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Herbert T. Chaudiere, born September 3, 1929 in Englewood, New Jersey, passed away on September 9, 2000 in Redmond, Washington. Herb served in the U.S. Army during the Korean Conflict. He was Vice-President for Bruck, Richards and Chaudiere, Inc., an acoustic firm in the Seattle area, functioning as an acoustical expert. Herb enjoyed chasing trains and recording railway sounds, and was a published artist in this area. A nationally recognized model railroader, he published numerous articles for magazines on how to engineer a model railway, and was involved with the Puget Sound Garden Railway Society, the Narrow Gauge Railroad Society, the Acoustical Society and the Audio-Engineering Society. He also enjoyed building scale model railroads and was an avid photographer, particularly focusing on railroads and old gas pumps.

In 1999, a group of volunteers formed “The Friends of the South Cle Elum Depot”. Their goal was the rehabilitation and historic preservation of the Milwaukee Road facilities at South Cle Elum, which were showing the effects of time and abandonment. This group evolved into the Cascade Rail Foundation, or CRF, as it is known today. Cascade Rail Foundation is now a Washington State nonprofit corporation, and operates under a 501(c)(3) tax-deductible status. It is the vision of the Cascade Rail Foundation, in partnership with Washington State Parks , that the South Cle Elum Rail Yard Historic District, in the Palouse to Cascades State Park Trail, will become a significant resource for the region and the nation. The goal is to preserve the site of the Milwaukee Road rail yard in South Cle Elum and to tell the story of the Milwaukee’s electrification and route through Washington and the Cascade mountains. The site is dedicated to the interpretation and preservation of the history of the Milwaukee Road’s western extension and electrification. The Milwaukee is considered one of the most significant and cherished railroads ever to exist in the United States.

David J. Cantlin, a Tacoma area railroad historian and photographer, has written two previous articles about Tacoma Rail. He works for the City of Fife Parks Department. Photographs from many sources—including the Tacoma Public Utilities Archives, Washington State History Museum, Tacoma Public Library, the author, and many private collections—richly tell the history that is Tacoma Rail, locally known as “Tacoma's Own.”