One of the Prototype Tours for the National Model Railroad Convention (PSX) in Seattle WA. was a ride on the Mount Rainier Scenic Railroad. The trip started at 7:00 AM on Wednesday morning July 7th. It was a long bus ride from the convention hotel, but it passed quickly as Ken Lass, my seatmate, and I got caught up on events in our lives since we last saw each other years ago.

Our trip started at the shop complex outside of Elbe WA. Four steam engines were lined up for us to photograph. We were told the Shay was not going to operate today as it had not passed its FRA inspection. The shop complex is on the private property of a logging company and not usually available for tours. The group was not well organized so we had no formal tour of the shops, we were unsure where we were allowed to go, so mostly we stood by the train checking out the overall scene. I did manage some shots of some of the equipment there.

The four steamers were the 3 Truck Shay #11 (not under steam), the 3 Truck Heisler #91, an Alco 2-8-2T #17 and a 3 Truck Climax #10 for more information about these locos click here

Five coaches were being attached to the engines by a SD9 diesel locomotive. The last coach was an open car (no windows) and that is where I headed to ride when the doors were opened. We backed out of the yard through the wye and onto the main line to Morton WA, a 14 mile trip each way. We did not cover the 3 miles to Elbe from the wye. The normal Mt. Rainier trip is from Elbe to Mineral Lake about a 14 mile round trip. Our excursion was behind the three steamed up locomotives. We had a photo run by at a siding and at Morton the engines cut off and went to get water. We got a sack lunch while we were waiting and we could get off the train to check out the mill across the street. This mill cut logs less than 12" in diameter. They made 2X4 and 2X6 studs.

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	MOW Crane 165 and flatcar.		Alco locomotive
	An SD 9 moves the coaches to the steam locomotives. Looks like a former SP unit.		Tank car with a 2 % dome.
	Climax Steam locomotive being readied for our trip.		There is always lots of interesting 'stuff' at a railroad yard.
	Note: half of a log car, American LaFrance fire engine, log pond boat, and steam engine tender. Plus?		Only the under carriage of this car remains today. Why does it have a muffler? Note the split coupler.
	The photo run-by. first we got off the train.		Then they backed up the train.
	The Alco.		Further back until they disappeared around the bend.
	Then with a wail of steam whistles they charged forward.		Foamers hanging out of the first car.
	They charged right on by.		And kept on going.
	Then they backed up and did it again.		I had two cameras to juggle, so some of the sequence is missing.
	There were lots of twists and turns, but the right-of-way is so narrow you usually could not see the engines.

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