Tacoma Eastern Railroad

Sawmill industries had traditionally used the Puget Sound to float their wares to schooner captains, which could then be transported to markets, typically in San Francisco.

Along with their sawmills, they operated a wide variety of companies including the first legitimate opera house in Everett, Washington[3] and successful real estate investments.

The little narrow gauge road brought dimensional lumber materials from the Harts' sawmill to their wharf, largely for export to the lumber-hungry markets of San Francisco.

Once incorporated, the Hart brothers set out to tap vast stands of virgin forests in the foothills of Mount Rainier by building southward through the gulch that now bears the name of that railroad.

Although considered an accepted practice, the timing could not have been worse as the economic Panic of 1893 spelled the eventual doom of the Hart Brothers and their far-flung enterprises.

During this period of decline and decay, the Tacoma Eastern Railroad languished until the economy rebounded with the free-spending days of the Yukon Gold Rush of 1899.

[2] Under the direction of the court-appointed bankruptcy receivers Ladd and Tilton Bank of Portland, Oregon, new life was breathed into the railroad.

Large organized efforts by the Northern Pacific as well as Washington State legislators to establish a national park around Mount Rainier had been ongoing since 1890.

Charles Wright and a team of workers from his time at Northern Pacific, collaborated with John F. Hart and his brother to construct a passenger railroad line from Tacoma to Mount Rainier, anticipating the prospective tourism that would likely come with the establishment of a national park.

This was evident in the summer of 1905 when three of the nation's largest mountaineering clubs in America combined for a massive push to summit Mount Rainier.

With rail passenger service from Tacoma taking about three hours, Mount Rainier National Park was now opened to a larger market of visitors, including those who were inclined to stay only a day.

[6] As automobiles became more popular in America, the railroad stepped up efforts to ensure that it held on to its stake in the tourist transportation market by offering rides in open-topped motorized hacks.

For many visitors to the area, this was their first opportunity to ride in an automobile, even if it was slow, prone to mechanical failure, and offered no protection from the elements.

Eventually this line would serve an important role in shipping explosives, bombs and military equipment to and from Fort Lewis, Washington.

The Milwaukee Road would go on to modernize the Tacoma Eastern and other subsidiaries, by pioneering long distance diesel, electric, and steam propulsion trains in the Puget Sound.

Accompanying the President was a team of horses used to effect an extraction of the presidential motor coach when it became stuck in the rutted and frozen muck.

Wanting to see as much as possible, President Taft insisted that his driver take him from Longmire Springs, where warm accommodations awaited, up to Paradise.

Stragglers faced the daunting prospect of riding back to Tacoma in the freezing cold or spending the night at one of the hotels on the mountain until the train returned in the morning.

Under his direction, the USRA set construction standards, lifted tariffs, and consolidated passenger services, all for the purposes of moving soldiers and machinery as efficiently as possible.

Once the war was over and the USRA disbanded, control of the Tacoma Eastern Railroad was returned to the Chicago, Milwaukee, St. Paul and Pacific.

Geared locomotives were built for power, not for speed, and were popular with logging companies who had to move heavy trains up and down grades safely.

Instead of actuating rods for locomotion, the pistons turned a crankshaft which ran the length of the engine on one side and engaged each of the wheels with a crown gear.

The Boeing Company, with plants all along Puget Sound, finally submitted to political pressure at the federal, state and local levels to site a production facility in Pierce County.

The Weyerhaeuser Corporation had no interest in restructuring its railroad for common carrier service, but did allow a subcontractor to operate on 12 miles of track from Tacoma Junction to Frederickson.

As early as 1980, Weyerhaeuser began contracting cars from its subsidiary, the Chehalis Western Railroad, to the City of Tacoma [9] Until 1998, rail operations by the contractor were commonly referred to as simply "The Boeing Train".