Railroad Remains

Sadly, there are no trains in this photo. These two buildings are the only Sumpter Valley Ry. structures left in South Baker. The larger of the two buildings in the back is the 3 stall engine house built in 1940 to house the 2 big articulated engines #'s 250 and 251, plus mikado #17 which was converted to oil and remained on roster. The building on the left was the railroads stores warehouse built in the early part of the 1900's. This photo was taken in the early 2000's. Within a few years after this photo was taken, the roof of the engine house had deteriorated to such an extent that there were large holes suggesting that some of the purloins had collapsed under snow load. It appeared that the building was doomed, but it seems someone bought the property to use as an auto wrecking yard and put a lot of money into stabilizing the old structures. On the bright side they are saved, but on the down side, the area is fenced and it is no longer possible to explore the old site at will. The scan is from the SVRR Archive.