Many visitors to BBCRC have enjoyed a hike up to Black Butte Springs across the tracks. Thanks to a new conservation project, the Springs, and in all over 5000 acres of forest across the tracks from us, have received permanent protection through an agreement between Pacific Forest Trust and the landowner, a lumber company. This means the land can never be sub-divided for development. Some logging with continue but much of it will be fuels reduction oriented and the area around the Springs will be totally protected.
News
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2018 Year in Review
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 10th 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!
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Remembering Guitar Whitey
We are sad to report the passing of Guitar Whitey on the evening of July 3rd. He died at age 97 while walking to the park in his hometown of San Luis Obispo. Whitey was one of the last of the “bridger” hobos who rode behind both steam and diesel. He is featured in the PBS documentary “Riding the Rails” which describes the lives of teenagers hopping freights in the 1930s. He was the only one of those interviewed still hopping trains in the 1990s! He was an intelligent kind soul, a great musician and good friend of the BBCRC, attending our Railroad Days celebrations the last few years (often unannounced, he just walked up the road from the South Weed bus stop after coming up on his own from Dunsmuir). His 2002 autobiography “Ridin’ Free” is in the BBCRC library and worth a read. In June 2015 we took him out for a spin on the “Bindlestiff Express”, possibly his last of many illicit railroad rides over a long career of habitual trespassing!
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The BBCRC had a large turnout for Railroad Days this year
The BBCRC had a large turnout for Railroad Days this year. While we got rained and hailed on during the parade we again won a prize for the best railroad themed parade entry. Our art show opening in Dunsmuir at the Siskiyou Arts Museum was packed and very well received. Thanks to all the artists who participated. The show runs in the gallery in Dunsmuir into early July.
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Utah Phillips Flanger Car Grand Opening
We would like to thank everyone who attended the grand opening party for the Utah Phillips flanger car. It was a very enjoyable weekend of music, remembrances and camaraderie!
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$4,000 Grant for Great Northern Caboose X630
The BBCRC is happy to report that we have just been awarded a grant of $4000 from the Great Northern Railway Historical Society to assist with the move to our site and initial stabilization of historic Great Northern caboose X630 recently donated to us. For info on this organization dedicated to preserving and documenting the history of the Great Northern, check out their website (and consider joining and supporting their efforts if you are a GN fan): www.gnrhs.org.
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Great Northern Caboose X630 Donated to BBCRC
We have just confirmed the donation of Great Northern caboose X630 to the BBCRC! Built in 1926, the wood caboose is in good shape with many of its original fixtures. It is a rare “heavy-duty underframe” caboose which allowed it to stay on the back of the train in front of pusher locomotives taking trains over GN’s mountain grades. We plan to move it to our site in June.
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2017 Year in Review
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 8-10th.
All the best,
The Board of Directors
Black Butte Center for Railroad Culture -
The Utah Phillips Rail Car Arrives
A year in the making, the Utah Phillips rail car arrived in Black Butte and was craned into position on Saturday, October 7th, right on schedule, almost a year to the day that the idea was first conceived of last October.
Here is a link for making a donation — all those who donate will have their name on the plaque which will be placed on the caboose wall for all to see.
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Hobo Bibliography Revised and Updated
The Hobo Bibliograpy has now been completely revised and updated after considerable effort by Arianne Hermida and North Bank Fred, and can be accessed from the main Bibliographies page.