PORT ANGELES — A historical locomotive that carries a piece of the North Olympic Peninsula’s logging history made a short journey Sunday.
A 1929 “Willamette” train engine owned by 70-year-old Jim Gertz was being pulled from the storage shed it has occupied since 1962 along 65 feet of railroad track temporarily laid across Airport Road to a waiting 18-wheeler.
Then the train engine will be trucked down to Elbe to join a collection maintained by the Mount Rainier Scenic Railroad, an organization of enthusiasts that offers scenic rides on old trains.
Gertz’s “Willamette” engine completes the Scenic Railroad’s collection of the four engines most used by Rayonier Inc. in its logging operations. The others are “Heisler,” “Climax” and “Shay.”
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