The Black Butte Center for Railroad Culture has been established by a group of people with a special appreciation for the natural environment and the railroad-related history and atmosphere of the Black Butte, CA railroad junction area. We are dedicated towards documentation, conservation and restoration, and public outreach regarding area railroad and ecological features. We are also working on the development of a resource center, library/info shop, and art project space and gallery focused on railroad-related culture in the western United States.

The BBCRC is located on the site of a long-abandoned junkyard adjacent to several acres of forest, chaparral, and wetlands. The location is directly adjacent to Black Butte Siding, the junction of the Union Pacific and Central Oregon and Pacific railroads right on the southeast edge of Weed, California at Milepost 345. Directly across from our site is the Black Butte water tank, a historic 1926 steam-era structure. Mt. Shasta towers a few miles to the east and Black Butte, a 6300' volcanic cinder cone, is just two miles to our southeast.

In the Spring of 2007 five core supporters incorporated our group as a non-profit corporation and began a number of projects on site. We're cleaning things up and working to conserve and restore the natural landscape. We're engaged in a number of railroad related restoration efforts. We're looking at the potential for using sustainable energy and other ecologically sound systems at the site. We are connecting to local institutions and people in the Weed and wider Siskiyou County area. And we are working to develop a place that can be a community-building resource center for our local and nation-wide network of friends and supporters. While we are interested in historic railroad equipment, we also focus on the human side of railroading. Several of our key supporters and board members are themselves rail workers. We have a special interest in what we call nomadic railroad culture - people such as "boomer" rail workers, union organizers, migratory laborers, and others who have historically worked and traveled on the rails - their stories, art, and music. For more info on our specific projects and our organization click on the links to the left.