Photo by Bobtalbot61, via Wikimedia Commons (Public domain)
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About Mt. Rainier Scenic Railroad
The Mt. Rainier Scenic Railroad runs steam‑powered trains over 7 miles of historic track between Elbe and Mineral, winding through dense forest on the southern flank of Mount Rainier. Departing from the Elbe depot, the journey traverses classic logging scenery before arriving at the Logging Museum exhibits in Mineral, where vintage passenger, open‑air, and baggage cars await.
📍 MINERAL, WA 98355
History
The line that today hosts the Mt. Rainier Scenic Railroad began in 1887 when the Hart brothers built a 3 ft (914 mm) narrow‑gauge track in Tacoma, which was converted to standard gauge and extended in 1890 under the Tacoma Eastern Railroad name. After a series of ownership changes—including control by the Chicago, Milwaukee, St. Paul and Pacific Railroad from 1901 until the United States Railroad Administration merged its subsidiaries in 1918—the Tacoma Eastern remained a profitable “National Park” branch, later surviving the Milwaukee Road’s 1980 bankruptcy. In 1980 Tom Murray Jr. founded the Mt. Rainier Railroad and Logging Museum (later the Mt. Rainier Scenic Railroad) to run tourist trains on the seven‑mile Elbe‑to‑Mineral segment, and Weyerhaeuser transferred the track to the City of Tacoma (now Tacoma Rail) in 1998. The operation was sold to American Heritage Railways in 2016, rebranded, and ceased running in 2020 after the COVID‑19 pandemic; it was purchased by the nonprofit Western Forest Industries Museum in August 2022. A trestle fire on April 30 2025 destroyed a 396.8‑foot bridge between Mineral and Morton, prompting a fundraising drive that had raised more than $207,000 by July, while the railroad announced a revival and resumed limited excursions in September‑October 2023.
The Trains
The Mt. Rainier Scenic Railroad runs a standard‑gauge (4 ft 8 ½ in) line from its Elbe depot to the Logging Museum in Mineral, covering 7 mi (11 km) of former Tacoma Rail Mountain Division track. Its operating fleet includes the historic steam locomotive “Polson 70” together with a collection of geared engines—Shay, Heisler, Climax and Willamette types—and a diesel locomotive used for regular service, all pulling vintage passenger cars, an open‑air car and a baggage car that houses a concession and gift shop.
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