Category: Year in Review

During 2024, after a period of instability, we successfully transitioned to new resident caretakers, made progress on the expansion of our “Black Butte Station” project installation (laying track, reconstructing the water tank and hooking it up to our solar power), further developed our library, completed a successful round of accessibility improvements, and began a new phase of forest restoration work, focused on our six-acre wetlands zone. We successfully hosted Spring and Fall work parties, our June Railroad Days party, a signpainters convergence and other music shows and open houses. Our music and art shows are reaching a broader audience, including from people in our local area. In the Fall of 2024 we launched a new fundraising campaign for our boxcar music sound system. We have also been trying to expand our base of individual donors who can help support our operating and program costs. Thanks to everyone who visited, contributed your skills and financial resources, we couldn’t do this without our base of far-flung supporters!

During 2023 we have had many accomplishments – the further restoration of our Southern Pacific Pullman Car #109, the “Shasta”, a major expansion and renovation of our library, the re-construction of a historic train depot installation known as “Black Rock Station”, ongoing forest and creek restoration activities and the installation of a long-planned and anticipated wheelchair lift to provide access to our PFE Reefer library space and boxcar music stage. We hosted several successful gatherings and events, including Spring and Fall work parties, a June Railroad Days party, the second NML get-together, and a number of boxcar music shows. We partnered with Railway Workers United, Southern Oregon Historical Society, the Smithsonian Postal Museum and others in commemorating the 100-year anniversary of the Tunnel 13 train robbery attempt in the Siskiyou Mountains. We have also partnered with The Wheelhouse to facilitate music shows in Dunsmuir, including Hearts Gone South in October and Jason Dea West in December. We continue to provide support (information, communications, networking and more) to a national and international community of train-obsessed travelers for whom BBCRC has become an invaluable resource. This is all in addition to the ongoing maintenance and operational costs required just to keep things going day to day – as well as infrastructure improvements and amenities we are trying to provide to make living at BBCRC more sustainable for our resident caretakers.

Over the past four years, we received a series of Covid-19 relief and other general operating support grants through the California Arts Council and the State of California. These helped us maintain basic general operations at a time when many of our supporters had limited capacity to financially assist. However, those grants have now ended. Individual supporters have always been key to our financial viability, and now we need to ask supporters like you to step up and help us sustain our efforts and activities over the coming year. Please consider making a donation to help us strengthen and maintain our operations in 2024! You can donate online, via Venmo @bbcrc, or by sending a check made out to BBCRC to 800 Black Butte Road, Weed, CA 96094. Buying BBCRC merchandise is another way you can support the Center. Check out our revamped online merchandise store.

We have a fun series of events, activities and projects in the works. However, this can only happen with the support – financial and through volunteer engagement – of our friends and supporters. Thank you and we hope to see you at the Center sometime in 2024!

Greetings from Black Butte. We have had a good year at the Center. After having our re-opening stall out in 2021, due to both acute wildfire smoke/danger and the resurgent Covid-19 situation, we got back on track in 2022 – and even held our largest event ever! We also made good progress with a number of new and ongoing projects and are well-positioned to sustain those efforts in the coming year. We continue to benefit from the creative energies of our resident caretakers and many volunteers who have come and helped over the course of the year. Among the highlights:

In June, we hosted the long-anticipated and twice delayed End of the Line Moniker Show. When it happened it really happened – an estimated 500-600 people attended our events in Dunsmuir and at Black Butte over the course of four days. The theme was historic and modern-day monikers – the drawing made by train riders, rail worker and other train enthusiasts and scribbled on railcars and under bridges along the tracks. Music was also a large part of the event with musician friends coming from all over the country to play on all four days. Perhaps most important was successfully bringing together our far-flung community after a long period of isolation. This was also a “coming out” event for our SP Shasta Car which, while still very much under restoration, functioned impressively well as a spacious and unique art gallery space. We also had exhibitions in our PFE Reefer car and at the Siskiyou Arts Museum in Dunsmuir. There was a railroad film event at the historic Dunsmuir theater, a series of presentations and a robust BBCRC presence at the Dunsmuir Railroad Days parade. We only pulled this off with a huge collective effort – thanks to everyone who helped out! For a more detailed summary of the event please see the End of the Line page.

In advance of End of the Line we help our first Spring work party since 2019. A major focus was getting ready for the big show in June. We also started on our new Access Project by raising up the deck adjoining our boxcar and reefer – the first step in making these cars wheelchair accessible. Further accessibility improvements are in the works for the coming year.

Over the course of the year, we accomplished several rounds of Ecological/Forest Restoration and Wildfire Prevention. This work has recently focused on our creekside (riparian) areas, including clearing and burning old dead willow debris (which has unnaturally accumulated due a lack of fire on the property for at least 75 years) and thinning out conifers. This allows for the regeneration of diverse species and is a benefit for birds and other wildlife. After some setbacks, our water trailer is now fully operational, increasing our capacity to safely conduct pile and prescribed burning and to fight small fires on the property.

In September, the No Mans Land (NML) gathering was held at Black Butte. “NLM was a great success. Guests came to the late summer event to gather with other members of the woman and trans/queer/gender non-conforming train-loving community. During the festival’s long weekend, workshops and skill demonstrations were shared, as well as wonderful food, dancing, music and art. This event was dedicated to the expansive train culture and to celebrate its diversity in a supportive environment. Look forward to future events.”
BBCRC board member and organizer, Ray Lupis

In October we organized a Fall Work Party which moved projects along on multiple fronts – creek restoration work, firewood processing, a new firewood shed for the Dorris caboose, painting and other work on some of the railcars, the construction of a new walking bridge across Black Butte Creek (built using donated narrow-gauge rails!) and many other infrastructure improvements. We had a great turnout, good music and lots of socializing around the campfire.

Not all was rosy. Our region is suffering through the worst drought in many hundreds of years, causing damage to our forests and local watershed. While we mostly avoided wildfire smoke at Black Butte this year, our local community of Weed suffered a tragedy when the “Mill Fire” broke out at the lumber mill near downtown Weed, decimating the historic African-American neighborhood of Lincoln Heights, killing two people and burning down 100 homes. The fire was caused due to negligent practices by Roseburg Forest Products, which will hopefully be held accountable for its actions.

We are currently in our “winter hibernation” mode and have already had a couple of good snowfalls. We are hoping that this is a sign that our drought is lessoning and that we will get more moisture over the next few months. We have lots of initiatives and ideas for the coming year, which will also be the 100-year birthday for our Western Pacific-Pacific Fruit Express reefer car, built in 1923.

BBCRC would like to thank everyone who helped make this past year so successful. We hope to see you at the Center in 2023!

This last year was a mixed one for us in many ways. We started off hoping for a full re-opening of the Center and a resumption of music and other events by mid-summer. However, a combination of acute fire danger and the resurgent Covid-19 situation, which was especially bad in Siskiyou County where we are located, made us reconsider. The “Lava Fire” in July burned up on the side of Mount Shasta right above us, including into nearby Diller Canyon. Despite these challenges, including many weeks of intense heat and smoke, we have been able to move forward with a number of projects and initiatives. We started welcoming limited numbers of visitors back to our site and had a number of small scale work parties and volunteer events. In April we conducted a 15-acre prescribed burn on the property, with assistance from the Siskiyou Prescribed Burn Association, the Karuk Tribe, Quartz Valley Indian Reservation, Weed Fire Department and other organizations.

In July a group of artists, including Shawnee, Fiona, and Heidi, came to Black Butte to paint a new mural on our compound. The mural will be described in a forthcoming artist statement. We were also able to proceed with further work on several of our railcars: a project to re-side the 1923 PFE Reefer, housing the BBCRC library and art space, was completed and then repainted and lettered in its historic Pacific Fruit Express/Western Pacific scheme. Work on our SP #109 “Shasta” car has moved to the car’s windows and interior. Note: We will be looking for carpentry assistance to further this restoration in 2022, let us know if you are interested in helping out. Further work also took place on our GN/OC&E caboose, “Dorris”. The caboose is now outfitted with all new upholstery and further window restoration and window reconstruction took place. In order to recreate the atmosphere of a caboose in the 1930s/40s, we are looking for donations of caboose furnishings from that era, including interior lamps, caboose marker lights and other “bells and whistles”. We will soon be posting photos of our progress and events over 2021 on the “Images” section of our site.

In 2019 we had some great events and progress on our projects and also some setbacks. In April a sign-painters convergence, organized by Heidi Tullman of Handsome Hand Signs, brought a dozen talented artists to Black Butte to paint and letter a number of our railcars and signage around the property. We hosted a larger than normal number of music shows and events this year. Those, as well as our Spring and Fall work parties, were very well attended — the BBCRC’s central function as a community-building meeting place was reaffirmed as we hosted hundreds of visitors over the year.

We saw work move forward in many ways. Restoration work began on the exterior of our PFE reefer car, which houses the BBCRC library and art space. The ambitious project is replacing all of the cars exterior siding after which it is being repainted and re-lettered into its original 1920s appearance. We also did some exterior work on the boxcar, replacing deteriorating boards and other spot repairs. Painting and some interior restoration work took place on “Dorris”, our 1926 ex-Great Northern caboose. Painting, lettering and additional roof work took place on the Shasta car as well.

We had a very successful Railroad Days event in June which included an art show opening of Fiona Bearclaw’s amazing linocut prints, participated in the Dunsmuir RR Days parade and festivities, and hosted a tribute for Guitar Whitey, a long-time friend and well-known hobo who passed away last year. In late July we hosted another art show — a collaborative photo show curated by Beau Patrick Coulon, “Nowhere Near”, which featured over twenty photographers. Other BBCRC projects flourished as well. Our library received many donations and our online hobo bibliography, the most comprehensive one anywhere, was expanded considerably, with many additional listings. Much effort was put into ecological restoration work, with invasive weeds put on the run, many native tree seedlings planted, and ongoing fuels reduction work in our forested areas.

On November 26^th an extreme weather event, what the National Weather Service called a “bomb cyclone”, hit the BBCRC — with winds of 70 to 80 mph and over two feet of snow dropping within a few hours. The wind ripped the metal roof right off of our PFE reefer car, the car housing our beloved library and art space, an ironic development given all the ongoing restoration work put into the car this year. This left the car vulnerable to moisture with another huge storm on the way. There was also damage to other BBCRC structures including busted windows, the destruction of our greenhouse, destroyed fencing and more. Fortunately, a group of friends were able to come to the rescue and were able to make emergency repairs. The reefer car, and its irreplaceable contents, are safe for now. However, a permanent roof rebuild will need to take place next Spring.

The repairs required by this weather disaster, at a time when we are already in the middle of an ambitious program of renovation for our fleet of unique and vulnerable wood railcars, adds up to serious logistical challenges and financial needs for us in 2020. In December we also lost our long-time caretakers, Lauren and Logan, who after five years at Black Butte, during which they made invaluable and long-lasting contributions, decided to move on and get their own place. Great thanks to Lauren and Logan, and to all who helped make our project flourish in 2019! For some photos of our activities this year see our Images 2019 page.

Between ongoing and new projects, several major events and our normal flow of short-term and longer-term visitors, 2018 was another busy, fun and productive year at the BBCRC. In May, on the 10^th year anniversary of Utah Phillips death, we hosted a major celebration in cooperation with The Long Memory — welcoming the arrival and initial restoration of the 1893 Central Vermont flanger once lived in by Utah. It was a memorable musical event with musicians, friends, family, and fans all gathered for the weekend, sharing music and stories from the stage and around the campfire. Just two weeks later was Dunsmuir Railroad Days. We had a major art show in Dunsmuir featuring six BBCRC-affiliated artists, rode in the parade and hosted a six-band music show in the boxcar.

Shortly after RR Days our eighth rail car, a 1926 Great Northern caboose, arrived at Black Butte and was placed on a newly constructed section of track. A major focus was ongoing work on our Southern Pacific Pullman car #109 the Shasta. In a major push, siding was milled and installed on the car and the exterior painted. We had a number of boxcar music shows over the summer and fall and a successful Fall Work Party. A major concern, as fires seemed to break out all around us, remains wildfire. We suffered smoke impacts for months with one fire stopped just a few miles south of Dunsmuir. We ended the year with another round of forestry work, focused on protection of our historic wood railcars, brush clearance and some additional tree thinning.

In the coming year we have a number of projects and events in the works. A major focus will be work on our wood rail cars, especially our boxcar and reefer, which are both at the point where they will need major preservation work if they are going to withstand the elements at Black Butte for the long-term. Before that can happen we are raising funds for this work, any help with this would be appreciated!

Dear BBCRC supporters,

We would like to thank you for your contributions to the Black Butte Center for Railroad Culture (BBCRC) in 2017. It was an exciting and productive year filled with impressive progress on many fronts. Our key projects moved ahead by leaps and bounds, and we were also able to organize a series of events which brought many people together and helped build our community. We couldn’t have done it without our network of key supporters — both those who donated their time and effort on site as well as those who made financial contributions towards our efforts.

Early in the year, our solar power project, made possible by the generous response to a special appeal to our supporters, came online. Since February, we have been generating all of our electricity through our solar array — contributing to our region’s move towards renewable energy and virtually eliminating our monthly power bills. The challenging restoration of our historic Southern Pacific business car #109, the “Shasta” made great progress, thanks to dedicated volunteers who donated hundreds of hours to the effort, as well as those who contributed to its significant monetary costs. While much work remains, the Shasta now has a totally rebuilt roof and has been transformed into a car able to withstand Black Butte’s winter winds, rain, and snow.

In early October, a year-long effort of fundraising, logistical coordination, and other preparation culminated in the arrival at the BBCRC of a historic 1893 flanger/caboose car, once owned by famed folk singer and rabble-rouser Utah Phillips, shipped all the way from Vermont. This is the first step in an exciting new initiative — the establishment of the Utah Phillips Memorial Library at Black Butte. In this endeavor, the BBCRC is collaborating with The Long Memory, an organization set up by Phillip’s family and supporters, to honor and commemorate his musical and social legacy.

In addition to the above three high profile projects, we moved forward on several other projects, and we organized a number of fun and inspiring events, throughout the year. Several years of forest restoration work, facilitated by federal and state grants, have resulted in forested areas on our property that are healthier, more diverse, and better able to withstand the acute fire danger we face every summer and fall. Our large vegetable garden received several infrastructure improvements, including new fencing. With the help of our dedicated caretakers and others it produced large quantities of our own food to help feed our volunteers, caretakers, and other visitors. Other infrastructure at the BBCRC, including the kitchen facilities, were also improved, allowing us to better host visitors and volunteers. We also benefitted from ongoing support from a number of local businesses which continue to donate food, coffee, and materials to us.

Thanks again for your contribution. We hope you can visit in 2018. We have a number of exciting events in the planning stages, including the “caboose warming” for the Utah Phillips library on Memorial Day weekend and our annual Railroad Days event during June 8-10^th.

All the best,
The Board of Directors
Black Butte Center for Railroad Culture

During 2016 we took on two new ambitious projects. In late April, a new railcar arrived at the BBCRC — Southern Pacific #109 “The Shasta”, a wooden Pullman business car built in 1888 and donated to us by the California State Railroad Museum. The car was in very poor shape and its restoration will be a multi-year project. See our Shasta page for more information on this project. The second major project involved the installation of a solar power array at the BBCRC, completed in December. The BBCRC now runs 100% on renewable solar energy! More info on this project can be found on our solar power page. Thanks to our generous supporters who helped fund both of these major projects! Over the course of the year we also moved forward with a number of other site improvements, including the completion of the upgrading of our indoor and outdoor kitchens and further work on our searchlight signals. Late in the year we received a forest restoration grant from CalFire and began another major round of thinning and fuels reduction in our forest areas. We hosted three major work party events — in May, July and October — as well as a number of other gatherings and shows. Through all of this the BBCRC has continued to grow as an institution increasingly well-known and appreciated both locally and within the wider community of those interested in railroad culture. For more info on our 2016 activities see our Images 2016 page.

After a period of transitions and various ups and downs, 2015 was a year in which the BBCRC flourished in a number of ways. New caretakers/volunteers brought renewed energy and creativity to our organization, we had significant progress on a number of major projects and hosted a series of well received musical and other events. Our music program started off with BBCRC favorite Tim Barry making a return appearance to the boxcar on March 26th. See our You Tube page for an excerpt from this memorable show. In April, Minnesota based folk-blues legend Charlie Parr returned to Black Butte, for another stellar performance. Also in April we were saddened to learn of the death of BBCRC friend and supporter, Jerry Miller (see below). During our Spring Work Party in May, we moved forward on a number of key projects, including the initiation of major upgrades to our outdoor and indoor kitchens as well as lighting up, for the first time, two of our main searchlight signals and connecting them to solar power. We carried out a major creek restoration project using a Bobcat and a group of 6-8 people all carrying boulders and root balls and making a series of weirs along the creek. We had demos of the new blacksmith forge in the shop, built more trails and wildlife habitat structures, hauled and processed firewood, completed plumbing on two cabooses, and carried out all sorts of other repairs, maintenance, and painting. The weekend also featured really good music including a honky tonk night with Jeannie Reno from Ashland and Hearts Gone South along with Pat Reedy, all the way from Asheville, NC. The following night including a rocking punk show with Something on the Wing, The Shlurs, Hens Teeth, and Black Rainbow. We had a great turnout, both of those who came in on the rails and by car, lots of good food, including a pizza party using our new wood-fired cob oven!

We had more good music for Railroad Days in June and the BBCRC participated in the resumption of the event in Dunsmuir, as we rode our “Bindlestiff Express” railbike “float” in the parade. We were honored to have Guitar Whitey, at 92 years old America’s most well respected hobo, again join us for the event. Then in n July, the BBCRC sponsored four evenings of music and films. The event was covered in our local newspaper. The event included a performance by the New Orleans jazz band Tuba Skinny in our newly refurbished outdoor kitchen, a movie night at the California Theatre in Dunsmuir featuring Long Gone and Rail Kings, a metal oriented show featuring Speed of Darkness and Zelosis, and a couple days later, the band Wildcat from Minneapolis.

At our Fall Work party in September, we had a major push on processing firewood, worked towards finishing up our indoor and outdoor kitchen upgrades, prepped for Fall forest restoration activities, reaped the benefits of our large vegetable garden, and completed a number of other maintenance and various activities. Music included Divers from Portland, Hera Has a Heart from Humboldt, Powers from Santa Cruz and Lara Buckley from Buffalo. In November, we had good news on the railroading front: after being closed since May, 2008, Central Oregon and Pacific resumed operations on the ex-SP Siskiyou Route between Black Butte and Medford, Oregon over Siskiyou Pass. This is leading to an increase in rail activity and switching at Black Butte, something that is likely to further expand in 2016. On November 11th the BBCRC hosted the Joe Hill Road Show, a tribute to the IWW labor activist, song writer and hobo, on the 100th anniversary of his execution. Later in November we carried out a round of forest restoration work, thinning out more pines in the area right behind the compound and carrying out our first controlled burn on the forest floor.

In 2014 we had good progress on many of our projects and hosted a number of good events. See below for descriptions of our Spring and Fall work parties. A major development was the donation of a large number of historic “searchlight” signals from Union Pacific to the BBCRC. See our Searchlights page for details. On the less positive side, we lost a couple of key volunteer/site caretakers who moved out of the area. Then in September our local community of Weed suffered a major disaster when a fire swept through town destroying a large number of houses and local institutions. While our land was not directly impacted, many local friends were. The BBCRC responded by channeling financial donations to the rebuilding of our local food bank and library and by donating 29 cords of firewood to a local heating assistance program.