Financial Contributions
The BBCRC is a registered 501(c)(3) nonprofit corporation, mainly funded by individual contributions from our community of supporters, and contributions are tax-deductible. How to give by card, PayPal or check, and the BBCRC patch we send for donations of $20 or more, are on our Donate page.
Visits and Volunteering
We are often 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. Please contact us in advance if you are interested in helping out — some times are much better than others for this. We have Spring and Fall work and music parties when many volunteers show up. We also can use some longer-term volunteers at certain times of the year.
At present we do not yet have regular open hours. We are open to the public during special events or by advance appointment. Please email us in advance at [email protected] if you want to visit. We try to be as open as possible to visitors passing through the area but at times we just don’t have the capacity to host visitors so check first if you can. Also, our operations are seasonal and we have relatively 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 Siskiyou Line. If driving, to get to the BBCRC, from the I-5 South Weed Exit #745, go east one block to Black Butte Drive (by the Taco Bell). Turn right (south) on Black Butte Drive and go ¼ mile. Turn onto the well-travelled dirt road going to your left (east). As of Spring, 2020, there is a gate at this point. We share Black Butte Road with Union Pacific and another property owner in the area. If you are coming for an organized BBCRC event, this gate should not be locked. But if it is closed, please open it, go through, and close it behind you. At other times this gate will likely be locked. Therefore you MUST arrange your visit in advance with us so that we can unlock the gate or tell you how to do it. After the gate, go ¾ mile east to the end of that road by the railroad tracks. Turn left (north) on the dirt frontage road running alongside the tracks. Go a few hundred feet to the gate on your left.
Getting to BBCRC by public transit: The nearest Amtrak train stop is Dunsmuir, 15 miles south of us, served by the Coast Starlight daily. To get from Dunsmuir to BBCRC, there are Siskiyou County “STAGE” Transit buses running that stop at South Weed (Vista Drive and Black Butte Drive), only a mile from BBCRC. You can take bikes on these buses. Call 1-800-24STAGE to confirm times, they just run 2-3 times per day (Mon-Fri only). On weekends you will have to hitch or take a taxi. Greyhound no longer serves Weed, the closest stop is in Mt Shasta.
Photography/documentation: While personal photography of our rail cars and the general scene in public spaces at Black Butte is generally OK, any sort of filming, photography and/or interviews for more formal documentary or commercial purposes is only permitted with advance written permission from the BBCRC. Any photography or documentation of individuals at Black Butte, whether for personal, commercial, or documentary purposes, also requires the consent, in advance, of the subjects. Thank you!