Plans to bring a new model train museum to Snoqualmie took another step toward fruition Monday, as the city council approved an agreement to begin negotiations on the project.
The agreement signifies the city’s intent to negotiate with Northwest Truck Lines, owners of a locally famous model train set worth an estimated $4 million. The model is 3,700 square feet and features a half-mile long track.
Both parties will negotiate basic terms of the project over the next four months, according to the agreement. Northwest Truck Lines will then be expected to deliver a proposal to the city, featuring a preliminary design, site plan, cost estimate and financial plan. That plan would require council approval.
The agreement comes just a few months after Northwest Truck Lines owner Peter Hambling gave a presentation to the city council and pitched building a museum for his model in Snoqualmie near the intersection of Railroad Avenue and Snoqualmie Parkway.
That proposal appeared to me met with unanimous support by the council. Several councilmember praised the model for fitting-in with the city’s design and potentially drawing more traffic downtown. Mayor Katherine Ross called the model “extraordinary.”
Lot at intersection of Snoqualmie Parkway and Railroad Avenue in Snoqualmie in September. File photo Conor Wilson/Valley Record.
The model features 14 different geographic railroad locations from across western North America. Hambling said he traveled to each location to photograph and take soil samples while making his model and read over 400 books on railroads.
Hambling, who owns an underground construction products company, said he began building the model in 2006. It currently resides in the basement of his Medina home.
“I’ve always had this vision we would move it out of the basement,” he said to the council in September. “I’ve never seen anything like it. I’ve seen other model railroad exhibits. They’re good, but not like this.”
Hambling said he also floated the idea of taking the model to North Bend and Tacoma.
