Looking back through my collection of photographs that I have taken over time, I ran into my album of pictures that I took back in 2008 of the old Brooklyn Roundhouse in Portland, Oregon. The Brooklyn roundhouse was owned and operated by Southern Pacific, first built in 1912 it served as the northern most terminus of Southern Pacific Railroad. In 1941 a corrugated steel roundhouse was built and was left standing long after the original brick roundhouse was torn down in 1956. Later the roundhouse was acquired by Union Pacific after the merger and was kept in active use. Later the roundhouse was loaned to the Oregon Rail Heritage Foundation (ORHF) for the temporary home for the SP 4449, SP&S 700, OR&N 197, and other railroad equipment. During the Time I was a Crew Member of the SP&S 700, Union Pacific gave us the order to leave the premises by 2012 or all equipment still on site will be scraped (except the three locomotive owned by the city). the bright side was that if we could move it it was ours however we had a lot of equipment that was going through various stages of refurbishment including the 700's auxiliary tender that was, at the time left without trucks and The OR&N 197 was also in a mostly dismantled state. at the time of these photos were taken all crew members were trying to get all railroad equipment into at least a mobile form. In 2012 Union Pacific demolished the Roundhouse to make room for a lager container yard. ORHF managed to make enough money to build a new Roundhouse/museum. All rolling stock and equipment was saved including the turntable and two of the original roundhouse doors.

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ORHF did an excellent job in moving all equipment and saving the turntable and parts of the roundhouse. ORHF Got a new and better facility that is easier and safer to access but I however will always miss working in and around the Brooklyn Roundhouse And Krator the Roundhouse cat.

I appreciate that you may not be in a position to answer, but does anyone know if the option of salvaging the roundhouse's structure for reuse at ORHF *was considered*? -(edited for sleepiness) While not an easy or cheap proposition, the heavy timber structure and some of the other features represent a fair amount of value.

The Roundhouse was completely demolished back in 2012 by Union Pacific. I think the only thing saved from the roundhouse was a pair of doors and the turntable, I do not believe any of the wood was saved.

There's something to be said about working in a roundhouse whose walls, if they could speak, could tell stories of days gone past. At the same time, UP seems like they have been very accomodating to this group, which says a lot both about UP and this group (then again, UP has always been a great corporate entity when it comes to preservation, which they don't have to do).

Now it's time to start traditions, stories, etc in the new facility. Did Krator make the move to the new facility?

It is a familiar story. Google still has the satellite photos of the old Brooklyn. The new facility is better. The old roundhouse was small, alone, and isolated in an industrial park, surrounded by truck trailers. It would never have been friendly to the public. The new facility is purpose built to interact with the public, and that public interaction will do more to provide support for the future of the locomotives than any tool will.

Sadly no, Krator will forever rest in the old Brooklyn Yard.

Union Pacific was very forgiving of ORHF and gave us plenty of time to raise money while still being able to run the Holiday Express. I was able to learn a lot while working in that old roundhouse but I am glad they were able to get the new facility complete with a wheel pit. Once I get back state side I will have to visit there new roundhouse.

Anyone who's seen the new museum/enginehouse in Portland won't cry too long over the loss of the Brooklyn in regard to the preservation and access to the rolling stock. It's right next to the science museum and a Max station. Parking is no issue unless there's a big event going on there. With 4449 going through her 15-year inspection and work, the public wouldn't get to see her (or the PA) for a very long time if still sitting in that roundhouse.

Who owned the PS&P-marked GP-30? Is it still in Brooklyn?

As for 231, I remember the paint job being for that unit used as a helper for 4449 but it's never been used for that purpose, has it been run at all since arriving in Portland?

I had not anticipated people reaching odd conclusions in response to my question, so I will pose it again with some additional explanation. I am very much a fan of ORHF's building. It is a functional, economical design, and it looks railroad-industrial without caricaturing authentic railroad architecture.

I was under the impression that ORHF wanted to build a small roundhouse in the future after they are able to install the turntable they saved from Brooklyn. I was hoping to know whether or not the option of reusing portions of the Brooklyn structure had been considered?

Railway preservation is not just about trains, and while not in good shape, Brooklyn Roundhouse was the last intact SP roundhouse, and was amongst a handful of extant steam-era facilities along the west coast. It might have been worthwhile to salvage the timber structure and window frames. The lighter wood framing and corrugated fiber-cement siding could have been replaced.

I do not intend this as criticism. I wanted to know if this course had been examined and if so, why it was not pursued.

The short answer: it was cost prohibitive. That roundhouse was falling apart, and for those of us regularly involved in working on the engines, the new building is SO much better. There was definitely a significant historical aspect to the roundhouse, as far as it was the only place in the world you could see two 4-8-4's side by side in an original building, occasionally even fired up at the same time. But the new building is such a huge improvement: the roof doesn't leak, it doesn't stink, it's CLEAN, it's much better lit, and the list goes on.

Scott Gordon
4449 Crew

for information about the Oregon Rail Heritage Foundation check out its website:
Oregon Rail Heritage Foundation

It looks like it did reuse the doors.

That was the original intention when 231 was donated to the Friends of SP 4449, and work progressed to do exactly that until we found the turbocharger had seized. I recall the NRHS double-header with 4449 and 700 in 2005 was nearly canceled due to lack of motive power availability from Amtrak, and that we wished 231 had been operational for that trip. Luckily, Amtrak came through and the trip wasn't canceled. Since then, the Friends of 4449 has maintained a great relationship with Amtrak, and motive power availability for HEP has not been an issue.

231 has not returned to operation yet, although very close. The turbo has been refurbished, but some compression issues in the cylinders need to be addressed, mostly with the exhaust valves and rings. On the downside, while in storage in NW Portland last February, copper thieves stripped it of HEP cables underneath the locomotive, so that was a huge letdown.

It did lead as a "cab car" with working lights and horn on ORHF's first trip with 4449, 700 and passenger cars from Brooklyn to the new site for excursions celebrating the grand opening of Springwater Trail in 2003. Painting it in Daylight colors allowed for me to tackle rust issues while practicing the use of a spray gun for my first locomotive paint job and to have it match with the rest of the Daylight equipment. Now that I've painted a few cars and locomotives, I'm more confident with the paint gun and ready to progress with some projects. We're currently working on moving 231 out of storage to another location for further restoration, without HEP for the time being until we can solicit some donations of cables, but some Amtrak red/white/blue is in it's near future. :)