Snoqualmie, WA

The Northwest Railway Museum (NRM) incorporates a heritage railway, historic depot, exhibit hall, library, and collection care center, and serves more than 130,000 visitors per year.

The Snoqualmie depot was built in 1890 by the SLS&E. The depot is an example of a building that was in nearly every community across the nation. Good architecture was good advertising and enhanced company pride. The station once served as the terminal for this early recreation area. An atypical design was the result of the need for a rural combined freight-passenger depot, however, one with lavish decorations to reflect the holiday spirit of vacationers from Seattle.

The Northwest Railway Museum was founded in 1957 as the Puget Sound Railway Historical Association. As part of a general reorganization, the museum took its current name in September 1999. The mission of the organization is to develop and operate an outstanding railway museum where the public can see and understand the role of railroads in the development of the Pacific Northwest, and experience the excitement of a working railroad.

The museum's collection includes a variety of railway cars and locomotives that document the growth of the railway network in Washington from the 1880s through the 1990s. One of the items included is the Messenger of Peace Chapel Car which is listed on the National Register of Historic Places. It also includes a 3,000-volume library and archives that focus on the history of railroads in the Northwest and on technical and other engineering aspects of railroading.