Canby Depot Museum

The railroad depot in Canby, Oregon, was originally built in 1873 by the Oregon & California Railroad and was originally located at North First and Grant Streets. It is the oldest railroad depot in Oregon. The railroad was taken over by the Southern Pacific in 1887.

Additions were made to the depot in 1891 and 1907. The depot closed on August 4, 1976, and in 1978 the Southern Pacific Railroad offered the building to the people of Canby with the provision that it be moved off railroad property.

The building was moved to its current location on August 4, 1983, and the 1907 addition was removed so its materials could be used to restore the rest of the building.

The Canby Depot Museum opened on October 6, 1984. It is home to the Canby Historical Society.

Several other railroad artifacts are here as well including signals, a speeder shed and a caboose.

This caboose at the Canby Depot Museum was originally Union Pacific #25584.

This is one of 100 class CA-8 cabooses that were built for the Union Pacific by the International Car Company of Kenton, Ohio. 

Union Pacific caboose #25584 was built in November 1964. 

It was retired from service by Union Pacific on April 4, 1988.

 
The Canby Depot Museum acquired this caboose in August 1989.

Though it is a former Union Pacific caboose, it has been repainted in the colors worn by Southern Pacific cabooses, and wears the Southern Pacific's "Sunset" herald.

The interior of the caboose is largely intact, though much of the space is now occupied by display cases for museum artifacts.

The museum was not open when I stopped by late in the afternoon on May 11, 2007, so I wasn't able to go inside the caboose or get a good look at the museum displays.

I was only able to look in the windows from the platforms at each end.

While there are no traces of the caboose's original identity on the exterior, its original number can still be seen on the inside.

Southern Pacific adopted this standard design of concrete telephone booth in June 1922. These phone booths were built by the railroad and weighed about 3,000 pounds. They contained a telephone that connected directly to a railroad dispatcher, allowing train crews, track workers, and signal maintainers a way to communicate before radios became available and made these booths obsolete in the early 1980s.
 

Another railroad structure at the Canby Depot Museum is this shed, which was originally used to house a handcar or "speeder" motorcar for use by track maintenance of way personnel.

The "Magnetic Flagman "Wig-Wag" crossing signal was a common grade crossing signal before the modern crossbuck became a standard and flashing lights and gates were mandated. It takes its name from the movement it makes; the black and white banner with the red light in the middle swings, or "wig-wags" back and forth simulating that a human flagman would make with a flag or lantern to stop traffic. The signal also features a bell. 

This type of signal was manufactured by the Magnetic Signal Company of Los Angeles, California from 1910 to 1949. There were several versions of wig-wag made; this is a Model 3 lower-quadrant signal, which was the most common in Oregon and was widely used by the Southern Pacific Railroad. 

There were a number of these signals remaining in service into the 2000s, but in 2006, after receiving federal funding, the State of Oregon announced plans to replace the remaining wig-wags on freight lines, and by 2008 most if not all had been removed, leaving only two (now one) on the Willamette Shore Trolley line plus those on static display or in museums like this one.

Assorted museum artifacts were scattered on the platform of the depot.

Another railroad artifact at the Canby Depot Museum is this switch stand.

This lower-quadrant semaphore signal was built by The Union Switch & Signal Company of Swissvale, Pennsylvania, near Pittsburgh. Union Switch & Signal was founded by George Westinghouse in 1881 and survived under that name until being renamed Anasldo STS - USA in January 2009.

Rickreall Elementary School

Rickreall Elementary School was built in 1923 as a high school. The Rickreall School District consolidated with the nearby Dallas School District in 1945. Rickreall’s high school students began attending classes in Dallas, and the Rickreall High School became Rickreall Elementary School. The school closed at the end of the 2003 school year. It was leased to the Our Jubilee Church and Academy until 2007, and was sold in 2009 to become the Rickreall Event Hall.

Rickreall Grange Hall

The Grange Hall in Rickreall, Oregon, was originally built in 1916 as the town’s public school, housing grades 1 through 12 until the new high school was built nearby in 1923. 

It then housed the younger grades until the Rickreall School District consolidated with the nearby Dallas School District in 1945, when Rickreall’s high school students began attending classes in Dallas, and the Rickreall High School became Rickreall Elementary School. This building was subsequently sold to the Rickreall Grange in 1946.

Tugboat Roughneck

Photo by Cliff West

This tugboat was built by the Calumet Shipyard and Drydock Company of Chicago, Illinois, in 1944 as the United States Army’s LT-59. In 1947, it was acquired by Ocean Prince, Incorporated of Oakland, California, and renamed Ocean Prince. It retained that name as it moved to the Red Star Towing Company of New York, New York, in 1951, to the Smith Brothers Towing Company of New Orleans, Louisiana, in 1955 and to the Gulf and Caribbean Towing Company of Lafitte, Louisiana, in 1961. In 1963 it was renamed Dauphin, and in 1974 it was renamed Beaumont. Eventually it was acquired by the Sause Brothers Ocean Towing Company and renamed Roughneck. It is 114.2 feet long and 30 feet wide, with a draft of 17.2 feet. My dad, Cliff West, photographed it on the Columbia River at Rainier, Oregon, in April or May of 2007.

Spirit of Discovery

Photo by Cliff West

The Spirit of Discovery was originally built in 1976 by Eastern Marine Shipbuilding at Boothbay Harbor, Maine, as the Independence for American Cruise Line. In 1985 it was sold to Great Pacific Cruise Lines and renamed Columbia. It was acquired by Cruise West which renamed it Spirit of Discovery and used it to become the first operator of scheduled overnight cruises on the Columbia River. 

Photo by Cliff West

The Spirit of Discovery is 166 feet long, carries 84 guests, and has a cruising speed of 12 knots. My dad, Cliff West, photographed it on the Columbia River at Rainier, Oregon, in April 2007.

Tugboat Columbia

Photo by Cliff West

Shaver Transportation’s tugboat Columbia was built in 1968 by the Nichols Boat Works of Hood River, Oregon, and was repowered in 1983 with Stork Works engines rated at 2,750 horsepower. It is 87 feet long and 28 feet wide with a loaded draft of 11 feet. My dad, Cliff West, photographed it on the Columbia River at Rainier, Oregon, in late 2006 or early 2007.

Concrete Beam near Lebanon, Oregon

On December 20, 2006, I spotted this truck carrying a large reinforced concrete beam on Oregon Highway 34 heading towards Lebanon, Oregon. 

I believe this beam was for the new Grant Street Bridge over the South Santiam River in Lebanon, which was under construction at the time.