Northwest Railway Museum Welcomes Two New Team Members

The Northwest Railway Museum is delighted to welcome two new members to its heritage team.

VJ Kopacki, Administrative Officer

VJ oversees the museum’s day-to-day administration and plays a key leadership role in advancing its mission and strategic growth. In this role, VJ manages organizational systems, supports human resources functions, and provides financial oversight to ensure transparency and accountability. Her work also supports grant writing and donor relations, helping strengthen the museum’s philanthropic footprint for its capital campaign, Tracks to the Future.

“I am thrilled to join the Northwest Railway Museum at such an important time. Tracks to the Future is not just about new buildings—it is about connection, about bringing the past and future together in ways that keep our shared history alive.”

A native of Pennsylvania, VJ has dedicated her work to uncovering stories at the margins of history and empowering communities to discover their own place in the past, charting a better trajectory for their futures.

Catlin Wright, Educator

Catlin comes to the Northwest Railway Museum as a museum educator from the Southeastern United States. She sees great potential in expanding education programs at the Museum through on-campus programming, podcasts, and classroom opportunities to help reach diverse audiences across Washington state.

As an educator and historic interpreter, I am delighted to join the capable team at the Northwest Railway Museum as we reach new audiences of students and adults across Washington state. We are looking forward to sharing some of our historical stories and artifacts with groups who can join us on campus and virtually.

The Museum is currently building relationships with the Snoqualmie Valley School District’s Career and Technical Education (CTE), reaching an even broader population of middle and high school learners at the margins of educational justice and exposing them to technical, hands-on learning opportunities in STEM/STEAM and nonprofit and heritage fields.

About the Northwest Railway Museum

In the heart of Snoqualmie Valley near Snoqualmie Falls, the Northwest Railway Museum brings this chapter of American history to life with immersive educational experiences for families, schoolgroups, and railway enthusiasts. Serving over 218,000 visitors each year, the Northwest Railway Museum is one of our country’s largest and most comprehensive railroad museums and the seventh-most-visited museum in the Pacific Northwest. Spanning a 5-mile track campus with a historic train depot in North Bend and a historic train depot in Snoqualmie, the Museum’s history campus is in the middle. The collection includes nearly 80 significant artifacts (railcars, engines) and thousands of historic artifacts, each with a story about the people and places of the Pacific Northwest.

[Information provided by the Northwest Railway Museum]