MRSR: Six in Steam on May 17, 2014

p51 · **Posted:** Thu Feb 13, 2014 7:45 pm

Fly into Portland. Much easier, no traffic jams once you get out of the town and smooth sailing to Highway 12 turnoff, directly to Morton (no major towns between the airport and where you're going, whereas Seatac makes you pass through a bunch or urban areas that take a long time). I'd suggest staying in Morton if you go and have to stay in the area overnight.
Centralia and Chehalis are a hop North on I-5 but there are a lot more options once you're there. And Chehalis has steam, too, even though I really doubt they'll also be running that weekend: http://steamtrainride.com/

Grouse · **Joined:** Sat Jan 26, 2013 10:24 pm **Posts:** 18

Does anyone have any info about MRSR Steamfest on May 17? My wife and I have payed for 2 tickets. Now the event doesn't show up on there webpage. The 800 number just gives a recorded message, no real person??!!

Rainier Rails · **Posted:** Sun Apr 13, 2014 4:16 am

From the news page on the MRSR website (http://mrsr.info/news/), posted on Friday, April 11:

Mt. Rainier Scenic Railroad wrote:

Dear friends of Mt. Rainier Scenic Railroad,

For those of you that reserved tickets to attend our May 17 SteamFest railfan event this is an important update regarding a change to the event. The Saturday, May 17 event has been rescheduled for Saturday, July 19, 2014 to coincide with a grand opening ceremony that will showcase our new Logging Railroad Museum located at 349 Mineral Creek Road, Mineral, WA. Original SteamFest ticketholders are invited to attend the July 19 event and join us for a railfan extravaganza and VIP reception. We want to enhance the July 19 visit for you by adding a VIP experience to thank you for your purchase of original SteamFest tickets. We realize however; the new date may not work for everyone’s schedule and apologize for any inconvenience this change may cause you. If the new date of July 19 does not work for you, we invite you to contact our reservations manager, Nancy Lawton, directly at (360) 492-5588 or via email in order to transfer your tickets to another special event and train ride or to request a full refund. Meanwhile, we sincerely hope you will be able to join us in July for a railfan special event and VIP reception.

Sincerely,

Meilee Anderson, Director of Sales & Marketing

weekendrailroader · **Joined:** Wed Mar 31, 2010 12:02 am **Posts:** 293

Quote:

Those living closer might have better ideas, but I'd suggest flying into SEA-TAC and renting a car there. There are motels in nearby Morton and also Eatonville. I've stayed

Sea-Tac is an option, as is Portland, but driving through Seattle is no fun, and driving from Portland may take a little while. There may be a third option, however.

My idea is fly to Sea-Tac Airport South of Seattle on a weekday. Located right outside the airport parking garage is the Southern-most station on the Link light rail line. Once outside the airport, hop on link light rail and ride it North until it gets inside the Seattle metro tunnel. Hop off the light rail at the first metro tunnel station (not the capitol hill tunnel station), the Chinatown/International District station. When you come up to ground level, you'll be right outside the old Union Station that was used by The UP and the MILW.

Right across the street from Union Station is the just-restored King Street Station that serves Sounder commuter trains, Amtrak's Cascades, Empire Builder, and Coast Starlight. From here you could catch any of those trains (except the Builder) South to Tacoma (Sounder will be the cheapest fare, but it only runs on weekdays) where you could get a hotel, a rental car, and be refreshed for the drive to MRSR the next day.

If no lodging can be found in Tacoma, Sounder and Amtrak trains also head North from Seattle to Everett (my hometown). It's farther away, but the roads are less confusing, so that also may be an option for lodging and car rental (or maybe I could just drive you to MRSR ;) )

In any case, those options get you through and out of Seattle entirely by rail with only about 1 block's worth of walking required.