News article on the possible end to the museum in Toppenish, WA.http://www.yakima-herald.com/homefront.php?storyid=298915049330579

To supplement Rich's link:The The Northern Pacific Railway Museum is in Toppenish WA, which is about 20 minutes (on the interstate) SE of Yakima. Their website has an announcement.The Columbia Basin Railroad is owned by Eric Temple, who owns the Spirit of Washington Dinner Train. He has also succeeded in all but shutting down theChelatchie Prairie Railroad in SW Washington too.

This illustrates a point I've been preaching for a very long time --OWN YOUR RAILROAD!!!If you OWN the tracks you run on, stuff like this can't happen to you.

OWN YOUR RAILROAD!!!How I wish we would have been able to own our railroad. When the NPRY Museum petitioned to stop the abandonment of the White Swan Branch Line, we were barely able to pay off the lawyer that stopped the abandonment. The Washington State Department of Transportation offered to loan us the money to buy the line at zero % interest with the principal paid off over 15 years. Money was short and the only logical thing seemed to be to work with the county who agreed to accept the line if the museum group guaranteed to run the line with a personal guarantee of $100,000 of our own money. There was a steady financial loss, but we were able to keep the line going. Only when a new shipper came on line did it have a potential for making a profit. Unfortunately we were too successful and the Temple's Columbia Basin Railroad decided they wanted the line back (after the Temple family had tried to abandoned the line ten years earlier). Unfortunately we hadn't heard of the lies being told to the county commissioners about how the railroad was a huge liablity because of its operation by volunteers, nor were we told that the Temples were promising big profits for the county. Suddenly we had an RFP (request for proposal) that was set up in a way to exclude the museum from the bid process. One county commissioner recognised our efforts and the commissioner from our district made promises to support us but voted the other way (and now has his house and farm up for sale as he is the most unpopular man in this part of the county).Anyway we are not dead yet. We have more meetings with the commissioners and court dates are almost certain to follow if the commissioners are still unable to recognize the unfairness of their position.Doug ShearerNPRY Museum

Doug:Thanks for keeping us in the loop. What will this do to the operation of the museum and its rolling stock? Of course, I'm especially referring to the restoration of the NP S-4 class?Is there anything we can do to help at this point?Scott

At this point it is very hard to define exactly what the future of the museum may be. The starting problem is liability insurance. When our TSWR is running freight, we can add a $10 million dollar passenger rider on to the TSWR policy for about $7,000. The Columbia Basin has offered to pull our passenger coaches with its locomotive crews if we purchase a $2 million dollar liability policy, but this would not allow us to operate any of our own locomotives or to run any steam. They want a $10 million dollar policy for either of those options. A stand alone $10 million dollar policy would run the museum about $30,000, a sum that is nearly impossible to recover in a rural area that is slightly off the beaten path. Obviously one of the main attractions for our museum volunteers is the potential to work on an active freight line and to be involved with regular steam operations once NP 1364 is completed. We had anticipated a regular income from the line and this extra income could help pay the lease on the depot grounds and has paid the liability insurance as above. If the Columbia Basin RR takes over the line this source of income will no longer be available and funding is severely impacted. The commissioners are saying they will help obtain other funding, but I don't understand where it may come from.I anticipate the museum plugging along while the issue is settled, perhaps in court if the commissioners pursue their present directions. We believe they have made many errors in their RFP (request for proposal) and their decision to vote for the CBR. In the Yakima County form of government there are only three commissioners who are the legislative and executive branches of local government. If two make a bad decision the only next step is to take it to court and I believe that is where this is headed. The museum will continue to operate and work on its many projects until this is settled. It is very hard to predict what the future will be if the issue is lost in court.I don't believe the commissioners realize the impact of the museum on the local tourism economy, nor do they realize the domino effect of the loss of the museum on other attractions in the lower Yakima Valley. I believe that the loss of the railroad museum would be followed by the closure of Toppenish's "American Hop Museum" http://www.americanhopmuseum.org/home.htm and by loss of support for the Toppenish Mural Society http://www.toppenish.net/Html/Murals.htm.How the commissioners can destroy this small town tourism effort is way beyond my understanding. The most help that anyone could provide is letters to the editor of the local paper and to the commissioners. I would suggest sending letters to both as I believe only political pressure can change their minds unless we can win it in court. If anyone knows someone associated with 60 Minutes or other investigative reporters, I believe there is a good story behind the decision and would love to see it brought out into the public domain.Doug Shearer