09/02/2026
We’ve been a bit busy lately, and apparently some of our followers are getting cranky with us.
It seems we’ve lost sight of what’s truly important and have been focusing on the wrong things, namely, launching Steam Into Christmas ticket sales instead of providing regular updates about the cats.
Over the last several days, we have listened and reflected deeply on the hurt and disappointment caused by our lack of cat updates.
Here’s the cat update.
🐈 BERNARD MONTGOMERY & GEORGE S. CATTON
Bernard Montgomery and George S. Catton assumed residence at our shop facilities in Mineral 850 days ago, following a transfer from the Barn Cat division of the Regional Animal Services of King County.
Their mission: eradicate rodent incursions at the museum.
They acclimated quickly and performed their duties valiantly for a matter of…weeks.
Then the “situation” deteriorated.
The cats began taking liberties with the facilities, stealing rations from enlisted humans and generally displaying a troubling disregard for their chain of command.
By February 2025, they had staged a full takeover of the shop, captured our staff, issued threats, and even stolen war bonds to raise money for the Feline Expeditionary Forces.
After several weeks of conflict mediation, a peace treaty and substantial reparations, we eventually established a solid working relationship with George S. Catton.
Bernard Montgomery, however, is another story.
Since disarmament, he has effectively been on strike. He loafs around the shop. He begs for food. He refuses to work. He knocks over garbage cans. He creates messes and then watches the humans clean them up.
As a result, Bernard’s employment classification has officially been changed from “Facilities Management” to “Personality Hire.”
He seems comfortable with the arrangement.
🐈⬛ MEANWHILE, THERE HAS BEEN A DEVELOPMENT.
A few weeks ago, we posted asking whether anyone local was missing a cat after a tiny gray interloper jumped onto the running board of our steam locomotive, causing confusion and delay.
We eventually learned that she’d been living behind a local bar and had recently had kittens. She and the kittens appeared to have been attacked by wildlife, and she was in pretty rough shape.
We called just about every animal rescue between Chehalis and Seattle.
Nobody had room. ’Tis the season. (Seriously: please spay and neuter your cats.)
In traidiotional Mt. Rainier Scenic Railroad fashion, we took things into our own hands and machinist/engineer Chris made a midnight cat delivery to our social media intern, who agreed to nurse the little locomotive trespasser back to health and then find her a proper home.
The cat (named Hedy Lamarr) quickly demonstrated superior intelligence and successfully ingratiated herself with the tiny human kittens residing in the social media manager’s home.
After numerous vet visits, Hedy has received a clean bill of health.
She has also declined reassignment.
Hedy Lamarr has therefore taken up permanent residence with the administrative and marketing departments, where she is a very tiny terror and will be performing administrative duties, not as assigned, whenever she feels like it.
This concludes your long-overdue cat update.
We hope this restores confidence in our organizational priorities.
🫡🐈🚂
[P.S.- Steam into Christmas tickets are about 30% sold out - some Saturdays are completely sold out. Don't wait and call us all stressed out later. K. Thx. Bye.]
