Erik H. Wrote:
> It does have a facility - it is closed to the public.
> Every now and then there's some posting on here or
> other forums of some V.I.P. group that gains
> access and gets to tour the "museum". But not my
> seven year old son.


This facility you speak of is on private railroad property and the shops are essentially still working railroad shops. Do you think you can convince Union Pacific to let your seven year-old son roam around Albina Yard and play on locomotives inside its diesel shops? Let me know how that turns out for you.

At Brooklyn, while it's not necessarily a 24/365 operational facility, is still in a working yard and is not quite set up to be converted into a full-blown "OMSI"-type museum.

The "v.i.p." tours are simply groups who have put in a formal request for a group tour, and while we couldn't accommodate every single request, considerable effort has been made to welcome groups with compelling interest and *WHO ASKED*. Hell, at the last tour we put the 4449 out on the turntable. Individual requests do get honored as I've done quite a few when people asked. You know of me and my involvement down there, why haven't you asked me for info on a tour? Have you sent a letter to ORHF asking for a tour?

It's unfortunate that you have such a negative view of ORHF and the work being done at Brooklyn. You have no idea what volunteers are contributing to keep these treasures operable. Over the years volunteers have worked hard to keep these machines operable instead of letting them sit on static display while focusing on building a child-friendly museum. Quite a few of us would love to open it up as it gets pretty lonely working on misc projects and not being able to showcase our work, but we don't own the land nor the building, so that's how it is.

Speaking of museums...

Why haven't you complained about SP 2472, a locomotive that sits outside under a tarp and chained up? What about SF 3751, another operable 4-8-4 that sits outside under a tarp behind a chain-link fence not letting kids climb inside the cab to play engineer? How about UP 844 and UP 3985? MILW 261? None of these places are open and have kids running around playing on trains.

Take a look at SE Portland, specifically between Water Avenue, McLoughlin Viaduct, and Caruthers Street... You'll see a pile-driver standing tall. That pile-driver is laying the footprint of the locomotives' new home, a new place that will give the public, for the *first time ever*, public access to city-owned locomotives. Not behind a chain-link fence at Oaks Park. Not behind closed doors in the middle of a busy intermodal yard. But with open doors right across the street from a museum of science and industry! Better yet, in a place that will have multi-modal access to the facility, so you can take your favorite TriMet bus to see the locomotives!

And here you are...