Mt. Rainier Scenic Railroad — Local services in Graham

My wife and our friends from Portland attended the June Rails-to-Ales event at the Mt. Rainier Railroad & Logging Museum in Elbe, Washington last weekend, and I just wanted to say how fun the whole event was, and how very cool the steam excursion was! Icing on the cake was that Mt. Rainier was out for viewing, and the view from the train of that snowy volcano jutting above the trees here and there was just amazing!

We rode behind a 1922 steam locomotive, "Polson #70", from Elbe to the Mineral site's shops and logging museum, about a 35-40 minute ride. Our first-class air-conditioned coach was equipped with dining tables and chairs (4-tops), and the train also had two air-conditioned coaches with nice high-top comfy seats.

This was an adults-only excursion, and along the way we were served several tasters of local craft brews, and the railroad provided nice cheese, meats 'n crackers snack packs to munch on with our beers. (They also provided neat steam locomotive-shaped chocolates for dessert later, on the return trip). Later at the BBQ, those same beer crafters had kegs on hand to fill our souvenir pint glasses with pours...1/2+ glass fills for each of the tickets we were provided, and we each had plenty of tickets so did not go wanting for suds!

Once at Mineral, we de-trained and for about two hours were free to roam the pre-fab sheds where the steamers are stored. We also wandered over to the shops for a look at where they do their locomotive rebuilding and general maintenance work, and along the way we had several fun and informative conversations with MRR&LM's employees, including our engineer and fireman, brakemen, one of the managers, and the wait staff folks aboard the train. To a person they were all extremely friendly, helpful and very professional. Their care for what they do is very apparent and at all times they took good care of us and our friends.

We also toured the very cool logging museum on site next to the yard tracks. It is made up of former logging bunkhouses--the kind the logging railroads would move from camp-to-camp on railcars--that historically were last located in Washington's rail camps up until the early '60's. The bunkhouses each display a different aspect of camp life and include period logging equipment, tools, clothing and cookware, etc. It's really a great look back in time at an industry that help build the Northwest.

Additionally, local volunteers were present all over the site to interpret the museum artifacts, and explain in detail all you could ever want to know about the trains, tree harvesting, and anything else you wanted to know about the Mt. Rainier National Park just up the road; which I thought was a very nice and friendly touch. The people there were wonderful to talk with, and seemed to take real joy in their interactions with the public. Washrooms were very clean and there were tents at the station in Elbe to provide shade while waiting for the train, including nice piped-in music.

At Mineral, the "Brothers Rowe" band (these guys were GOOD) rocked out with great rock 'n roll covers and fast country tunes, including original material, while a catered BBQ lunch was served under an outdoor wedding-style tent located in a shade tree-lined field. You could watch with a cold beer in your hand as they switched out the tourist train during the layover, all the while listening to the band and enjoying a relaxed and tasty BBQ lunch; truly a perfect way to spend a pretty summer day.

We couldn't have been happier with our trip, and definitely would recommend the Mt. Rainier Railroad & Logging Museum in Elbe, Washington for a great family and/or...

I booked tickets online last year for the Polar Express train ride 2017. We had no problems booking online and picking our seats. We ordered first class tickets. The website was very easy to navigate and I had all of the information I needed for our trip! Then, the day before our trip, I got a call, voicemail, and email letting me know about the 2017 train derailment. They informed me that unfortunately our train ride would be cancelled, and gave me the option of rescheduling or a full refund. We decided to do a refund and try to go to the Polar Express another year. They refunded me promptly, we didn't have any problems with that. Then, sometime this spring, they emailed me again inviting us to come visit Mt. Rainier Railroad and reschedule for a summer train ride, for the same number of tickets we purchased back in 2017. I called to schedule our trip, they had availability as soon as a week later and I immediately got an email confirmation! Throughout this whole process they kept me updated with emails that had lots of information. The people I talked to on the phone were very nice. When we went to Mt. Rainier Railroad, we went at 11 in the morning on a Saturday. There weren't as many people as we expected! The workers in the gift shops and on the trains were very polite and friendly. My husband is disabled and uses crutches and they made sure he could get on and off the train easily. We rode first class, and got complimentary drinks, popcorn, and cookies! During the train ride, I was able to get up and stand between the train cars and take pictures which was pretty cool. They have a bathroom on the train. The logging museum was pretty cool, we stopped there for about an hour. We loved our trip to the Mt. Rainier Railroad & Logging Museum, and we will definitely be back! It's probably just as fun in the summer as it is in the winter, and it's warmer and not as busy! Overall, I was very pleased with how well Mt. Rainier Railroad handled our situation with the 2017 derailment, and I will definitely recommend this place to all my friends around...

I wouldn't describe the ride as very scenic. This doesn't actually go into the national park. It was a 40-minute ride to their museum from the train station. We never saw the mountain itself, though maybe it was a little too cloudy. When we arrived at the museum, there were some scenic tall hills around. The museum is not what I would call a museum. They had a lot of old train cars, and some wooden buildings you walk in that have photos of old trains and old logging operations. It mainly talked about logging with trains back in the day. One area even tried to promote logging, saying that trees are a renewable resource and that managed forests are healthier. That is completely wrong...

The train itself looks cool on the outside. We paid for the VIP car (for Valentine's Day). This was an over 21 area since they served us mimosas. The inside of the train was not at all what we expected. The seating was very plain tables and chairs, like a cheap kitchen table, and it was not bolted to the floor. There were cheap Valentine's Day decorations up and fake flowers on each table. When the lady serving the VIP car came out, she made sure to emphasize that we would only receive one mimosa each. A guy asked about buying more of them, and she said no, that they only had just enough for everyone. She asked the whole car when we would want mimosas, now or later. I don't think an option should be offered; you should just serve them. This made it confusing, and she kept forgetting who wanted one now and who didn't. Later in the ride she was walking through the car saying, "Is everyone happy?! Yeah!!!" She didn't seem to be very good at customer service. On the way back from the museum, a new couple came into the VIP car. It turned out they had paid for VIP but ended up in another car. They complained to the lady about some other woman being rude with them, and she just said, "I don't know; I wasn't there." The couple didn't seem very happy at all. We heard other people talking about their expectations for this train ride...