The Brooklyn Roundhouse and Our Future Home

Brooklyn Roundhouse

The Brooklyn Roundhouse was built by the Southern Pacific Railroad to service and maintain steam locomotives in its Brooklyn Yard, which served as the northern-most terminus of the railroad. A much larger roundhouse was originally built of brick, and to meet demand during war time, the timber-frame structure was built next to it.

Eventually, the original brick Roundhouse was torn down, but the timber-frame version still exists as our temporary home for the steam locomotives. Southern Pacific, now Union Pacific railroads have done a lot for us as far as allowing us to maintain the locomotives, keeping them sheltered, and granting access to the main line for excursions. If it weren't for the railroad's long-term support, the steam locomotives would have no place to go other than being "stuffed and mounted" in a park like they did in the 50s.

We've occupied the Roundhouse on a month-to-month lease for over 25 years, solely for the purpose of restoring and maintaining historic rail equipment -- The time has come to build a new home, largely due to the expansion of the rail yard, inaccessibility to the public, crumbling Roundhouse with broken windows, leaky roof, and insecure location makes the steam locomotives prone to damage and theft. Once the locomotives are secure in a new facility, the idea of relocating and rebuilding the Roundhouse as a display center is one option being explored.

New ORHF Facility in SE Portland

ORHF reached a major milestone in late October when the Portland City Council approved a loan for us to purchase land in southeast Portland. This accomplishment followed six months of work on property details by our Project Management Group (PMG) and Shiels Obletz Johnson (SOJ), our development consultant. In collaboration with the City and TriMet (Portland's transit agency), ORHF has secured a 1.28 acre property (Site 1). ORHF also has an agreement with TriMet to swap this site for another (Site 2) to support relocations required by the Portland-Milwaukie light rail project.

The property we ultimately want to develop is an oddly shaped piece. But it's at the hub of rail activity, literally surrounded by tracks, and offers tremendous opportunity for growth and connections with what the area offers in the future. One of the conditions of the sale agreement with Union Pacific is that the locomotives must be out of Brooklyn Roundhouse by January, 2012, a little more than two years from today. The real work is about to begin!

Click on map to view larger size. This map is only a conceptual 2015 map of the area.

Oregon Rail Heritage Foundation - PO Box 42443 - Portland, OR 97242