# @cascadiadaily on Instagram

- **Type:** Image
- **Original URL:** https://www.instagram.com/p/C-Bbsd9Pdh2
- **Gondola URL:** https://gondola.cc/posts/23405818-cascadiadaily-instagram
- **Thumbnail:** https://img.gondola.cc/tr:w-,h-,fo-auto/thumbnails/5afc30e7fc.jpg
- **Posted:** 2024-07-29T21:53:12.000+00:00
- **Account Owner:** Cascadia Daily News (@cascadiadaily) — https://gondola.cc/cascadiadaily

## Caption

At the southernmost tip of Lake Whatcom, an aging railroad track cuts east toward Wickersham, submerged in places by marshy water and succumbing to weeds. At the terminus of the historic rail spur, on the east side of Valley Highway, is what’s left of Lake Whatcom Railway, which ran for almost half a century and attracted hundreds of riders a day before shutting down in 2019. 

Trains were once a common sight on Lake Whatcom and in Park, the tiny hamlet between the lake and Highway 9. In the early 20th century, the Northern Pacific brought logs from the South Fork Valley to be floated down the lake to mills in Bellingham and carted coal from Blue Canyon Mine to the bay.

Frank Culp, an 82-year-old resident of Wickersham, wants to preserve the rich history of locomotion in the Pacific Northwest. He owns not only a steam engine, passenger cars and a railyard but also, unusually, the 4.5-mile spur itself, which he purchased from Northern Pacific more than 50 years ago. 

Click link in bio to read more.
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📰: Julia Tellman/Cascadia Daily News
📸 1: Lake Whatcom Railway owner Frank Culp, sitting in a Pullman passenger car, discusses running a historical railway in Wickersham on July 17. (Eric Becker/Cascadia Daily News)
📸 2: Frank Culp poses in the newly-acquired Northern Pacific Locomotive 1070 in the late 1950s. The steam engine would eventually make its way north to Lake Whatcom. (Photo courtesy of Lake Whatcom Railway)
📸 3: The two passenger cars carried 200 people per trip to and from Lake Whatcom and ran up to three or four trips per day. (Photo courtesy of Lake Whatcom Railway)

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## Credits

| Name | Username | Profile | Role |
| --- | --- | --- | --- |
| Cascadia Daily News | @cascadiadaily | https://gondola.cc/cascadiadaily | Newspaper |
| Eric Becker | @ericbeckerphoto | https://gondola.cc/ericbeckerphoto | Photographer |

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