I rode Lake Whatcom probably 12 years ago. It's in the middle of nowhere. Decent operation and probably the only railroad where you can ride a pump handcar. They were leasing a locomotive from the Mount Rainier railroad so not sure if it is still operational. Last time I saw that locomotive the wheel flanges were so sharp you could probably slice bread with it.

There is another pretty much unknown tourist railroad in Washington State called the Pend Oreille Valley Railroad. I believe they are still running but the old route was put out of service due to a ancient bridge that needs work. Last I heard they were running out of another city further South.

According to Wikipedia, the Pend Oreille Valley Railroad ran it's last excursions in 2016. Their website also doesn't mention any sort of passenger service.

I think this tourist operation was run by the local Lions club and they only ran a few dates a year (in season).

Bobh

Chelatchie Prairie operates both diesel and steam. The 2-8-2T is indeed out of service.
They last ran in November 2021 and their website says "Our 2022 Season will start in May." I rode in 2018 and it was great ride! We stopped at Moulton Falls on the way back. Definitely out of the way for sure!

I cannot speak as to the status of Lake Whatcom Railway but from their Facebook page they appear to be doing a lot of work to upgrade the place! I believe their diesel is still operational.



This operation resumed in 2017 and ran until 2019. This iteration ran from Newport, Washington to Delkena, WA. Equipment was composed of two ex-GN coaches, one ex-CBQ coach, three NP/CBQ stock cars (converted to open air cars), and a BN/NP caboose.

Unfortunately it appears COVID killed this operation as the equipment has been sold off and the website and Facebook page are gone. The two ex-GN coaches were being leased by Inland NW Rail Museum and are to be returned to them. The caboose was sold to Colorado Mountain Caboose.

If anyone knows what happened to the rest of the POVA tourist equipment please share!

Recent reports are that Lake Whatcom's diesel has freeze damage and dead batteries that Frank can't afford to replace. They also had a lot of flood damage. Another recent report has it that Chalatchie Prairie fried the generator on their diesel in November. I don't know how bad the damage is. That leaves two historic rail groups operating passenger service in Washington.

I figured I should just post this to quell any rumors:
Thinking we were getting hosed by the insurance company for setting high reserves without making high payments, I had a discussion with a friend at the WA Insurance Commissioner office. A couple of people looked at the numbers I gave them (all from the documents from the carrier, but I summarized them) and they determined there wasn't anything they could nail the insurance company for. I was even told one of them was a fan of the railroad and was 'desperately' looking for something they could nail the carrier for. Another person I trust in the industry with even more experience than I have (and I hit 20 years this July) and he said we'd never win a suit against the carrier.
I explained the same to the board in an email and that I agreed there didn't seem to be any reason to expend the effort, even though I'm still livid over the whole thing as I pay more than our carrier has, every day, for auto claims and we don't cancel those policies.
So, I assume that's that.
The President of the group resigned soon after the next board meeting after the announcement of the whole insurance issue (which of course was a big source of discussion). There was the inevitable email flurry of emails after that, which I will not go into.

Thinking you can sue a liability insurance carrier to force them to cover you is the height of insanity and shows a gross misunderstanding of what insurance is and how it works.

There’s probably a lot more auto policyholders, even at a regional or small insurance company than there are rail operations. More policyholders mean the risk is spread out. Dollar amounts paid in claims is only one part of the recipe in determining if an organization is insurable.

Without knowing any inside facts, my bet is that the carrier saw something in the operating procedures and safety program that gave them pause. Having a claim is one thing, not amending your policies and procedures as the result of a claim is another

Thanks for your post. I needed a good laugh this evening.
I have 20 years in the business. It actually happens if you can make a case for bad faith or improper business practices.
The insurance commissioner folks and underwriters I talked with agreed that the reserves they set was wonky as a reason to drop the policy. But it wasn't illegal.
Almost every day at work I tell people that insurance is something everyone thinks they understand but almost nobody outside of the industry actually does.

An appeal to one's own authority was a logical fallacy at the time of Aristotle, and that has not changed. Just because you have that experience, does not mean you are infallible. Using your qualifications as a cudgel to dispel my statement, with no further argument shows this. If your experience was valid, you probably would have come to the same conclusion the state regulators you consulted did, yet you persisted. For example, where was your insurance experience when most of the crew members apparently were operating on expired qualifications?

"Wonky" in the eyes of some insurance bureaucrat obviously did not translate into a violation of Washington's law, as best as your efforts were to weaponize government against a private business. As you also stated before, a bad faith claim would not likely succeed, as "wonky" isn't the same as improper business practices.

The bottom line is that the organization engaged in a pattern of unsafe practices, refused to reform itself and move away from those practices, and instead tried to get the regulators after the carriers, and contemplated a suit against them. Casting blame at others is a classic example of destructive organizational behavior.

Again, thanks for more good comedy. I always find it funny when someone proclaims to be 'an expert on everything,' when they apparently have zero understanding of the subject. Your last post on the subject gave myself and a couple of co-workers some good laughs we all needed.
But for anyone else who might be curious, I initially ran this by someone I knew in our own underwriting department, informally. The advice I got was that I should look into if there was merit for a commissioner's complaint (which is very common, and you can file one for pretty much everything) or a suit as a lot of it seemed odd to someone who sees it every single day (I guess I should have called you, oh expert on everything, so I apologize for that). Even then, there were serious questions on whether this was handled correctly. I then simply asked someone I knew at the commissioner's office if there was merit to going further. After a couple of them looked over the info, they gave their advice (agreeing that the carrier's actions seemed odd to them as well, but just not criminal to likely get a win to merit the time and effort for a suit), I passed that along to someone I knew on the board, and that was that.
To not look into all the options would be irresponsible, especially as the membership (if not the board) wasn't hearing a lot of details of what the carrier did. Agents really don't understand claims and many have a tenuous grasp on underwriting, in my experience.
As for the crew qualification issues, I'm not aware of anyone I worked with having an expired anything. That, I don't profess to have much knowledge about.
Nobody at the railroad knew what my day job was until this whole insurance thing came up as there wasn't any reason for me to bring it up until then (most folks in the biz usually don't tell people what they do, because many people upon hearing that launch into third-hand stories of how another carrier hose their uncle's college roommate 40 years ago, or, like you, launch into stuff from which they are ridiculously uninformed). I'm not on the board, just a brakeman, and I have never professed to know all the details of what's going on there.
Either way, I'm done arguing with someone with a comical (and very common, as I have these discussions at work every single day) level of ignorance of the subject.

My responses:

1. Why do you insist on relying on the ad hominem fallacy (personal insults) in your responses. If my assertions were so patently ridiculous as you proclaim, it would be apparent on face without your commentary about all the chuckles you are having apparently at my expense.
2. You call me the "expert on everything." I've never held myself as that, it's a label you attach to belittle my comments. Once again, why? Why can you not discuss this issue without acting like this? Rather than relying on my credentials, I prefer to let my arguments rise and fall on their own merits. If you wish to discuss credentials, I can, but I'm not the buffoon you think I am. Even highly-qualified professionals can have a reasonable difference of opinion, and see issues differently. Real professionals do this every day without engaging in insults and sophomoric behavior.
3. I'm genuinely curious. What lines of insurance do the folks in the underwriting department you spoke to underwrite? Do they underwrite rail insurance? Do they understand how rail insurance reserves are set? When you spoke to them, did you give them the full set of facts about what's going on at the railroad, including the claim history? If they do, then your argument may have merit. But, if like you admit, you don't fully know what's going on there, then you may not have given the underwriting people you consulted with the whole story, and there are holes that would explain why the reserves are "wonky."
4. Sure, you can file a complaint with a state agency, or a lawsuit about anything. I tend to prefer such complaints have actual merit.

So, here we are, weeks later and no insurance is in place. Not even to cover basic liability like you all should have where you work. It's a good thing they own the track and facilities, otherwise we'd likely be getting a 'get your crap off our lawn' letter from someone by now.
I've heard that an insurance carrier gave a quote for basic insurance that'll allow for operations around the yard (no passenger trains, though) and that was turned down. Those in charge claim this hasn't happened.
Lots of fingers pointing to and fro.
Another member of the board (one who was very active and often got dirty working on stuff) recently resigned via email, effective that moment.
"Don't worry, we have a plan," I'm told by the remaining board. I sent a rather terse email to the group stating we need to get basic facility coverage right now and consider re-forming entirely, with what I'd heard from others (including the most recent board member who had resigned) and I got a private email essentially stating they have a plan and how what I heard was wrong.
My sarcastic response to that simply was, "Don't ask questions. We got it all figured out. Got it."
I've never said the operation was well-run and I've had more than my fair share of issues with how things are run (which I suppose applies to all such operations, as no group will see anything all the same way). Putting things off until you can no longer ignore was always a common thing, which is why nobody has a clue when (or to be honest, even 'if') #15 will run again.
The insurance thing was just another symptom of a much larger problem.
A committee has been formed to, well, mull over the options as long as possible? I've been assured that reforming the group from the ground up is one of those options they've been told to look into. The problem with that is, the inner circle who got us into this nightmare would have to leave if that happened. Anyone wanna lay bets on how that'd play out?
There are other plans afoot, stuff I can't go into here as I'm only hearing little pieces here and there.

It just gets worse. I just got an email from the head of the track crew that went out the membership.
He just resigned, as they still don’t have basic insurance for the property and his personal attorney told him to bail as fast as he could.
That’s three people from the board of directors (including the President) who have resigned.
There's an 'executive committee' which apparently is calling all the shots.
“Don’t worry, don’t ask questions, we’re taking care of this with committees,” they’re telling the membership. Meanwhile, we’ve lost some of the best people we ever had. When people ask me what’s going on, I’m telling them not to count on us running trains this year, if ever again.
I don't profess to know who's opinions are right, as everyone has one and most makes sense to me.
All I know is that many people I ran trains with said it’d only take one big problem before it’d snowball into a giant mess. They’ve ignored so many things over the recent years, such maintenance (which is why the 2-8-2 is a basket case now) and the insurance issue. Hey, they say, we’re forming committees that’ll solve it all, so don't ask questions.
Then, utter silence.
I'm just utterly disgusted at this point.
The insurance issue was just a symptom of a much larger problem; a small number of people who won't release their control over a situation that has clearly spiraled out of their control.

That's really unfortunate, but a similar symptom of other organizations that have failed in similarly spectacular fashions.

Thanks for the update, and I'm glad you got a break from laughing at me with your coworkers to post this.