National Park Service Volunteers Tour Twin Cities as Part of Rails & Trails

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Centralia and Chehalis were hosts to 15 National Park Service volunteers as they toured the Twin Cities as part of the National Park Service and Amtrak Program Trails & Rails program on Saturday March 30.

The Trails & Rails program provides rail passengers with educational opportunities that foster an appreciation of a selected region’s natural and cultural heritage. It promotes National Park Service areas and provides a value-added service to encourage train ridership.

The volunteer guides treat each train as a rolling national park, presenting a perspective to passengers on what makes the area the train is traveling through unique, be it history, culture, climate, flora and fauna, geology, geography or and topography.  This is a free program to Amtrak passengers and is often presented in the Lounge Car.

The Klondike Gold Rush National Historical Park in Seattle sponsors the Trails & Rails Program in the Pacific Northwest. The program operates daily from late April through late September aboard the Coast Starlight (between Seattle and Portland) and the Empire Builder (between Edmonds, Wenatchee, Whitefish, Montana, and Havre, Montana).

 In 2015, approximately 50 volunteers from “the Klondike” reached over 150,000 passengers and contributed in excess of 8,000 volunteer hours to enhance the journey of passengers in Washington, Oregon and Montana.

When not riding on the trains, guides often tour the areas they routinely travel to become more educated and conversant on what makes the towns, geography and area features so unique.

Judy Bell, a former National Parks Service volunteer at Mount Rainier, was the tour guide in downtown Centralia. The NPS volunteers wanted to know why people should come to Centralia.



Bell told them that Centralia is known for its antique stores downtown and outlets by Interstate 5, but  said it is much more. She noted that Centralia has remarkable history, with a yearly walking tour of historic homes and buildings. She said it is the cultural and art center of Lewis County, and has numerous parks and trails.

The NPS volunteers were greeted at Centralia’s beautifully restored train station by Ted Haiduceck, station agent, who provided historical background.  Leaving the train station, the volunteers learned the history of Centralia while walking through the downtown area.

In Chehalis, Edna Fund, Lewis County commissioner, continued the tour by taking the group through the historic 1927 Lewis County Courthouse anddowntown area.

At the Lewis County Historical Museum, tour guide was director Andy Skinner.  

He gave them an in-depth look at the history of Lewis County and explained the exhibits. Of special interest was the model train display.

The volunteers departed after eating a brown bag lunch.