Paradise Center's roundhouse taking form

The community of Paradise is going to have a train roundhouse once again. This one is going to be positioned at the Paradise Center, but won't have real trains inside.

Construction on the new roundhouse is about halfway done and expected to be completed by the end of the month, said Clint Weedeman of Correct Construction of Plains and the main coordinator on the job. Weedeman is doing the job with his brother, Josh, who runs Top Notch Construction, and Adam Cowan of Hometown Builders Construction. Phil Seng is assisting the trio. Weedeman was one of three local contractors to bid on the project, but Paradise Center did not release amounts. The concrete foundation was done in September by Jeremy Craik of Trout Creek.

The 1,262-square-foot structure will be a five-bay mini roundhouse used to display railroad items, such as a crossing signal, an old hand cart, several pieces of rail, tools, a railroad crossing signal, and a velocipede, to name a few, according to Dave Colyer, president of the Paradise Center. It will also have items from the town's past, such as a hotel bedding press, and a syrup fountain, possibly from the old Beanery cafe.

"I'd say 80 percent of these items have come from the Paradise and Plains area. We have had items donated from former Paradise residents and students who live now in Minnesota or Michigan," said Colyer, who added that they have items from Kalispell, Missoula, Polson and the Bitterroot. Some of these items are already on display in the center and will be moved to the new structure once done.

Colyer said they have some old wooden telegraph cross arms with insulators. "I think they were put in place when the railroad first started using the telegraph. I do not know the date the telegraph was first used," said Colyer. He said they were removed after 1982. Colyer worked for the Northern Pacific Railroad at the tie plant from 1974 to 1982, the year the plant burned down.

The roundhouse is going to have five pie shaped stalls that will illustrate five railroad themes - passenger rail service, mail service, freight, life and businesses in Paradise, and the tie-treating plant. "We are very pleased with the design, and the construction craft by Weedeman and his crew has been excellent," said John Thorson, the Paradise Center board treasurer. Each bay will be just over 21 feet long, 9 feet wide at the front, and 15 feet across the back.

The new mini roundhouse is the result of grants and donations, including a $30,000 grant from the Montana Office of Tourism, $7,500 from the Burlington Northern Santa Fe Railroad and the National Historic Railway Association, a grant of $20,500, and more than $27,000 in private donations, according to Karen Thorson, the center's secretary and one of the founding members of the Paradise Center. She said some granters and donors don't want to be identified. She also said the total cost of the project is undetermined at this time.

"Before the COVID-19 pandemic, early cost estimates totaled $85,000. The National Association of Home Builders estimated that construction costs increased by 37% during the pandemic, so original cost estimates are no longer valid," said Thorson, who puts in countless volunteer hours at the center. Colyer said volunteers have already put in about 250 hours of work on the new structure and he anticipated volunteers will likely do another 250 hours on the project.

It was John Thorson's idea to have the mini roundhouse. The building design was done by Mac Hall, Rudi Boukal and Colyer. Clint Weedeman feels that construction is going well, though he said that not having 90-degree angle corners makes joining all the connection points challenging. "The construction contract is for the cover framing, shearing and roofing the building. There will be improvements made on the building as time and money permit," said Weedeman. "A lot of work needs to be done on the inside getting ready to display the items," he added. In addition, putting the siding on the building would be done by a separate bid, said Weedeman.

The Paradise Railroad Station had a real 20-bay roundhouse from 1907 to 1937, when it was torn down. Remnants of the roundhouse structure, located about a mile west of town, can still be seen, said Benita Jo Hanson, a former Paradise Center board member and author of the book "Milepost Zero," a history of the railroad in Paradise.

"Our overall project is to preserve and re-purpose the now-closed Paradise School, built in 1910 and closed in 2013, as a visitor, community, and arts center," said Karen Thorson. "The roundhouse project is about the role Paradise played in the early days of the Northern Pacific and Burlington Northern Railways; it was a division point for NP, and had a tie treatment plant (of only two on the entire transcontinental line) and a 20-bay steam-engine roundhouse," she added.

Karen Thorson said there will be a ceremony once the building is complete, although she added that some aspects of the building might not be completed before winter.