MEDFORD, Ore. — The Medford Railroad Park’s normal season goes from April to October, but now the community has two additional weekends to check out the park. The President of the Southern Oregon Live Steamers group, Matthew Knauss, says the club will not have it’s traditional railroad show at the Jackson County Expo again this year. “That’s been going on for 40 years at least. We’ve decided to stay open and run the train ride in light that we don’t have the donations from what we would generate from having the roadshow,” said Knauss.
Those donations are essential to keeping the trains chugging along and the doors open. “I mean, that’s what helps pay a lot of our bills that we have. We’re taking care of our equipment. We’re looking to improve a lot of our safety equipment this year,” said Knauss.
Knauss says the most important thing for the community to know is that the park is still open, despite the pandemic and lack of roadshow.
If you are interested in visiting the park, it will be open on both Saturday and Sunday, November 27 and 28 from 11 A.M. to 3 P.M. If you miss out this holiday weekend, Knauss says you can expect even more on December 18th and 19th. He says the park plans to run a Holiday Express train and they’ve even made a call to Santa and are hoping he can stop by for an appearance.
“If he makes time in his busy schedule that time of year, that would be great for him to stop by. We’re gonna decorate the station and the trains and all that stuff,” said Knauss.
The club is hoping for lots of traction and donations, as the Southern Oregon Live Steamers are buying it’s first club steam locomotive.
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