Presently, the Chehalis-Centralia is one of the few steam powered railroads in Washington State. It runs excursions each year during summer over about twelve miles of track. Unless it is down for operational reasons, all the trips are hauled by CC&C #15.
The Mikado type (2-8-2) locomotive was built in 1916 by the Baldwin Locomotive Works as #200 for the Clear Lake Lumber Co. at Clear Lake, in Skagit County, WA. It was lettered for the Puget Sound & Cascade Railway, which was operated by Clear Lake, and worked hauling logs on Clear Lake's mainline until the company went bankrupt in 1926. Baldwin then repossessed #200 as it had not been fully paid for.
The locomotive weighs 179,000 lbs, 141,500 lbs on its 48” drivers. It has a driver wheelbase of 13’ 1” and engine wheelbase of 27’ 1”. An oil burner, it has a 41.3 sq ft grate, 154 sq ft firebox and a total heating surface of 3,029, including 553 sq ft superheating (relatively uncommon in logging locomotives). With 25½” x 28” cylinders, it operates at a boiler pressure of 160 psi delivering 33,340 lbs tractive effort.
The thirty-two mile CC&C was built to haul lumber out of South Lewis County to a connection with the NP, GN, UP and Milwaukee Road at the line’s western terminus in Chehalis. Plans to build another one hundred and forty miles east to Yakima were never realised.
Above, a composite view of #15’s backhead.
The CC&C went into receivership in 1932 but was rescued in part by a consortium of the NP, GN, UP and Milwaukee Road in 1933. In 1952, however, the Long Bell Lumber Co., which accounted for 90% of its business, announced it was ceasing operation in the area. The company also learned that the city of Tacoma was planning to build two dams on the Cowlitz River, one of which would cover a bridge and three miles of its track.
By 1954, the railway's freight service had fallen to one round trip per week (prior to that, it had made five trips a week). Soon after, abandonment of the CC&C was authorised by the Interstate Commerce Commission.
Above, #15 waits for the passengers to board. The depot building was originally built by the Milwaukee Road in downtown Chehalis. It was purchased privately, donated to the museum and moved to the site in 1995.
After the Cowlitz, Chehalis & Cascade was abandoned in 1955, #15 was donated to the City of Chehalis and went on display in a city park. Then, after the Chehalis-Centralia Railroad Association was
founded in 1986, the locomotive was moved the Mt. Rainier Railroad's Mineral Shops where it spent two years being restored. The
association also acquired a number of passenger carriages.
Milburn is the destination for the railroad’s regular passenger runs. #15 changes ends here and starts the return journey in reverse. However, the railroad’s Dinner Train and 5.00 pm Saturday coach trains do not stop here, but continue another two and a half miles along the banks of the Chehalis River to Ruth.
This line was originally built to connect Willapa Harbor in south west Washington state with Chehalis, and it eventually became a coastal branch line of the Milwaukee Road. In the 1930s, it was bought by the Weyerhaeuser Company and connected with the Northern Pacific at Milburn. When Weyerhaeuser abandoned the line in 1993, it was bought by the Port of Chehalis.