Black Butte Center for Railroad Culture
For those of you who attended the 2012 tour and visited the BBCRC compound in Weed the following two pages of
photos may be of interest. Every year the city of Dunsmuir, California, holds a celebration called "Railroad Days" to commemorate the town's colorful railroad history.
In conjunction with this weekend the BBCRC has a three day gathering of hobos, railroad workers and musicians.
Entertainment is provided by a number of musical groups each night and on Sunday they staged the first ever"Bo-Olympics", a series of trials in which hobos competed in such events as stealing a pie out of a window and a test to see who was the fastest to get into a box car.
I had planned to attend for the entire weekend but left the second day and missed the big event. However, I did
meet a few famous names within the hobo clan, most notably Guitar Whitey, who has been riding the rails for 70 years and has written books and recorded many songs along the way. Also met Duncan Phillips, the son of the well known train rider, union activist and song writer Utah Phillips, a contemporary of Woodiy Guthrie.
- - - Peter
Click Poster to see photos.
