Building Improvements Underway at SVRR

Sumpter Valley Railroad Restoration was incorporated in Jan. of 1971 as a non-profit dedicated to acquiring, restoring and operating equipment from the original Sumpter Valley Ry. on a part of the old right of way. Shortly before the end of 1971, SVRR had acquired its first steam locomotive, the WH Eccles Lbr. Co. #3 Heisler. After it arrived, a place was needed to begin the locomotive's restoration. The Ellingson Lbr. Co. of Baker, Or. donated lumber and plywood to construct a temporary building for this purpose. They may have even owned the land where the building was constructed. That building was built in panels so that it could be dismantled and moved once the restoration was completed. That occurred in the summer of 1976. A small amount of rail had been laid on the old road bed in the Sumpter Valley, near McEwen. A depot was constructed and the first operation of #3 on that short bit of straight track happened on July 4th, 1976. In the mean time, the temporary shop building was being dismantled and moved to the new site. Concrete foundations were poured and the building that would become the shop and home of the #3 was reassembled. Flash forward to the early 2000's. SVRR was able to construct a 100'x100' metal building with four bays that would become the new back shop. Once #3 was living in its new home, the poor old plywood structure could receive some much needed TLC. With grant funds we made many improvements to the building over the course of several years. This included a new metal roof, concrete floor, two insulated heated interior rooms for brake parts storage and service, insulation for a portion of the walls along with OSB covering. We did a 400 amp electrical service and a good deal of new wiring in the building along with an insulated chimney system for our big wood burning heater. Priorities at SVRR changed and moving forward with improving and preserving the car shop building have been on the back burner for over 15 years. Besides the generally poor condition of the exterior plywood siding, the sliding doors are both in desperate need of repair. Now I am pleased to report that we are back on track to make this now ugly weathered building into something to be proud of. As a first step, our board has authorized the expenditure for new insulated overhead doors on each end and an insulated man door on the side. We are awaiting an updated bid for board and batt look metal siding like we put on the new archive and library building. Once we have that bid in hand we will be looking for a grant to fund this much needed improvement. Here are three photos I took on Jan. 20th to illustrate the present condition of doors and siding. I hope that within a year or two these will be the before photos to contrast with much improved after shots.