Jacksonville, Ore. — A piece of history is coming back to the Rogue Valley.
A steam engine that served Oregon for more than 60 years will reunite with the tracks Saturday morning.
“This train ran through here in the late 1800’s and it carried passengers and goods from Jacksonville to Medford,” said new train owner Brooke Anderson.
The train was part of the Rogue River Valley Railway.
But in the early 1900’s it was not moving as efficient as it should.
So it retiredand started working in a different way, in Hollywood.
The train was featured in a number of movies andis believed to be one of only a few original steam engine trains in the United States. Many were were scrapped for metal in World War 2.
“It’s a wonderful piece of history.”
Since 2008, Brooke Ashland and her husband Mel have been working to bring that piece of history to the Bingham Knoll Campus in Jacksonville.
Last week, they got the call saying it was theirs.
The tracks were laid on Friday, and the train will be laid on Saturday morning.
“It’s really fun to bring back some of our artifacts and to recreate a living history instead of reading about it in a text book.”
© 2024 KOBI-TV NBC5. All rights reserved unless otherwise stated.