 to haul passengers as well as beer (on flat
cars) from the original Olympia Brewery to a bottling facility near the
Northern Pacific Depot (Capitol Lake). The photo of the boarded station
was taken about 1916 on the Custer Street bridge. Courtesy of Washington
State Historical Society (C2019.0.144) and Jim Hannum, Olympia, author
of "Gone But Not Forgotten." All Olympia-area streetcar services were
terminated on Dec. 1, 1933. The first attempt at streetcar service began
in 1890 with Olympia, Tumwater, and Brighton Park Motor Railway Corp.
proposed to originate in the vicinity of what is now the Olympia
Airport. |
Rainier, Wa., Station. Edited version.
Northern Pacific Historical Association (JMF04-03000.0) January 1975.
Photo by Fisher. |
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Northern Pacific Olympia Depot, 1914.
Courtesy 2010.149.5.2, Washington State Historical Asssociation, Tacoma
(Wash.) Depot was from about 1891 until torn down for replacement in
1966, about 75 years. |
Nisqually Northern Pacific Station.
1941-44 Photo by Jim Fredrickson. Northern Pacific Railway Historical
Association, JMF04-03053.0 |
Saint Clair Northern Pacific Depot,
1927. From the Jim Fredrickson Collection, Northern Pacific Historical
Association (JMF04-03055.0) Thanks to Jim Hannum, Olympia. |
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Centralia Northern Pacific station once
handled 44 passenger trains per day. Built in 1912, it serves eight
trains today. (Larry Ganders) |
Waiting for President William Howard
Taft at Lacey Northern Pacific Station in 1909. (Courtesy Washington
State Historical Society - C1968.52.1) The city recently built a replica
of the building at the same location off Pacific Avenue. |
Port Townsend Southern Station at
Tenino in 1885. (Courtesy Jim Hannum, Olympia; University of Washington
archives) |
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Grays Harbor passenger train at Northern
Pacific Station near downtown Olympia, WA on Feb. 13, 1956. Address is
721 Columbia St. SW. Courtesy of the Northern Pacific Railway Historical
Association. Photo by John T. Labbe. |
Gas-Electric Northern Pacific single-vehicle
"Doodlebug" (Train 502) waits for a connecting Tacoma-Hoquiam
train pulled by a 4-6-2 NP locomotive at Gate City Station in 1941.
The doodlebug continued to Centralia. Doodlebugs were used in various
Northwest locations including Seattle, Hoquiam, Spokane, Coulee City,
and the Palouse. The Electro-Motive B-8 pictured has a
brightly painted front of white stripes on red ahead of the traditional
Northern Pacific green. Gate or Gate City was
located at rail crossings near Rochester in Thurston County.Photo by
James Turner. Courtesy Northern Pacific Railway Historical Association
and Gary Tarbox.
(WWANL-T16-030) |
This is the second Northern Pacific Olympia depot built in
1968. (On the original NP Capitol Lake site, 721 SW Columbia St.) It
served as a combined freight-passenger depot for NP until 1989 when it
was transferred to Burlington Northern (Glacier Properties) It was
purchased by the state of Washington in 1991, which still owns it today.
(Photo by Larry Ganders, 2021)
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"AmShack," the only Olympia Station Stop for Amtrak for many
years. This photo was taken in 1980 by Walt Vitous. The three-sided
station, eventually painted yellow, was located on Rich Road in East
Olympia. It was the immediate forerunner of Olympia-Lacey Centennial
Station which opened in 1993. Photo courtesy Paul Vitous, Olympia. Train
is the Coast Starlight led by an EMD SDP40F locomotive, which did not stop that year.
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The Northern Pacific station at Chehalis, WA was built in
1912. Picture is from a post card, Circa 1913, by Pacific Photo Co. of
Salem, Ore. This photo is courtesy of the Lewis County Historical
Museum. Special thanks to Jason Mattson, Director. This was the site of
a displayed 360-year-old Douglas Fir stump cut near Pe Ell in 1901. It
was eight feet wide at the top and 12 feet at the base. The stump in Chehalis was where politicians like William Howard Taft,
Eugene Debs, and Franklin D. Roosevelt delivered local "stump
speeches." Even prior to 1912, this area was a flag station stop for the
Northern Pacific dating back to when it was called "Saundersville" in
1874.. The area was often flooded and referred to as "Saunders Bottom,"
an apparent play on "Soggy Bottom."
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This photo in 1926 is of Plumb Railroad Station, (aka "Plum") at a
settlement named after Elihu B. Plumb. It was located east of Highway 99
near Waldrick Road south of Tumwater on the former Port Townsend
Southern main line. The settlement also had a U.S. Post Office that
operated from 1879-1885. The station building was removed by 1927.
Photo by James Fisher courtesy of the Northern Pacific Railway
Historical Association. (WWANL T03-103)
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Great Northern diesel at Chehalis Depot, 1950. Photo courtesy of
the Lewis County Historical Museum. Special thanks to Jason Mattson,
Director.
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Olympia Beer refrigerator car shown circa 1906-1910. Railcar at old Olympia brewery. Northern Pacific car is emblazoned with
Olympia beer logo and name. Track is siding of Port Townsend Southern
Railroad that served the brewery. Restoration of photo courtesy of the
Olympia Tumwater Foundation. The engine may be a C-11 Baldwin 4-4-0 #858
built 1879-1883.'
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Wenatchee Apple Promotion with
Great Northern Railway. Oct. 18, 1947 Wenatchee,
Washington From the
archives of the Wenatchee World (Also Railway Age, Vol. 123, No. 18) This
promotion features1946 Apple Blossom Princess, the late Lois Elaine
Banghart (1928-2021); Later Lois Elaine Beall. She became an orchardist
in the Chelan area. It marked 10,000 Great Northern trainloads of apples
shipped from Wenatchee to Minneapolis from 1901-1947. The engine is an
Electro-Motive Diesel Corporation diesel-electric FTA, probably produced
around 1944. In service until 1951. Photo is also available through the
Wenatchee Valley Museum and Cultural Center.
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The 149-year-old Prairie Line from Tenino to
Tacoma featured the addition of this steel bridge in 1904 that still
stands today near Yelm and is proposed as a new pedestrian trail. Photo
taken in 1929 by James Fisher (edited.) Courtesy Northern Pacific
Railway Historical Association (WWANL T04-064) |
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Historic photo of
Kyro Station near Marvin Road in Lacey, WA. Volunteers at
Olympia-Lacey Centennial Station receive important axel count alerts
from Mile Post 30 that notify us of southbound trains approaching in
just a couple minutes. Back from 1915-1927, that was the site of the
closest station to what is now Centennial. At the intersection of Marvin
Road and what is now the Burlington Northern Santa Fe main line was the
Northern Pacific's "Kyro Station" (far left building) which served both
passenger trains and freight in today's Lacey area at least 107-plus
years ago. The station with its 100,000-gallon water tower also marked
the turnout for Union Lumber Company and the area known as "Union
Mills." Special thanks to Gary Tarbox, Dr. Jim Hannum, and the Northern
Pacific Railway Historical Association for their assistance. The
original photo by James Fisher (JMF04-03059) from 1927 was heavily
damaged and has been edited. |
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