Breda Haiden, left, 6, plugs her ears as her father John Haiden, right, holds her along the 18 mile round trip guided by the historic No. 15 steam train in June 2019 for the Father's Day train trip.
The Chehalis-Centralia Steam Train has left the station for repairs, leaving local volunteers who run the nonprofit organization in search of a replacement engine before its busy season starts at the end of May.
An annual inspection required of the century-old locomotive revealed damage to the boiler incurred from decades of wear and tear. The extent of work needed to fix the metal parts has not yet been determined, nor has the cost, but it is the sort of issue a steam engine cannot reliably power through.
“It’ll be sidelined for at least the rest of the summer,” said Chehalis City Councilor Daryl Lund, who serves as Vice President of the Chehalis-Centralia Railroad and Museum Board. “It depends on how much the volunteers here can do and how much work we can hire out to be done. It costs a lot of money and we haven’t gotten an estimate yet. We’re still taking it apart, but we do know that enough needs to be worked on that it will be out at least that long.”
Lund and board president Bill Deutscher do not anticipate the inoperability of its treasured logging locomotive to affect scheduled events such as the Mother’s Day luncheon on May 12. The organization has access to a diesel locomotive it can use to pull passengers along the Chehalis River and through miles of farmland on dinner excursions and murder mystery evenings.
Once the nonprofit can determine what specifically needs repaired or replaced on its steam engine, it will need to submit a plan for approval by the Federal Railroad Administration prior to work starting on the boiler.
“The proposal has to cover the scope of work and how we plan to accomplish what needs to be done,” Deutscher said. “It takes a few weeks to get federal approval. Once that’s received, you have to get people in there to do the appropriate repairs.”
Members of CCR&M leadership are in the process of contacting people they think can get the repair work done quickly once the FRA gives the green light. Lund said he knows qualified people as close by as Morton and as far away as the other side of the country.
Lund is also friends with someone who may be able to provide a more authentic short-term solution than the diesel engine. Efstathios Pappas works as the assistant general manager of the Cumbres & Toltec Scenic Railroad in Antonito, Colorado and previously worked as the collections curator for the Northwest Railway Museum in Snoqualmie.
Pappas has been in talks with the CCR&M regarding lease terms for a locomotive he personally restored, Lund said, as well as the potential for a more long-term storage arrangement in Lewis County.
Pappas did not return calls seeking comment prior to press time. The CCR&M board is scheduled to hold a regular meeting Thursday night at which its possible they will discuss terms proposed by Pappas.
“If we can get his locomotive and then get ours back up and running, we could have one to serve as a backup or for use with different events,” Deutscher said. As you would imagine, you don’t easily move locomotives from one location to another. Part of this agreement would be that we provide a home for his locomotive and store it, maybe continue operating it, for a period of time. It should be interesting.”
