Locals enjoy volunteering with railroad
January 9, 2009
By Laura Geggel
Trains have often occupied Lee Fellinge’s thoughts. When he retired from a career in corporate finance, he became a conductor for the Union Pacific Railroad, but the demanding schedule caused him to rethink his priorities.
He quit, yet, “I still needed to get my railroad fix,” Fellinge said.
The volunteer crew on Snoqualmie Valley Railroad’s opening day in April 2008.
The Snoqualmie Valley Railroad offered a solution.
“We’re always looking for people interested in volunteering,” said Jessie Cunningham, Northwest Railway Museum educator and volunteer manager. “We’re perpetuating history. The whole idea and part of our mission is for people to experience what it’s like to be on a working railroad. Our volunteers are on the front lines of that.”
Fellinge, the former mayor of Sammamish, began volunteering for the Snoqualmie Valley Railroad in 1999 and has since mastered exams for all positions on the railroad.
Volunteers working in the running trades start out as car attendants and can work their way up to fireman, rear break, conductor and engineer once they pass qualifications. Each position requires people to pass written exams and demonstrate each skill before a certified official.
North Bend resident Thom Wunder has worked all of the positions, as well. He started after his daughter Kirsten began volunteering. Now, the family of five each volunteer in different ways at the Northwest Railway Museum.
“It’s not as difficult as you might think,” Wunder said. “It’s enjoyable. It gives you the feeling for what it must feel like being in the Valley 50 years ago.”
Car attendants help people on and off the train, answer questions and patrol the area. The fireman is stationed in the cab of the locomotive. As the train pulls forward, the fireman checks crossings and signs and communicates with the engineer and the conductor about the movement of the train.
In the back of the train, the rear break watches the track and signals. If the train is going backward, the rear break sounds the whistle during intersection crossings and emergencies and can even break the train.
“What you really need to know is literally every foot of the route, because we have different speeds on different sections of the route,” Fellinge said.
Emergencies are few and far between, but railroad workers always keep an alert eye on wildlife near the track.
“Some people have seen bear,” Fellinge said. “I’ve seen deer and coyotes.”
The top position, the conductor, is in charge of the movement of the train, determining when it starts and stops when it is traveling forward. The conductor also collects tickets and talks to the passengers during the ride.
The final position — the engineer — requires a person to understand the whole locomotive.
“It’s enjoyable to operate a large piece of machinery,” said Fellinge, who enjoys volunteering as the engineer. “The difficult thing about operating a train is it’s so incredibly heavy. You don’t stop on a dime.”
Alan Whitcomb, a car attendant from Fall City who is also using his woodworking skills to restore a 1912 railcar, encouraged locals to volunteer with the railway museum.
“We can get the train fixed faster if we have more people,” Whitcomb said.
The Snoqualmie Valley Railroad starts the first weekend of April, but draws its biggest crowds during Thomas the Train’s annual summer visit and Santa Train in the winter. To volunteer on the train or with restoration, contact Jessie Cunningham at jessie@trainmuseum.org or 888-3030 ext. 204.
Volunteers interested in the running trades should contact Cunningham to pre-register for the March 14-15 daylong training sessions.
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