Retired Forest Service worker, Gerald Hellinga (center), Allen Dobney (right), whose father worked the Southern Pacific Railroad and John Powell (left), who also worked the rails, greet me from behind a chain link fence. This fence protects the Medford Railroad Park, home of the Southern Oregon Chapter, National Railway Historical Society, which received a Cultural Trust Development grant this year to make the historic Medco No. 4 Steam Locomotive (background) operable. 
Medco locomotive No. 4 was a Willamette locomotive (it looks like a Lima Shay but it isn’t) built originally for the Owen-Oregon Lumber Co in Portland, Oregon. This is a rare piece of railroad equipment. Willamette Iron and Steel only built 33 locomotives. Medco No. 4 is one of six Willamette locomotives that have escaped the cutting torch. It became part of the locomotive fleet of Medco (the Medford Corporation) in 1925 and ran in the forests of the Cascades around the town of Butte Falls.
When the Medco Steam Locomotive along with other pieces of original railroad stock used in the region, needed a home, members of the Southern Oregon Chapter along with a former State Senator and former Medco Vice-President, and members of the Jacksonville Heritage Society worked to get the grounds where the Railroad Park now stands. Southern Oregon Chapter shares the park land with the Southern Oregon Live Steamers, the Rogue Valley Model Railroad Club, Southern Oregon Large Scale Trains, and the Morse Telegraphy Club working in partnership with the City of Medford.
Every year over 7,000 visitors experience the Railpark between April and October:14 Sundays a year. “This year, on Openin g Day,” remembers John Powell, “over 2,000 people showed up.” The SP 1107 Caboose, also housed at the Railroad Park, serves as a working museum. Having been faithfully restored to its original paint and interior configuration it represents a working caboose of the 1940’s.
This hands-on experience, along with the visitors’ center, provide an opportunity for visitors to learn about the rich rail heritage in Southern Oregon. Visitors can view images of the Medco 4 restoration in progress, along with other rail artifacts. Once the working steam engine is available the number of visitors to the Rail Park is projected to increase by 5,000 a year. “People want to see a working steam engine.” Jerry says. 
Come for a working Steam Engine, once there, climb in the SP 1107 Caboose, see the historic Southern Pacific MW 330, walk through the visitors center, ride large scale trains, watch morse code being tapped out in the Telegraphy Club and leave through the Rogue Valley Model Railway Club house, where the railways of Southern Oregon are being rebuilt using photos of actual locations. You’ll leave learning more than you ever thought imaginable about rail history in Southern Oregon.
Medford Railroad Park is open April-October, 11am-3pm. For more information visit www.soc-nrhs.org.