(rshsdepot) Dillard, OR

[I95BERNIEW_@_aol.com]

Story in The News-Review.  Photos available at 
_http://www.newsreview.info/article/20071031/NEWS/71031022_ 
(http://www.newsreview.info/article/20071031/NEWS/71031022) 
 
Bernie Wagenblast
 
 
++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++
 
County looks to develop railroad display at old  Dillard depot
 
JOHN SOWELL
October 31,  2007


Douglas County officials are looking to establish a model train  display at 
the old Dillard railroad depot located on the grounds of the county  museum.

They say such a display could attract hundreds of year-round  visitors to the 
museum and would give the county the opportunity to educate  people on the 
importance of the railroad to the growth of Douglas  County.

They said it could also provide a place for the Umpqua Model  Railroaders 
group to set up its display after being asked to vacate space at the  Douglas 
County Fairgrounds.

“A lot of people want to see that model  railroad resurrected,” County 
Commissioner Joe Laurance said. “There seems to be  a way to have a win-win 
situation.”

Laurance has held discussions with  Museum Director Gardner Chappell and 
Fairgrounds Director Harold Phillips to see  if such a plan was feasible.

Laurance, who grew up in Dillard and still  resides there, spent many 
childhood days playing at the Dillard depot. His  grandmother, Vivian Laurance, 
worked there as a telegraph operator for Southern  Pacific Railroad and he liked to 
hang around the depot.

Laurance received  an American Flyer train set as a boy and he has fond 
memories of playing with  the set, which he still owns. He said a large number of 
Douglas County residents  share his passion for trains.
 
One day, while driving along Interstate 5 to his office  in the Douglas 
County Courthouse in Roseburg, Laurance looked over at the old  depot and thought 
about all the fun times he had playing there. He said he  wanted to create the 
same feeling for new generations of children and their  parents.

Chappell came up with the same idea after he was hired as the  museum 
director in early 2006. Like Laurance, Chappell owned a train set growing  up and has 
always been fascinated by trains. He believed a working train set,  along 
with a historical display about the O&C Railroad, would fit perfectly  with the 
museum’s mission.

“This would be a great place for a railroad,”  Chappell said, walking 
through the wooden structure earlier this  week.

Chappell and other museum officials aren’t sure about the age of  the Dillard 
depot — the last remaining depot of the Oregon & California  Railroad. The 
railroad began construction in 1868 and in the next four years  built the rail 
line between Portland and Roseburg.
 
A national financial panic brought a 10-year halt, and it wasn’t until  1884 
that the tracks reached Ashland. Three years later, the company ran out of  
money and was acquired by the Southern Pacific Railroad. In 1887, the line over  
the Siskiyou Mountains was completed with the driving of a golden spike in  
Ashland, joining Oregon and California with the rest of the Southern Pacific  
system.

Keith Van Atta, president of the Umpqua Model Railroaders club,  which has 
had its train set on display at the Douglas County Fair for more than  43 years, 
said the depot’s 200 square feet wouldn’t provide nearly the amount of  
space needed for the display. The club’s train set takes up 1,400 square feet at  
the fairgrounds.

“We’re really not interested in resettling there,” Van  Atta said.

The club, which has received free use of the Exhibit Building  at the 
Fairgrounds, has been asked to move the display. Phillips said the  fairgrounds needs 
the space to store portable walls and other items used during  the fair and 
for other events.

Many of the newspaper letters to the  editor criticizing the Fair Board for 
its decision to ask the club to move  mentioned the impact the train display 
had on children and how it provided them  with lifetime memories. Phillips said 
he and other officials wanted the club to  be able to continue to provide that 
experience, but without the need to store it  in the Exhibit Building 
year-round.

“We have been trying to come up with  a solution,” he said.

Chappell and Laurance said there’s room outside the  Dillard depot, located 
on the northwest portion of the museum property, for  expansion of a train 
display. With community support, Laurance envisions  constructing a separate 
building.

Chappell said he began developing his  plan before he learned the railroaders 
club had been asked to move. He said he  wanted to create a display that 
could involve all area model railroad  enthusiasts.

“We’re inviting all railroaders to work with us to develop a  railroad in 
the depot,” Chappell said. “We want to start small but there’s room  to expand 
if it becomes a hit.”

He said the museum will recruit  volunteers interested in railroads that 
could then host school groups and  explain to schoolchildren how a model railroad 
works.

Chappell is also  organizing a holiday train exhibit in the museum itself. It’
s scheduled to open  in mid-December. 

• You can reach reporter John Sowell at 957-4209 or by  e-mail at 
_jsowell_@_newsreview.info_ (mailto:jsowell@newsreview.info) .



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End of RSHSDepot Digest V1 #1623
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The Railroad Station Historical Society maintains a database of existing
railroad structures at: http://www.rrshs.org