Last Updated 07/15/2000

The Chehalis-Centralia Railroad is located 4 miles south of Centralia at I-5 exit 77 in Chehalis. Turn south on Riverside Road, which is immediately to the west of the ramp for south bound I-5. Go south for a couple of blocks and watch for the "Steam Train Rides" sign at Sylvenus street. You'll see the yellow caboose which is the ticket office.

If you're driving south through Chehalis on I-5, you can see the ticket office caboose, and if it's between runs, the train, on the west (right) side of the freeway just south of the exit 77 overpass. If you miss the exit, there's another interchange south (and north) of exit 77 where you can turn around.

There are two twelve mile round trips leaving at 1:00 and 3:00. An extended 18 mile run to Ruth leaves at 5:00.

Fares for the 1:00 and 3:00 trips are $8.00 for adults and $5.00 for children under 16.
Fares for the 5:00 trip is $11.00 for adults, and $9.00 for children under 16.

Call them for information on dinner trains and charter trips.

Chehalis-Centralia Railroad
1945 S. Market Blvd.
Chehalis, WA 98532.
360-748-9593

Locomotive #15 (ex-Cowlitz, Chehalis & Cascade) runs weekends from Memorial Day through Labor Day.

2-8-2 #15 was orginally built by Baldwin in 1916 for the Clear Lake Lumber Co. at Clear Lake, in Skagit County, WA and was lettered for the Puget Sound and Cascade Railway with the road number 200. As the 200, it was put to work hauling logs on Clear Lake's mainline until Clear Lake Lumber went bankrupt. The locomotive was repossessed by Baldwin in 1926 and resold to Cowlitz, Chehalis & Cascade Ry who renumbered it to the 15. It was donated to the city of Chehalis about 1955 and was restored to service at the shops of the Mt. Rainier Scenic Railroad in the late 1980's(?). (81K 768x512 jpg)

Here's the other side of the 1916 Baldwin (76K 768x512 jpg)

Running past fields and farms with Mt. Rainier on the horizon. (70K 768x512 jpg)

Crossing the Newaukum river. (72K 768x512 jpg)

Crossing state highway 6. (85K 768x512 jpg)

Taking this last picture was kind of interesting. Once the crossing lights began flashing, the cars would stop, see that the train was still a ways off and continue on. A few of them were real surprised to realize it was a steam locomotive that was coming their way. One lady driving a minivan full of kids was so surprised she stopped dead on the tracks. I'm glad she regained her wits and hit the accelerator. I turned around, focused and took this picture. It was that quick, and it's the only one I got. The train was moving!