The owners of Camp 6 have been unable to find a buyer or investor to keep the historic logging museum open in Point Defiance Park, Tacoma. Consequently, Camp 6 is now permanently closed. The historic logging museum had operated for 47 years, but now remains closed following its usual winter break.

“We are heartbroken about this decision, but there is no way to keep Camp 6 operating at Point Defiance Park,” said Alan Macpherson, spokesperson for the Western Forest Industries Museum, which owns Camp 6. “Camp 6 only operates on admissions fees, donations and grants. We’ve had fewer visitors each year, and no longer have the funds to continue operating.” In addition, Macpherson said, the trains, logging equipment and buildings at Camp 6 are deteriorating and there are no funds to repair them.

No potential buyer who could operate Camp 6 has come forward. WFIM now is working to find a buyer or buyers for the pieces in the collection, including engines, open cars, bunkhouses, bunk cars and other pieces of equipment. “Our preference is to find a buyer who will keep most of the collection together and display it for the public,” Macpherson said. “That buyer might not exist in Washington State. We’d be willing to sell the collection outside Washington if we could keep most of the collection together and on display.”

Any unsold pieces would likely be added to WFIM’s Mount Rainier Scenic Railroad in Mineral, Washington.

WFIM leases property in Point Defiance Park from Metro Parks for a nominal amount. WFIM established the Camp 6 Logging Museum in 1964 as a living, hands-on demonstration of Washington State’s logging and railroad history from the 1880s through the 1940s. Attendance and the condition of the collection have been in decline recently. Ridership of the historic trains at Camp 6 dropped 40 percent last year, from 5,982 in 2009 to just 3,600 in 2010.