DuPont Historical Society (Out of Many, One display)
DuPont Company Dynamite Train
The DuPont Company operated in DuPont, Washington, from 1909 to 1975. Seventeen miles of narrow-gauge rail transported incoming supplies and outgoing products between the plant and a wharf on Puget Sound. The DuPont plant supplied explosives for projects such as the Grand Coulee Dam, the Panama Canal, and the Alaska Highway, and met military needs during World War I and World War II. In the first 50 years of operation, the DuPont plant produced over 1 billion pounds of explosives. Train transport was the safest method of moving such sensitive cargo.
The train today has been preserved by community effort and dedicated volunteers, serving as both an industrial artifact and a symbol of DuPont’s contributions to national and global endeavors. Since 2008, the locomotive and train cars have been displayed behind the DuPont Historical Museum. We believe the DuPont narrow-gauge “Dynamite Train” is the only intact example in Washington state.
How it represents the community’s American experience:
The current DuPont, WA community and the communities that predate it—including the Nisqually people, Hudson’s Bay Company’s Fort Nisqually, and The DuPont Company town—are characterized by effort and innovation to live and thrive in our environment. Selection of the Dynamite Train represents the role of labor in the American experience, as local employees of the DuPont Company contributed to national events and the growth of their own homes and families.
On display at the DuPont History Museum year-round in their outdoor displays. Visit the museum’s other America250 displays Wednesday–Friday, 10 a.m.–4 p.m. & Saturday–Sunday, 1 p.m.–4 p.m. starting June 2026.
