El Dorado Western Railway

2015 El Dorado Western Railroad timetable

noreply@blogger.com ('Round the Chuckbox) — Fri, 10 Apr 2015 14:46:00 +0000

Here's the 2015 spring and summer timetable for train rides offered on the El Dorado Western Railroad. The railway is completely operated with volunteer labor, men and women who give their time as a public service to citizens and visitors to El Dorado County. The line runs on the historic Southern Pacific Placerville Branch between Shingle Springs and Diamond Springs. We'll see you on the train!

2014-2015 El Dorado Western Railroad timetable

noreply@blogger.com ('Round the Chuckbox) — Thu, 20 Nov 2014 22:16:00 +0000

Here's the 2014-2015 fall, winter and spring timetable for train rides offered on the El Dorado Western Railroad. The railway is completely operated with volunteer labor, men and women who give their time as a public service to citizens and visitors to El Dorado County. The line runs on the historic Southern Pacific Placerville Branch between Shingle Springs and Diamond Springs. We'll see you on the train!

2014 El Dorado Western Railroad timetable

noreply@blogger.com ('Round the Chuckbox) — Thu, 05 Jun 2014 03:10:00 +0000

Here's the 2014 spring, summer and fall timetable for train rides offered on the El Dorado Western Railroad. The railway is completely operated with volunteer labor, men and women who give their time as a public service to citizens and visitors to El Dorado County. The line runs on the historic Southern Pacific Placerville Branch between Shingle Springs and Diamond Springs. We'll see you on the train!

http://museum.edcgov.us/railroad-schedule

The CPLT caboose is almost ready

noreply@blogger.com ('Round the Chuckbox) — Sat, 24 May 2014 21:41:00 +0000

The Camino, Placerville and Lake Tahoe caboose is really shaping up. All the iron work is going onto the body. The steps are major achievement by our woodworkers. Roof catwalks, interior ladder, end wall grab irons and end deck handrails are next.

Note ladder guards in place. We need an additional retainer to pull guard in tight. The lettering will be white.

Now we're ready to build a complete train on the track, couple it to a steam locomotive and run east to El Dorado, just 9 miles from this location at Shingle Springs.

Progress on the CPLT caboose

noreply@blogger.com ('Round the Chuckbox) — Mon, 25 Nov 2013 19:17:00 +0000

The Camino, Placerville and Lake Tahoe Railroad caboose project team has been very busy, making use of the dry fall months. The project is in the final completion phase, leading to raising the car body up on the wheel trucks. The major projects have included the installation of roof flashing, installation of the metal roof and installing the cupola windows and wall siding.

A caboose does not make a good boat, the cupola is mostly windows and the cupola wall is single sided. This lends itself to being a challenge to weather seal around the base of the cupola and windows. A quality roofing job was completed by Mott Roofing, with great detail made to flashing the cupola walls to main roof, and insuring a good drip edge around the car body.

The metal roofing is an exact match to the original metal roofing. Completing the roofing ahead of the rains was quite a relief. Other projects have included finishing the freight door hardware, and weather stripping the freight doors using re-purposed cloth fire hose. New drip guards were also fabricated to prevent water dripping down behind the freight doors.

Other metal work included making up new exterior wall retaining straps, roof catwalk supports, freight door latches, and cupola window retaining hooks. All existing metalwork was carefully stripped, repaired, and painted leading to installation. Current work is underway to install new wood/steel bolsters in the wheel trucks, finish installation of exterior grab irons, and develop a lifting plan to raise the car body.

All wood team, metal team, support team, and external professionals are thanked for their untiring contribution to bring El Dorado County's only in county built and operated caboose back to operational status.

Winter timetable for the El Dorado Western Railroad

noreply@blogger.com ('Round the Chuckbox) — Wed, 09 Oct 2013 15:48:00 +0000

The railroad offers great family fun for all ages. Please turn out and support the "oldest railroad line west of the Mississippi River" and ride a piece of history. Effective November 3, 2013 to March 2, 2014, the El Dorado Western Railroad will operate on its winter timetable. We'll see you on the train!

Journal boxes on CPLT caboose trucks

noreply@blogger.com ('Round the Chuckbox) — Thu, 15 Aug 2013 23:15:00 +0000

Those old trucks in the Camino, Placerville and Lake Tahoe Caboose No. 2 are coming along:

CPLT caboose ready for painting

noreply@blogger.com ('Round the Chuckbox) — Wed, 14 Aug 2013 19:24:00 +0000

Here's a note from Keith Berry:

The Camino, Placerville, and Lake Tahoe caboose will be primed and painted over the next two weeks. The exterior will be a dark green, as determined form original paint chips. Once painted, the grab irons will be bolted onto the car. The cupola and freight doors remain to be completed. The wheel trucks are a current focus to insure they are ready when the car body is completed.

All volunteers working on El Dorado County's only home built-home and operated caboose are to be thanked for their efforts, time and determination to recreate this piece of local history.

As a side note, we have recently received a photograph showing the caboose at Camino after being significantly damaged from collision with an unknown source. Thanks to this event, the caboose was not sold to another railroad once the CPLT began using a diesel locomotive, which led to the caboose being stripped of its trucks, couplers and air brake equipment.

Thankfully, it was sold to a private party in Camino, then to another private party in Shingle Springs for a kids playhouse. The collision saved the caboose and (indirectly) led to it's donation to the museum, and now it's recreation on the El Dorado Western Railroad. Another photograph shows a much bolder white lettering on the sides and above the entry doors on each end.

Taking a day off

noreply@blogger.com ('Round the Chuckbox) — Thu, 27 Jun 2013 17:46:00 +0000

News from the Feather River Division of the El Dorado Western Railroad:

The downside of working six twelve-hour days each week is you get little time to yourself. We try to get away for dinner one or two evenings each week. Since our Sunday is day off, we assemble with the local saints for worship, then drive off to the former logging town of Greyeagle for lunch and time on the Internet. Sunday's drive was unique.

My wife and I work along the former Western Pacific Railroad Feather River Route. The line's current owner, the massive Union Pacific Railroad, has been running a lot of freight traffic over the rail line while the Donner Route has been closed. The railroaders among the staff at Oakland Camp (the housekeeping supervisor and myself) have enjoyed watching (and listening when we're busy) to trains each hour.

Catching three trains on a day off was exciting. I'll let the photographs tell the story.

As we drove east toward Blairsden and Greyeagle, an eastbound UP high-railer caught my attention at the Spring Garden siding. Thinking I could snap a photo as it crossed the bridge at Blairsden, we sped east on Highway 70. Instead of the track inspection vehicle, this local freight train appeared. My guess is that the high-railer took the siding.

The local took the hole (or siding) once he crossed the bridge. The waiting westbound intermodal freight was the superior train. As soon as the local cleared the main, the westbound gave two long blasts on the horn and proceeded west toward Keddie and the Feather River.

I took this photo as the westbound freight passed over the bridge at Blairsden.

Later in the day, Debbie and I saw this westbound coal drag as we returned to Quincy and the camp. With sufficient time to drive to the Williams Loop, we drove west. At the Loop, I photographed the train as it wound around under itself. Here the lead locomotive is ready to exit the loop and continue its westbound journey toward the canyon.

UP train at Oakland Camp

noreply@blogger.com ('Round the Chuckbox) — Fri, 07 Jun 2013 00:40:00 +0000

A westbound Union Pacific train slides past Oakland Feather River Camp at Mile Post 285.3 on the Canyon Subdivision (Western Pacific Feather River Route) on Sunday, May 5, 2013. The consist is made of covered bottom dump hopper cars. Up to a dozen westbound trains pass the camp on a typical day. The Western Pacific carried campers from Oakland to the camp on the California Zephyr beginning in 1924. The old Spanish Creek station was located about one-quarter mile from me (behind the camera). The Union Pacific acquired the WP in 1983.

Progress on the CPLT caboose rebuild

noreply@blogger.com ('Round the Chuckbox) — Fri, 07 Jun 2013 00:33:00 +0000

These images show the progress on the standard gauge Camino, Placerville and Lake Tahoe Caboose No. 2. El Dorado County's only home-built and operated caboose, is now being re-constructed at the Freight Station in Shingle Springs.

The caboose is being reconstructed at Shingle Springs. It's El Dorado County's only caboose (to our knowledge), having been built in 1930s from parts of an earlier boxcar caboose. The project is going very well. The car is being built over the track to allow for setting on wheel trucks when ready.

The wood working crew on the El Dorado Western Railroad. These are the type of guy's that worked in the car shop for Mich-Cal Lumber Company at Camino and the California Door Company at Diamond Springs. The kind of guy's who converted a boxcar into a passenger/freight car for the CP&LT around 1900, and then took it apart and built it into a proper caboose that ran until the 1950s.

Polish rail ingenuity

noreply@blogger.com ('Round the Chuckbox) — Mon, 15 Apr 2013 16:35:00 +0000

When you absolutely must place a tourist railroad in operation yesterday, anything is possible! This Polish rail club used a Fiat 126p with steel rail wheels. Last May, two rail fan clubs gathered for a picnic in the Polish town of Moszna. They commemorated the re-opening of a 2-1/2 kilometer section of abandoned railroad. Brush cutting along the line occured between November 2011 and April 2012.

This YouTube video comes courtesy of our Polish railroad brothers (English translation -- for Polish, click here).

Video description: "19.05.12 w Mosznej odbył się pierwszy piknik motoryzacyjno-drezynowy "KIWAJKA 2012". Uczestnikami członkowie "LANCIA KLUB POLSKA", OPOLSKIE STOWARZYSZENIE MIŁOŚNIKÓW KOLEI oraz inne zainteresowane osoby. Krótki film przedstawia przejazd pociągu drezynowego z uczestnikami pikniku odbywający się na świeżo oczyszczonym dwu i pół kilometrowym odcinku nieużywanej linii kolejowej nr 306."

Here's the rough translation: "5/19/12 in Moszna first picnic was held motoryzacyjno-drezynowy "KIWAJKA 2012". The participants of the members of the "POLISH CLUB LANCIA," ASSOCIATION OF RAILWAY ENTHUSIASTS OPOLE and other interested parties. A short video shows the drive train of the participants drezynowego picnic held on the freshly cleaned two and a half kilometer stretch of unused railway line No. 306th." (Translation by Google Translate.)

El Dorado Narrow Gauge action on eBay.com

noreply@blogger.com ('Round the Chuckbox) — Sat, 02 Mar 2013 17:41:00 +0000

It's been several years since we reported on Mallory Hope Ferrell's El Dorado Narrow Gauge. The quintessential book on the construction and operating life of the Diamond and Caldor Railway periodically comes up for sale on eBay.com. The book was published in 1990 by Pacific Fast Mail, Edmonds, Washington.

The latest copy posted to the on-line auction site yesterday. The seller has listed an opening bid of $49.99. The auction closes on Friday, March 8, 2013 at 7:31 p.m. Pacific Time. We will follow the action with interest.

To our knowledge, Ferrell's book hasn't been republished, which adds to the selling price. Fortunately, the cost to purchase a copy of El Dorado Narrow Guage has significantly been reduced over the past four years. A copy sold for $175 in December 2009.

When you consider previous highs of $110 and $120, the current copy for sale seems like a bargain.

CPLT caboose relocated to Shingle Springs

noreply@blogger.com ('Round the Chuckbox) — Fri, 25 Jan 2013 18:27:00 +0000

The Camino, Placerville and Lake Tahoe caboose, which sat on a panel track in front of the El Dorado County Historical Museum for nearly 20 years, has been relocated to Shingle Springs. In recent months a renovation crew dismantled the caboose and moved timbers and hardware components to a storage container.

The panel track at the county museum will be moved to Shingle Springs and re-assembled for the CP and LT caboose re-build.

The next step for the county museum is to look at options for the newly vacated space, according to museum administrator Mary Cory. She said the Museum Commission will "dust off" the development plan for museum yard as they look for an appropriate use of the space.

Two crews of craftsmen have begun the slow process of rebuilding the caboose next to the Southern Pacific freight shed at Shingle Springs. The center sills and wheel trucks were moved to Shingle Springs last week. A group of metal workers began preparing the sills for painting. They will fabricate the missing handrails, cut lever and ladder. The five members of the expert woodworking crew are preparing new wood beams for instillation.

Restoration has begun!

New website for El Dorado Western Railroad

noreply@blogger.com ('Round the Chuckbox) — Sat, 19 Jan 2013 19:33:00 +0000

The El Dorado Western Railroad introduces its new website at http://museum.edcgov.us/el-dorado-western-railroad. It's a component of the newly revamped El Dorado County Historical Museum website.

Please click for the schedule, information on volunteering and directions to train stations at El Dorado and Shingle Springs. You can print a Adobe potable document file (PDF) copy of the 2013 ride schedule and post it in the window of your business or place of employment.

Train rides for 2013

noreply@blogger.com ('Round the Chuckbox) — Thu, 10 Jan 2013 17:04:00 +0000

Come to Shingle Springs this Sunday (January 13, 2013) and help the El Dorado Western Railroad inaugurate train rides for 2013. The EDWR sends a heartfelt thank you to the community as it enters its third year of operation. Your continued support has allowed the railroad to continue to give train rides and preserve this valuable historic resource for future generations.

Highball for the first train is promptly at noon. The last run departs the depot at 3 p.m. Please remember at this time of year, all railroad operations at dependent upon weather. Watch our Facebook page for the latest news as we approach the run day.

The railroad will post its operating schedule soon. Watch for a special train on Saturday, March 30, and Sunday, March 31, out of Shingle Springs. In the meantime, here's the timetable through the end of February:

January 13 -- Shingle Springs Depot
January 20 -- El Dorado Station
January 27 -- Shingle Springs Depot
February 3 -- El Dorado Station
February 10 -- Shingle Springs Depot
February 17 -- El Dorado Station
February 24 -- Shingle Springs Depot

Please mark your calendars. Highball for the El Dorado Western, and we'll see you on the train!

Modeling the Placerville Canal Street Southern Pacific train depot

noreply@blogger.com ('Round the Chuckbox) — Sat, 08 Dec 2012 20:16:00 +0000

George Mihal built this model of the Placerville Canal Street train depot by hand. He cut full-scale lumber down to half-inch scale. The model is suitible for a G-scale model railroad. As a collector and seller of vintage photographs, Mihal based his model on a glass negative of the depot that he once owned.

The video includes a number of photographs of the depot. Here's one from the El Dorado County Historical Museum collection:

Sacramento bound Train No. 61 is ready to leave the Canal Street depot. The depot was located at the modern day interesection of Canal Street and U.S. Hightway 50 in Placerville, California. The Coffee Depot can be found one block south at Canal and Main.

This and other historic photographs can be purchased from the collection of the El Dorado County Historical Museum. They are available for $10 each from the museum. Call (530) 621-5865 for additional information. Please consult museum staff for limitations to the use of the photographs.

Ready to begin CPLT caboose rebuild

noreply@blogger.com ('Round the Chuckbox) — Tue, 04 Dec 2012 19:32:00 +0000

The renovation crew for the Camino, Placerville and Lake Tahoe Railroad Caboose No. 2 last week took the last step before beginning the rebuild. The main beams were removed from the caboose frame and transported to the rebuild site in Shingle Springs. Once lumber and hardware is purchased, the rebuild phase of renovation will begin.

Here's a photograph of the caboose in its glory days on the CPLT. The eight-mile short line owned several cabooses, "one at a time," according to Steve Polkinghorn. "The short one, which was also the last one, was wrecked in 1950, after which one was leased from the Southern Pacific. The diesel locomotive was light enough so that no fireman was needed in the cab, unless a caboose was used." Once the CPLT No. 101 (a GE 44-tonner) was placed in service in July 1953, the railroad cancelled the SP lease and operated without a caboose until the railroad ceased operation.

The renovation crew loads one of the four main beans to the caboose into a trailer last Tuesday. They were transported to Shingle Springs and placed in storage until the lumber arrives for the rebuild. The caboose was located at the El Dorado County Historical Museum for almost 20 years. Once it's rebuilt, the caboose will operate on the El Dorado Western Railroad, along with the Southern Pacific caboose No. 1094.

This picture was taken by Harry Critchfield. Harry is one of the photographers for the El Dorado Western Railway Foundation.

Renovation of CPLT Caboose No. 2

noreply@blogger.com ('Round the Chuckbox) — Tue, 13 Nov 2012 05:20:00 +0000

Over the past several months, the crew of the El Dorado Western Railway Foundation began the renovation process on the Camino, Placerville and Lake Tahoe Railroad Caboose No. 2. Due to the poor condition of the wood structure on the caboose, it will be necessary to completely rebuild the caboose from the trucks up to the cupola. The hardware will be saved and reused where possible.

All the major pieces of the wood structure are being saved for the time being. They will be used as patterns to help the crew measure and cut timbers for the rebuilt caboose. Where possible, timbers in good condition will be used to build interior benches.

This picture shows the steel cupola frame on top of the caboose. Last Tuesday, November 6, 2012, the crew lowered the frame into the interior of the caboose. Volunteers first removed the walls and ceiling from the frame. Then they dislodged the frame from the roof of the caboose. The next step was to slide two 2x6 timbers under the frame to support it. The interior ceiling joists were next removed (one was completely rotted away on the right side).

Homer Rail steps onto the ladder after the crew positioned the cupola frame for the drop into the caboose interior.

It took five minutes to lower the cupola frame into the interior of the caboose. Two 4x4 pieces of timer were used as slides. Ron Sexton used come-a-long to pull the frame down the slice. Homer (out of the picture) and Bill Rodgers guided the frame from the roof.

Ron gives an enthusiastic thumbs up as the cupola frame comes to a rest on the inside of the caboose while Homer (standing next to Ron) and foundation president Keith Berry look on..

Bill coils a rope at the end of the work session last Tuesday. On Wednesday, the crew completely removed the caboose structure.

El Dorado Western Railroad Santa Run

noreply@blogger.com ('Round the Chuckbox) — Fri, 09 Nov 2012 22:05:00 +0000

Interior work on the Southern Pacific No. 1094 caboose

noreply@blogger.com ('Round the Chuckbox) — Sat, 03 Nov 2012 18:46:00 +0000

Crews from the El Dorado Western Railway Foundation are busy restoring the interior of the Southern Pacific No. 1094 caboose to its original condition. The current focus is to restore the interior color to the original paint scheme, a sea green green color.

The railroad plans to use the caboose for its Santa Run on December 15, 2012.While the caboose won't be ready to run on the rails, Santa will "set up shop" in the caboose as he greets children. We will post information on the blog and on Facebook soon.

The main compartment of the caboose. The conductor's desk is located on the right side. The toilet is located in the tiny room to the left of the front door. The coal bin is located in the foreground.

The picture of the cupola shows the exposed grain of the redwood interior. The crew is currently applying primer to the interior walls and ceiling. We are evaluating how to treat the exposed wood grain.

The cupola corridor and rear door of the caboose. Several storage compartments under the cupola held the ice box, radio, generator and railroad tools.

Volunteer Steven Karoly removes the stretcher brackets from the ceiling in the caboose. The coal burning stove will be replaced with an authentic SP caboose stove in the future. Retired SP/UP conductor Davey "Doc" Wiser located the replacement stove last year. We don't know what happened to the original stove.

Anne's Caboose is located in the El Dorado County Historical Railroad Park at the town of El Dorado, California. It was build in 1940 to the railroad's C-40-3 specification for cabooses. Southern Pacific sold it to a Placerville family in 1973, where it was used an artist's studio. The family donated the caboose to the El Dorado Western Railway Foundation on Christmas Day 2010.

Ride the rails in El Dorado & Shingle Springs

noreply@blogger.com ('Round the Chuckbox) — Wed, 03 Oct 2012 02:42:00 +0000

Please come out to support California's newest county-run railroad. As residents and guests of El Dorado County, you have the opportunity to ride the train in 2012 and 2013. With your support, the El Dorado Western Railroad will continue to operate many years into the future.

The public is encouraged to support the county living history rail program. The railroad is giving train rides on the historic Southern Pacific Placerville Branch rail line, weather permitting, on Sundays from noon to 4 p.m.

We currently alternate between the El Dorado and Shingle Springs. The train operates from the El Dorado Station on the first, third and fifth Sundays of the month. The Shingle Springs Freight Shed will see the train on the second and fourth Sundays.

The suggested donation is $5 for adults and children nine and up. The donation for ages three to eight is $3.

Directions to El Dorado Station

To locate the train station in historic El Dorado, take Pleasant Valley Road (from the east or west) to Oriental Street. Turn north. Keep left at the Wye. Continue to the end of the road and left to the station.

Directions to Shingle Springs Freight Shed

The address is 4241 Mother Lode Dr, Shingle Springs, California, 95682. Take Highway 50 to the Ponderosa exit (Exit 37). Proceed east on Mother Lode Drive about one-half mile to the Shingle Springs train station. Watch for the caboose and diesel locomotive. The railroad tracks and station are on the south side of the freeway.

We’ll see you on the train!

Setting track guage at Red Hawk

noreply@blogger.com ('Round the Chuckbox) — Sun, 17 Jun 2012 21:00:00 +0000

The maintenance of way crew met in Shingle Springs yesterday for its monthly work day. We loaded tools and gauge bars on to two Fairmont A-cars. When the crew left the station at 8 a.m., the El Dorado Western Railroad No. 602 pushed the EDWR No. 603 up the hill to the job site.

With volunteer mechanic and motorman Jereme MacCormack at the controls, the crew soaked in the the last of the cool morning air on the 15-minute transit to the work site. The forecast called for 95- to 100-degree temperatures in the El Dorado County foothills. The track gang took advantage of the cooler morning hours to get the job done.

Once there, we dismounted and prepared to re-set the gauge of the 90-pound rail to standard gauge. Roadmaster Peter Shultze had previously marked three locations on the curve in the day lighted Tunnel No. 1 where the gauge had crept to 58 inches. Peter wanted to pull the outer rail back in to around 57 inches.

The seven-man track gang labored for the next four hours. We scraped the build-up of clay and dirt on to of the ties and dug trenches for the gauge bars. At two locations, pictured and 50 feet further inside the cut, two bars were used to hold the gauge. One bar was used at the third location. The crew will replace the ties at a later date.

The railroad is now calling this location Red Hawk since it is adjacent to Exit 40 (Red Hawk Parkway) on eastbound U.S. Highway 50. From our vantage point at the east terminus of the old tunnel, we watched a constant steam of traffic headed up the hill for the weekend. Red Hawk is the turn around point for Sunday train operations from Shingle Springs.

'This is a railroad; it's not a toy'

noreply@blogger.com ('Round the Chuckbox) — Sat, 26 May 2012 18:34:00 +0000

"This is a railroad; it's not a toy," emphasised retired train conductor Bill Schultz as he opened the segment on chapter one of the General Code of Operating Rules (or GCOR). "It's about safety and situational awareness."

Museum administrator Mary Cory, roadmaster Peter Shultze, road foreman of engines Dale Fowlar and Shultz presented the inaugural lesson to 23 volunteers of the El Dorado Western Railroad on Saturday, May 19. The recreated train station in the town of El Dorado served as the backdrop.

The two-hour training session laid the groundwork for more intense formal training to begin soon. Each volunteer employee received a binder with three important railroad documents.

Cory briefed volunteers on the museum volunteer handbook. "You are part of about 95 museum volunteers," said Cory. Volunteers donate their free time to the railroad, including some that give "almost full time hours."

The handbook gives the volunteer an overview of each function within the operation of the El Dorado County Historical Museum. The El Dorado Western Railroad falls under the museum. It's the museums major living history program.

Shutlze's presentation of the railroad track worker safety plan followed. "Whether you're a volunteer or paid staff, it all comes out the same," said Shultze. Volunteers bring "lots of energy and drive" to the railroad.

As a professional track inspector, he emphasised the need for all railway workers to learn how to safety work in an environment with heavy moving equipment.

The GCOR lays the foundation for railroad operations in the United States, said Schultz. As a retired Southern Pacific/Union Pacific train conductor, he used the GCOR daily. EDWR's GCOR is patterned after the one used by the Union Pacific and the Burlington Northern Santa Fe railroads.

All raiload volunteer will become familiar with the GCOR, including shop and office workers. "Most of the same safety rules apply to everyone on the property," explained Schultz.

Fowlar closed the session with an overview of the locomotive engineer training program. As a retired Southern Pacific/Union Pacific locomotive engineer, Fowlar will direct the program for selected volunteers.

Trains of the El Dorado Western Railroad run every Sunday through December. The timetable calls for 1st, 3rd & 5th Sundays from El Dorado Station. We run from Shingle Springs Freight Shed on the 2nd & 4th Sundays each month. Updates to the timetable are posted on our Facebook page each Thursday and Friday.

Suggested donation is $5 for adults (age 8 and up); $3 for ages 3 to 7; and 2 and under ride free. Donations help keep the living history program of the El Dorado County Historical Railroad Park and EDWR alive.

Train rides on the El Dorado Western Railroad

noreply@blogger.com ('Round the Chuckbox) — Sat, 28 Apr 2012 19:35:00 +0000

Please come out to support California's newest county-run railroad. As residents and guests of El Dorado County, you have the opportunity to ride the train in 2012. With your support, the El Dorado Western Railroad will continue to operate many years into the future.

The El Dorado Western Railroad No. 602 Fairmont A4D gang car glides through California poppies near Mile Post 138. The county is enjoying a banner crop of poppies and lupins along the right-of-way this year. To enjoy the wildflowers, catch the train at the Shingle Springs Freight Shed on the second and fourth Sundays of the month.

Train rides for 2012

All El Dorado County residents and visitors are encouraged to support the county living history rail program. The railroad is giving train rides on the historic Southern Pacific Placerville Branch rail line, weather permitting, on Sundays from noon to 4 p.m.

We currently alternate between the El Dorado and Shingle Springs. The train operates from the El Dorado Station on the first, third and fifth Sundays of the month. The Shingle Springs Freight Shed will see the train on the second and fourth Sundays.

The suggested donation is $5 for adults and children nine and up. The donation for ages three to eight is $3.

Directions to El Dorado Station
To locate the train station in historic El Dorado, take Pleasant Valley Road (from the east or west) to Oriental Street. Turn north. Keep left at the Wye. Continue to the end of the road and left to the station.

Directions to Shingle Springs Freight Shed

The address is 4241 Mother Lode Dr, Shingle Springs, California, 95682. Take Highway 50 to the Ponderosa exit

(Exit 37). Proceed east on Mother Lode Drive about one-half mile to the Shingle Springs train station. Watch for the caboose and diesel locomotive. The railroad tracks and station are on the south side of the freeway.