RV Travels With Huggy

On this past Tuesday my neighbors and I made the trip north of town to the little village of Wickersham where a railroad enthusiast has really setup a large model railroad. He calls it the Lake Whatcom Railway and you can ride on scheduled trips through out the year. The track extends about three and a half miles north to a nice open pasture area which is the midpoint of the trip. The equipment is old and not perfectly restored, but how many of us have our own railroad of any type or quality? Of course I took some photos and will post about six of them here.

This first photo is of the diesel locomotive that he uses to pull the old Northern Pacific passenger car on the trips. This was a yard switch engine formerly used in the rail yard in Tacoma, WA:


I guess all railroads have little speeder type cars that are powered with a small engine & used to move one or more people around to work on the system, although I don't think I have ever seen one quite like this. It looks like it would be a fun way to get around:


Here is an old caboose that is parked on a spur track in the meadow at the end of the run. I didn't get inside (it was locked) but am sure he has kept it original. Many of these old cabooses have been modified to make cute little gift shops and other various retail uses:


There was a hand car there that was very popular, especially with the children who were along on the trip. Here are a group of them, along with the owner/Engineer, pumping the handle to bring the car back to the switch & onto the siding:


This is a closer view of the hand car and it's crew. You can also see some of the natural landscape here in the northwest in these photos. We have quite a bit of rainfall over the year but the foliage is quite green and lush because of that:


We have returned to the start/finish of the trip. This will show a bit of the inside of the passenger car, along with my neighbor, B, who is gathering up things preparing to exit the train. They had a coffee shop on the train in the area behind the wall that is behind B, but it didn't offer much beside coffee, potato chips and candy bars, at least on this day:


I have been on better train rides but none of them were owned and operated by just one person. He has done very well to get to this position on his own, and is providing a glimpse into history for the local people that wouldn't exist without his efforts. To see more about this hobby business, visit the Lake Whatcom Railway web site.

Tomorrow I should have a post ready about the Elvis show I went to last night, along with some photos.

Labels: Friends, Photos, Trips to see things