Laying tracks for the next generation
Frank Culp dedicates his life to railway education and preservation
Story by HANNAH WONG
Frank Culp was 6 years old when he wrote his first letter to the U.S. government. His request: a 300-foot-long freight ship. And while he never got his ship, he didn’t let it stifle his passion for all things transportation.
“As a little kid, I always wanted to have my own transportation company, with ships and [trains] going all around the world,” Frank says with a chuckle. “When I was a little older, I wanted to own a railroad that ran from Alaska to Argentina. I had all of these dreams.”
Frank’s love of trains began in his early childhood. He fondly remembers the nights when his mother would take him and his younger brother, Bob, down to the train station near their home in Olympia, to greet their father as he returned from work. There, he would watch in wonderment as letters and packages were loaded into mail cars and sent off to their final destinations. Those small moments at that train station sparked a love of locomotives that would last a lifetime.
Young Frank’s passion for trains was anything but a passing phase. At 18 years old, Frank began to seriously research the logistics of owning a railroad. The first step was to acquire a train. During his sophomore year at University of Washington, Frank and a friend embarked on a journey to find old steam engines. They stumbled upon the 1070 steam locomotive built in 1912, just outside of Olympia. The railroad company agreed to sell it to him for $2,500, which would be approximately $18,400 today. After receiving a hefty loan and a three-month payment plan, Frank bought his first train.
Not long after, Frank purchased two passenger cars, a small handcar and several miles of rail in the tiny town of Wickersham. It was in 1972 with his trains and stretch of land that Frank founded the Lake Whatcom Railway.
The Lake Whatcom Railway is a tourist train located about 25 miles outside of Bellingham. The company’s mission is to preserve and celebrate the history of America’s railroads, while giving its passengers a fun and hands-on experience. Customers are invited to climb aboard the century-old passenger cars and take a quick trip back to a simpler time. Ride themes change throughout the year to celebrate holidays like Christmas, Halloween, Easter and Mother’s Day. On each ride, passengers are invited to chat with the engineers, ring the bell or simply enjoy the beautiful views of Mirror Lake.
// Photo by Hannah Wong.
Forty-six years later, the railway is still in operation. When asked the key to his success, Frank’s advice is twofold: strive for authenticity and prioritize fun. Authenticity and historical conservation are of great importance to Frank, both in the operation of his company and in his daily life.
“I’ve always liked authentic things,” Frank says. “If you look at our trains, you’ll see that nothing is make-believe. Our cars were built in 1910 and 1912 … and basically nothing has been changed.”
Frank prides himself in keeping his steam engine and passenger cars as historically accurate as possible. In the four decades that he has owned the trains, no major renovating or updating has been done. He says, while modern trains need constant maintenance and repair, early-20th century engines were built with quality and longevity in mind; almost anything on his trains can be fixed with a simple screwdriver or wrench.
Frank has conducted a great deal of research on locomotive history throughout his life. Perhaps the only thing Frank loves more than trains is educating others. Since receiving his degrees in civil engineering and business administration from University of Washington in 1962, Frank has dedicated much of his time to teaching volunteers of all ages about the way trains work.
One of Frank’s youngest pupils started at just 3 years old. Waylon Hanks, now 7, has always had a fascination with trains, his mother, Erica Hanks, says. When their family started volunteering at the Lake Whatcom Railway back in 2014, it became clear that Frank and Waylon had a special bond.
“We started by painting signs,” Erica says. “[It] was then that the relationship [between] Frank and Waylon really blossomed.”
Not only do Waylon and Frank share a passion for trains, but they have similar, unique minds, Erica says. Over the last four years, the unlikely pair have established an intergenerational friendship that is still going strong. Frank even attended Waylon’s seventh birthday party at Chuck E. Cheese last year, where he gave Waylon a framed photo of his favorite train, the 1070 steam engine.
According to Erica, giving time to Frank is a valuable experience for everyone involved.
“I think that Frank has taught our entire family about trains and the way that they work,” Erica said. “And though we help him, I think [Frank] gives us just as much as we give him. We really do care about him a lot.”
Waylon is not the first young train enthusiast that Frank has mentored. Curtiss Melder of Sedro Woolley started volunteering with Frank at 12 years old. Today, Curtiss is an electrical engineer for Janicki Industries, designing parts and tooling for companies like Boeing. Though many years have passed, he and Frank are still in touch. Curtiss will never forget his first experience with the railroad, he says.
“One summer, I spent a week with my uncle, each day doing something fun with him and my cousins,” Curtiss says. “One of those days we rode the Lake Whatcom Railway. I rode in the cab of the steam locomotive the whole way and was hooked. I asked Frank if I could volunteer… and the rest is history.”
Curtiss’ first job was to heat the steam locomotive the day before guests arrived. While he enjoyed this task, it wasn’t long before he was promoted to switchman, where he was responsible for operating switch points along the track. The following year, Curtiss began doing track work. This required heavy labor, clearing dirt from the tracks and installing support ties. Several years after that, he became the fireman of the 1070 steam engine. He did this job for three years, before eventually leaving for college.
Curtiss developed a number of valuable skills during his time with the railroad. Discipline, hard work and quality craftsmanship are of chief importance to Frank, and he encourages his volunteers to follow his example. If Curtiss did work that did not meet Frank’s standards, he would be asked to do it again. Shortcuts and laziness were out of the question, regardless of the job.
“If my work was not high quality, despite maybe being functional, Frank would have me do it over again,” Curtiss says. “If we wanted [a task] to get done, we had to work hard.”
While today his career focuses on the aerospace industry, Curtiss’ experiences with Frank and the railway are a large part of what led him to pursue his career in engineering.
“[My] experience of working on the train at a young age is a great piece of the foundation that I have built on as I have pursued my career,” Curtiss adds.
Curtiss and Waylon are just two of the many volunteers whose lives have been touched by Frank’s mentorship and friendship. For 46 years, Frank has done more than just own and operate a railway: he has dedicated his life to sharing his vast knowledge of trains with others, while preserving the rich history of America’s railroads.
Today, Frank can be found tinkering with his trains, or spending time with his family at the railway. He watches, with a smile, as his young grandchildren discover the wonder of trains, just as he did many years ago. And while Frank never quite fulfilled his childhood dream of building a railway from Alaska to Argentina, he built something much greater: a legacy.