Chehalis-Centralia Railroad: The Logging Engine That Survived

The Baldwin locomotive at the heart of the Chehalis excursion railroad was built in nineteen sixteen. Built for the Clear Lake Lumber Company in Skagit County and later sold to the Cowlitz, Chehalis and Cascade Railway, the two-eight-two Mikado-type engine spent decades hauling logs out of the hill country of southwest Washington until the mid-nineteen fifties, when diesel made it redundant.

The engine sat until the nineteen eighties, when a group of local rail enthusiasts decided to restore it and rebuild ten miles of former Milwaukee Road track as a heritage line. Passenger operations began in nineteen eighty-nine, winding through farmland, forest, and over wooden trestles above the Chehalis River. It is one of only a handful of operating steam-powered railroads left in Washington state. If you are passing through Chehalis between late spring and late fall, you can ride the railroad that preserves the engine that once fed the Pacific Northwest timber boom, though a diesel currently pulls the trains while the steam locomotive awaits repairs.