By Justin Franz
The Northwest Railway Museum recently fired up a 121-year-old 0-6-0 following a multi-year restoration in Washington. The Snoqualmie-based museum plans on using Northern Pacific 0-6-0 924 on excursions once it reopens following the pandemic.
Locomotive 924 was built by the Rogers Locomotive Works in 1899. It worked for the NP until the mid-1920s when it was sold to the Inland Empire Paper Company near Spokane. The paper company donated the locomotive to the Northwest Railway Museum in 1969. The museum was founded in 1957 as the Puget Sound Railway Historical Association.
The museum began restoring 924 in 2014. It moved under its own power for the first time last week on May 18. Richard Anderson, executive director of the museum, said the group still needs to finish the locomotive’s cab, which had not been fully installed at the time of the test run. “There are a lot of little things that need to be done,” he said.
Interestingly, the locomotive had three cabs during its career. The first was destroyed around 1906 when the locomotive fell through a dock on the Seattle waterfront, according to Anderson. The second was destroyed in a side-swipe wreck.
When the museum began working on 924 in 2014 it also announced plans to restore Canadian Collieries 4-6-0 14. Anderson said this week that restoration “remains under consideration” but no work has taken place on it yet.