Here is our news update for December.
Depot Café
CRF has negotiated a lease agreement with a new operator for the Depot Café. The lease is being reviewed by State Parks. We hope to have the lease approved and the new operator in the café early next year. They plan to operate the café all year, with regular hours on the weekends (Thursday night through Sunday) and special events scheduled during the rest of the week.
In the meantime, CRF board member Brian Lee and local chef Frank Shuchman have continued to open the café on weekends for limited food service. You can check the Depot Café web site for the current hours and menu or follow the Depot Café on Facebook.
CRF has also made the café kitchen available to Frank for cooking classes provided as part of the Kittitas County WIC program. WIC provides assistance with supplementing household food supplies and providing nutrition education that helps pregnant women, new mothers, and young children eat well, learn about nutrition and stay healthy.
Collections
Pacific Northwest Railway Archive expects to obtain building permits from the City of Burien very soon. The initial review of their building permit submittal resulted in a few minor design changes. CRF plans to start moving collections over to the PNRA facility in Burien once some of the initial building improvements are complete.
We recently obtained a few photos taken in the rail yard at Cle Elum that we think are photos of the August Weber family. August Weber was a car foreman for the Milwaukee Road who also worked at Othello and Cedar Falls. We’ve included one of these photos below. Based on the ages written on the back of the photo and the ages listed in the 1920 census, this photo was probably taken in 1916. If anyone has information about August Weber’s career, please drop us a note.
[Click the photo for a larger version]
Brewfest
Tickets are on sale for the 2011 Rails to Ales Brewfest, to be held at the rail yard in South Cle Elum on Saturday, July 9. For a limited time, you can get them for $15. After the holiday sale, the price goes up to $20.
State Parks Budget
The Governor is proposing to eliminate general fund support for State Parks operations (a $47 million dollar budget cut) in her budget for the next biennium. Operations will need to be funded by user fees, with parks closed as needed to match the revenue they receive from fees. It is too soon to tell how this would affect Iron Horse State Park and CRF activities at the South Cle Elum Rail Yard Historic District. We’ll see what the Legislature does.
The good news is the Governor’s capital projects budget includes almost $2 million for tunnel repairs on the trail (Tunnels No. 48 and No. 49) and also explicitly mentions Iron Horse State Park in the land acquisition budget.
Trail conditions
There is snow on the trail, so bring your skis or snowshoes over and enjoy the winter wonderland out on the former right of way in Iron Horse State Park.
2011
Have a happy new year! Check out our holiday greeting card if you haven’t seen it yet.
