Taken in 2004. Not sure if this preservation group has given up or not. Imagine what this scene might have looked like in 1950:

http://rrpicturearchives.net/showPicture.aspx?id=34739

Bob -

Since no one has commented since your original post on 1/6, I guess we can assume that in fact, the efforts to preserve and restore this roundhouse are kaput!

Les

They certainly took on a big job, but one has to give them credit for trying if in fact they have given up. If indeed it is doomed and anyone plans on saving another roundhouse of similar construction (or building a new one), there could be some useful hardware here, such as window frames and opening devices, timbers, etc..

In my review of this (which is rather incomplete) I think the most feasable plan for this structure would be to preserve it an industrial ruin. Preservation form is practiced in Britain and other places in Western Europe (principally Germany). Ruins preservation offers the opporunity to preserve what is left at a far lower maintenance cost than a complete restoration.

There are precedents for renovating roundhouses that replace as much original material as is missing from the Crestline roundhouse. The question is wheither or not there is the market demand to support such a development.

I would hope that the community of interest for this project and the Crestline group would consider such alternatives - instead of accepting demolition when a complete restoration is not feasable.

I could comment further, but as other tasks take me away from actively working on preservation projects (or as much as I would like to) I have to be breif.

Tom Cornillie

We are alive and well. Our attempt to purchase the Crestline roundhouse is a slow process, since the owner believes he is sitting on a "gold mine". We are working on a number of options.

Mark Hendrickson
Board Member
Crestline Roundhouse Preservation Society

Hyopthetically - For industrial properties - most owners would be more than happy to transfer ownership to anybody else that would be willing to accept a quit claim deed. Any owner of an industrial property is potentially liable for any damage resulting from contamination on the site - the costs of which usually far exceed the value of the property. There are several policy channels open for a property owner to relieve him/herself of the liability - but they require proactive action.

Here is the crux - how do you inform a property owner of the advantages of selling/transfering such a property without scaring him/her into another course of action.

Tom Cornillie