SO Rail History

HISTORY AND OVERVIEW

The Southern Oregon Railway Historical Society, or SO Rail, was founded as the Southern Oregon Chapter of the National Railway Historical Society in 1976. It is a nonprofit 501(c)(3) organization dedicated to the preservation and interpretation of the railroad history of Southern Oregon. SO Rail was directly responsible for the initiation and early development of the Medford Railroad Park and continues as a partner in the management of the park in cooperation with the Southern Oregon Live Steamers, the Rogue Valley Model Railroad Club, Southern Oregon Large Scale Trains, and the City of Medford. SO Rail is a chapter of the National Railway Historical Society.

It is the long term goal of the SO Rail to rebuild and operate as a tourist excursion railroad a segment of what was once the Medford Corporation (Medco) logging railroad, using locomotives and other equipment originally used in the region. Our objective in undertaking this project is to create a living railroad museum in its original forested environment. As part of this larger project, the SO Rail has acquired two of the remaining four Medco locomotives. These are the Medco No. 4, a Willamette locomotive built in 1925 and the Medco No. 8, a Baldwin S-8 diesel-electric switcher built in 1952. Over the years the SO Rail has also acquired several other pieces of rolling stock which have also been moved into the Medford Railroad Park. Along with Medco #4 the cars on display at the Park include; a box car, a flat car, an ore hopper, four cabooses, and a flanger. Of these six cars, three will be restored and modified to carry passengers when the tourist railroad is established. Medco #8 and additional cars in our collection are stored in the Rogue Valley on private property.

SOCIETY MEETINGS

The Society holds combined General Membership and Board Meeting on the first Saturday of the month and feature a program of historic railroad interest. All meetings are open to the public and begin at 10:00 AM at the Society Museum building at the Railroad Park.