The Black Butte Center for Railroad Culture is an all volunteer-run registered 501(c)3 non-profit corporation (EIN ^# 26-1336678) run by a five-person board of directors. BBCRC organizational and financial documents are available to the public on request.

Our mailing address is: 800 Black Butte Rd. Weed, California 96094
Site office telephone: (530) 938-3856
Email: info@bbcrc.org

At present we do not yet have regular open hours. We are open to the public during special events or by advance appointment. Please contact us in advance by telephone or email if you want to visit. Also, our operations are seasonal and we have very little activity during the winter months.

We are located at Milepost 345 along the Black Butte Subdivision of Union Pacific, just south of the junction with the Central Oregon and Pacific Siskiyou line. Weed is fairly well served by public transit. The nearest Amtrak train stop is Dunsmuir, 15 miles south of us, served by the Coast Starlight daily. An Amtrak bus running between Sacramento and Medford stops in Weed by Ray's Market most days. Greyhound serves Weed three times daily each way, running between Portland and the Bay Area. Siskiyou County Transit buses run between Dunsmuir and Yreka (Mon-Fri only) and stop at South Weed (Vista Drive and Shastina) by McDonalds. You can take bikes on these buses. Call 1-800-24STAGE to confirm times. We are not set up to offer overnight accommodations or camping but can advise visitors on nearby camping or other lodging options.

The Black Butte Center for Railroad Culture is all-volunteer run and depends on contributions from friends and supporters in order to accomplish the ambitious number of projects we have going on. You can help out with a financial donation, a donation of equipment, tools, or other needed materials, or by volunteering time at our site.

We are in need of people able to assist us with all sorts of projects at our site - carpentry, plumbing and electrical work, railroad car restoration work, sign/other painting and artwork, forest restoration (including trails, tree planting/ limbing/fuel reduction/non-native invasives removal, etc.) and many other tasks. Musicians are welcome as we have regular acoustic music jam nights and host the occasional traveling band for shows in our boxcar or outdoor stage area. Please contact us in advance if you are interested in helping out - some times are much better than others for this. We also are scheduling occasional work parties in the warmer months of the year to work on multiple projects.

While our needs in this regard are constantly changing, we are especially in need of:

Woodworking tools and equipment
Used but decent 3 1/2" tongue and groove flooring boards, painted and unpainted
Other cut lumber of various sizes and shapes
Cutting torch and welding equipment
Working solar panels and related gear
Railroad lanterns, signs, etc.
Firewood for caretaker's shack for the winter
Books and 'zines on railroad workers, unions, boomers, hobos and tramps, the Southern Pacific, McCloud River, Siskiyou Line, ecology of the Mt. Shasta region, etc.
Large cast iron kettle/cauldron
Medium-size refrigerator
Pressure and rice cookers

Additional railroad equipment:
A 48' Gunderson doublestack well freight car
40' and 48' shipping containers
Wooden boxcars or other equipment in decent shape
Musical instruments of all shapes and varieties.

Our new high-quality union made 3½" BBCRC patches are now ready. We're sending them out to anyone who makes a $10 (or more) contribution to the BBCRC.

In taking on the boxcar and reefer project we have bit off a lot and we are asking for donations to help with the move of the cars to the site as well as other running costs at our site. We are looking into grant possibilities to help with the restoration of our cars and the development of an arts/resource center/info shop. However, we are mainly dependent on individual contributions from our community of supporters both locally and across the country. We realize these are tough times for many people and getting involved here certainly does not require giving money. However, if you can, or if you know someone who can that you can steer our way, that would be greatly appreciated.

We can accept donations by:
1)  Sending a check made out to "BBCRC" at 800 Black Butte Road, Weed, CA 96094
2)  If you already have a Paypal account, log into it and send money to "donations@bbcrc.org", or
3)  Using your Paypal account or a major credit card, click on the button below to go to the Paypal site:

All donations to the BBCRC are tax-deductible. Thanks for your help!