Sean C. Morgan
Of The New Era
Community leaders are looking for a way to save the old Sweet Home railroad depot, which must be moved by the end of the year.
On Nov. 2, representatives of the depot owners, the city, the Wilderness Village Committee, Sweet Home Economic Development Group and Don Kirk, who is planning to build a railroad museum, met to figure out what to do with the depot.
They all agreed, City Manager Craig Martin and Kirk said, that saving the depot was the top priority at the moment.
The depot sits on land owned by Lester Sales behind McDonald?s off Highway 20. The group understands that the depot must be moved by the end of the year. Representatives of Lester Sales were unavailable to confirm the requirement at press time.
?The principal focus was just to clarify each group?s relationship (how they?re involved) in whatever happens to the depot,? Martin said. It also was a good opportunity for Kirk, who was visiting from Redding, Calif., ?to know who the players are.?
It was mainly an informational meeting, Martin said. The real focus came down to what appears to be a need to relocate the depot.
Kirk wants to build a railroad and transportation museum in Sweet Home. He would like to incorporate the depot into his plans, but it isn?t clear whether he will get the depot. In any case, being a railroad buff, his first priority is helping find a place to move it, temporarily or permanently, to save it.
?He was quick to point out whether he gets it or not, his goal is to see it preserved,? Martin said. The depot is important enough as a part of Sweet Home?s history that it merits time to explore where to put and how to use it.
?We?ll help him like we would help any other person trying to develop something in the city,? Martin said. The city will help Kirk through the land-use planning process and help connect him to ?key players,? which is what it did with this meeting.
?It comes back to making sure the depot is preserved and keeping it for some future use as will be determined?to secure the future of the depot,? Martin said. ?Structurally, it?s still in pretty good shape despite the vandalism it?s had.?
Kirk said he clarified his goals with the museum during the meeting.
The museum would be privately operated, turning his hobby into an income, Kirk said, but he wants to work with nonprofit railroad hobby groups, which would have a place to set up their layouts ? a mutually beneficial arrangement for both Kirk and the hobby groups.
Kirk wants to start small, offering rides, but those will depend on whether he can work out a deal with Albany & Eastern.
?I?m not here to do a major thing at once,? Kirk said. ?I?m here to do it in phases.?
Kirk said he started working toward opening a railroad museum in 1996.
?I started acquiring artifacts for a museum and looking for a location to eventually open,? he said. Kirk had a site picked out in Roseburg, but a farmer he hoped would sell land decided against it because he already had to deal with the noise from freight trains nearby and didn?t want to deal with more.
Kirk ended up looking at Sweet Home after learning from a friend that the local depot was listed as abandoned and that he might be able to acquire it.
The depot is owned by Jim Gourley, Bob Waibel and Ben Dahlenburg.
Kirk has been a rail fan all his life and has served on the boards of nonprofit museums, he said. His interest grew from a trip with his father to a rail yard. His father pointed out a steam locomotive and told him they wouldn?t be around much longer ? not when the diesels take over.
?I had ridden the street cars many, many times,? said Kirk, who grew up in Los Angeles. They have a historic value too.
?Trains are my hobby,? Kirk said. ?I?m at the age now I can start making money.?
During his visit to Sweet Home last week, Kirk also met with Dan Desler, who is managing trustee for Western States Land Reliance Trust, which is planning on developing residential and commercial uses northeast of the intersection of 18th and Main streets, Kirk said. They did not sort out how the museum might relate to Desler?s plans.
While in town last week, he planned to talk with Mike Root of Albany & Eastern as well as look at potential properties for the depot and his museum.
?We all agree the object at the moment is to get the depot moved,? Kirk said. ?The museum?s going to happen. It?s just when and where (with or without the depot).?