The Northwest Railway Museum in Snoqualmie has welcomed another locomotive to its collection this week as part of a railway exchange.

The museum and The Oregon Coast Scenic Railroad have agreed to swap locomotives to improve the representation of their collections. Both the Union Pacific (Oregon Short Line) 529 and the Great Northern Railway 1246 will return to their home states under the exchange.

The Great Northern Railway 1246, originally from Washington, arrived in Snoqualmie on Thursday morning, April 27.

The Great Northern locomotive is better known as the Woodland Park Zoo locomotive. Donated to the city of Seattle in 1953, it was an attraction at the zoo’s southern entrance until it left Seattle in 1980.

Zoo officials wanted to move the locomotive to the Museum of History and Industry, but the cost was too burdensome. The City of Seattle held an auction of the locomotive and collectors – including the Northwest Railway Museum – expressed interest. The successful bid was made by Fred Kepner of Klamath Falls, Ore.

Kepner planned to build a railway museum and moved the locomotive to eastern Oregon. His plans never materialized.

After Kepner’s death in 2021, several of the locomotives in his collection, including the 1246, were obtained by the Oregon Coast Scenic Railroad based in Tillamook.

Last year, the Northwest Railway Museum and Oregon Coast Scenic Railroad struck a deal to swap locomotives.