January was a slow news month so here is a combined January/February update. We’ll start with the bad news.
Depot Café
The group that was poised to lease the cafe has withdrawn their proposal. In the meantime, CRF board member Brian Lee and local chef Frank Shuchman plan to continue to open the café on selected 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.
If you know someone who may be interested in operating the café, please send them our way. The café can also be rented for events.
Collections
We are pleased to announce that CRF has received a large collection of Milwaukee Road records from Doug Nighswonger. The collection includes about 80 cubic feet of accounting and traffic records from the late 1920s into the 1940s. Most of the records are from the lines south of Tacoma. Thanks Doug!
Pacific Northwest Railroad Archive received their building permits from the City of Burien and has started work on building improvements. New walls are being built, a new bathroom is being installed, and electrical upgrades are being done. We plan to move the rest of our archival collections to the Burien facility early this spring.
Our first collections work party at the archive in Burien is scheduled for Thursday, March 17 from 7:00-10:00 p.m. Going forward, we plan to have regular work parties there on the third Thursday of the month. Our initial focus will be inventorying some incoming collections. Contact Paul Krueger if you’d like to help out.
Brewfest
The Rails to Ales Brewfest is our major annual fundraising event. We’ve held three of these events now and they keep getting better every year. Brewfest is held at the rail yard in South Cle Elum on the second Saturday of July (July 9 this year). Tickets are on sale now for $20 each at the Brewfest web site. Tell your friends!
State Parks Budget
No real news yet on the State Parks budget and what it may mean for Iron Horse State Park and the John Wayne Trail. The Legislature is in session and various ideas for funding State Parks operations are being discussed. Stay tuned.
March Auburn (used to be Kent) Milwaukee Road Meet
The March Meet will be on March 26 at the Auburn King County Library branch. CRF is not sponsoring this event, but we plan to be there and encourage anyone else who can attend to go as well. See our blog post for more information.
