The original Black Butte trainorders office/depot was built in 1926. This was the year of the completion of the "Natron cut-off" line to Klamath Falls and the establishment of Black Butte Yard at the junction of that line with the older Siskiyou line. The train orders office/depot, water tank, and a variety of other structures were all built at that time.

End shot of second depot at Black Butte, year unknown. Photo courtesy of Bob Morris, used by permission

SP Common Standard Plans book — collection of Bruce Petty

Southern Pacific, collection of Bruce Petty, used by permission

collection of Bob Morris used by permission

At some point in time the original train order office was replaced by a larger Black Butte depot. That depot, in turn, was destroyed in a derailment around 1971. In the summer of 2007 we began modifying the existing two room office building on our site to resemble the original 1926 trainorders office/depot. Our building is of a similar size but it is not an exact duplication as the roof lines and windows are quite different.

BBCRC volunteer Jacquelyn scraping paint off our yard shack in preparation for repainting it in historic SP depot colors.

However, we are trying to capture the spirit of the original structure, including a replication of the original depot sign, as shown in the current photo below:

While researching the history of the Black Butte depot we were surprised to find an HO scale model of the 1926 structure for sale by Showcase Miniatures. Check out their site at "www.showcaseminiatures.com/hoscalestruct.html". It turns out the owner lived in Weed a few years ago and used to visit Black Butte on a regular basis.

photo courtesy of "www.showcaseminiatures.com/hoscalestruct.html"

 

"Our rehabbed yard shack now functions as headquarters for the BBCRC. A volunteer, Derek from Oakland, painted our sign. He's reviving the almost lost art of handpainted signs - check out his work at:
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