Chehalis Centralia Railroad Association

The route began under the Puget Sound & Willapa Harbor Railway, which operated it from November 1915 through the end of 1918, and the excursion trackage is former Milwaukee Road line. The Chehalis-Centralia Railroad was incorporated as a nonprofit in 1986 by Chehalis citizens inspired by a visit from the Mt. Rainier Scenic Railroad, and its founding project was rescuing Baldwin 2-8-2 No. 15 — known locally as the 'Old Lady' — from Recreation Park, where the engine had stood on display for more than three decades. Restoration at the Mt. Rainier shops in Mineral cost roughly $100,000 in grants, donations, and volunteer labor and was completed in April 1989, with excursions beginning that summer over Weyerhaeuser-owned track; the Port of Chehalis helped purchase the rails for the railroad in 1996 with a $420,000 state transportation grant. The operation rebuilt after the December 2007 floods with a $1.5 million FEMA grant, weathered an insurance-driven suspension in 2022, and resumed train rides in April 2024 under a joint operating agreement with Goose Lake Railway — selling more than 10,100 excursion and event tickets in 2025, with roughly 80 percent of riders coming from outside Lewis County.