The Dispatcher The El Dorado Western Railroad Newsletter December 2020

HAPPY HOLIDAYS from the EL DORADO WESTERN RAILWAY FOUNDATION Board of Directors!

Ed Cunha, Steve Karoley, Keith Berry, Jeanne Amos, Kris Payne, Mary Cory, Peter Schulze, Russ Elmore, Sue Taylor

It was 161 years ago, this Christmas Eve, that the citizens of Placerville formally decided to bring the railroad to Placerville! SACRAMENTO DAILY UNION, 27 December 1859 Railroad Meeting in El Dorado – The citizens of the city of Placerville was convened in the Court House, on Saturday evening, December 24th, to take into consideration the subject of building a railraod from Folsom to Placerville. The object of the meeting being clearly stated by the Chair to take the initiative in promoting the enterprise. A committee of three was appointed by the Chair as follows: M.R. Eltsner, Dr. O. Harvey and J.G. McCallum, to confer with practical engineers upon the subject of the amount of money necessary to be raised for the purpose of making a preliminary survey of the proposed route, and also to confer with the Common Coucil of that city upon the most approved plan of raising the necessary funds for said purpose. On motion it was unaimously resolved to recommend the Common Council to submit to the people a proposition to raise the necessary amount, say about $3,000, by a direct tax of about one-half of one percent, upon the taxable property within the city limits for the purpose. Upon motion it was resolved that a committee of five be appointed to draft a series of resolutions expressive of the sense of this meeting ...prior to submitting the question to a vote of the people. This was “enthusiastically received” and eventually the Placerville and Sacramento Valley Railroad Company was formed, the route was surveyed, and stock was sold. The Sacramento Daily Union reported on March 3, 1863 that the Common Council of the city of Placerville subscribed $100,000 to the capital stock.

Published by the El Dorado County Historical Museum * 104 Placerville Dr. * Placerville, CA 95667 * (530) 621-5865 * Email:[email protected] * website:http://museum.edcgov.us/el-dorado-western-railroad The Dispatcher: the El Dorado Western Railroad Newsletter Page 2 December 2020

Mr. Hamilton Takes the derailment. The boss still stared at him, here it By Keith Berry comes-unemployment, the boss yelled "Well, did you go see Joe and the crew, get them out You are going about your assigned work, there with the jacks and blocks. Stupid suddenly, the boss yells at you to go operate a locomotive, the thing is always de-railing, de- large locomotive over marginal steel mill track! railed it three times myself ! Go help them, get How can this happen, who in this life gets "told" out of here, we need that thing in the morning!” to go run a locomotive, how do you do it? What to pull, twist, move, push to get it started, then Willard never made crew at the check the air pressure, and move stuff to release Fontana Plant, he and the locomotive the and go in the desired direction and continued their work there, the locomotive don't hit anything! Well, this happened to a Mr. surely causing more irritation to the Willard Hamilton in the employ of Kaiser Steel, management. Willard did make it to the El Fontana California. Dorado Western Railroad, riding more than once since his son David worked on the Willlard was going about his duties, he was operating crew out of Shingle Springs. Willard aware of the plant railroad, and various types of would always remark, "Have I told you about rail being shifted about by the plant switch me operating a big locomotive one day?" We engine, a less than pristine example of a steel never tired of hearing the story, a story of one mill locomotive, dirty, dingy, and slightly decrepit. man's short afternoon career at the throttle, the A crew normally carried out the moves, including setting out carloads for the Southern afternoon he went railroading! Pacific Railroad local crew to pick up. Now late in Thank you Willard for your friendship and story, the afternoon, the crew had finished their moves a story to be remembered and learned. You and gone off duty. never know, when down in the Shingle Springs yard your moment might come "Hey, get up in Willard was in the office, his boss suddenly there, bring that engine over to the station, we yelled" Hey, take that locomotive over to the plant need to go up the mainline!” That's railroading! and spot it so its ready first thing in the morning. Having not one minute of experience, Willard replied " Sure, OK" The locomotive was From the Museum’s Archives thankfully still idling, the track was lined up to the plant, so what could be so hard, what could go wrong? Set the selector to forward, release brakes, crack open the throttle, now were moving, now were railroading! Moving along slowly, the track was barely visible, the rails buried in mill slag and dirt, the rail heads appeared now and then. Yeh, this is alright, we're moving through the mill, blow the horn, lets keep Southern Pacific Locomotive 1702-2-80 on Placerville going! Branch Line; Class M-4c weight 28710 built by Cook 1901 Suddenly, a bounce, and grinding sounds, the locomotive veered to the right, the cab now aimed at the warehouse wall. Oh man, this is not good. Now to report back to the office, confess the situation, and suffer the boss' wrath, probably lose the job! "Figured I was thru for sure, the engine was on the ground, how heavy is this Southern Pacific train stopped by a thing! The boss stared at Willard, "why are you log on the tracks, back here, that engine get moved'? Willard ¼ mile west of related his fate, not knowing what caused the Cumming The Dispatcher: the El Dorado Western Railroad Newsletter Page 3 December 2020

MOW notes from the Right of Way enjoy the outdoors, and a service to our community. The strange looking equipment catches the interest of families Although this year has been difficult for public operation, the on the trail, especially the kids. Strange sounding, odd Maintenance of Way, otherwise known as “MOW,” has looking, moving in all directions, the MOW equipment is found opportunity to advance our track equipment status, magnetic to boys and their dads, the moms instinct is to and work on priority track and fire fuel projects. hold the kids back from wanting to close! MOW equipment: The EDWR has two hi-rail trucks, both capable of supporting a variety of projects. The larger Come along with us, choose your level of activity, join the International flat bed supports the high reach overhead effort to protect the community, preserve the historical foliage removal, the truck has a rebuilt engine, and can railroad, and enjoy "railroad landscaping". Remember, no carry a large cutting crew or the spray pack. The smaller MOW-no right of way, no right of way-no track, no track-no Ford pick up has a , and it too can carry the trains, no trains - no riders! spray pack. The trucks can also pull a trailing car for tools, brush, ties, and track material. We now have operational the self propelled diesel powered ballast regulator/track broom, and the tie tamper, both essential to our accelerated tie replacement and track drainage projects. We enjoy owning a back hoe, and having access to a smaller back hoe. Our rail mounted chipper is most effective in converting foliage to mulched chips. We own a variety of powered hand tools, the powered extended reach pole saw is vital, as are the heavy duty loppers. The important thing is, we have the tools for all occasions to remove fire foliage and establish full size train clearance. MOW Projects: Fire foliage removal is the largest time consuming project, the foliage enjoys growing into the sunny clear space above the track, This year we have been extending the clearance from FRA approval of full size train Chipping along the Right of Way, and moving new ties operation. Cutting and chipping is expedited by the hi- railer into position and the rail mounted chipper, towed by the hi-railer or the Track Mobile. Removal of the foliage reduces the dripping TRACK UPDATE water on the ties, but as mentioned encourages the trees to By Peter Schulze, EDWR Roadmaster grow into the sunny space. This year the track broom has operated between Shingle Early in 2021 the El Dorado Western Railroad Springs and Diamond Springs, removing the areas of dead Volunteers will be focusing on the Weed Abatement weeds. This is a benefit to the application of weed per- program applying first a pre-emergent and then a emergent , reducing the need for multiple applications of post-emergent covering 10 feet to either side of the weed abatement. The rain water drains away from the ties, track center, an important step in reducing wildfire and the fire potential is greatly reduced as the right of way acts as a community fire break. fuel and helping to create a fire break. Track Development: The project to develop operational The next project will be to build the Shingle capacity thru constructing sidings has been a focal point this Springs Crossover at the west end of the Shingle year. The El Dorado siding was extended, the Shingle Springs Depot yard, which will include installing Springs station house siding was constructed to transfer the GE locomotive and S.P. Caboose out onto live trackage. ties and switch stands. This track project will be This siding also will continue east, in its historic location, to done with volunteers, and we invite anyone who allow run around movements and support placement of would like to help to contact us when we get the rolling stock. project scheduled! Tie replacement was a priority for track east of El Dorado Station, over 250 ties were replaced in key locations. Other The El Dorado to Diamond Springs MOW ties were replaced at key locations to maintain operational continues to be a priority, as described by Keith safety. Berry, MOW Supervisor. A support project is the acquisition of ties in lengths for Thank you to all the volunteers who have continued building turn outs, we have been very active in developing the turn out tie packages, this work will continue with priority to come out and work on the track, on operations, as turnouts define the track capacity for additional rolling on maintenance, car and mechanical restoration, stock and train operation. and planning for the future. You really make a MOW is essential, a physical exercise, a great way to difference! The Dispatcher: the El Dorado Western Railroad Newsletter Page 4 December 2020

General Manager's Report by Mary Cory, County Museum Administrator Starting October 25th, the El Dorado Western Railroad reopened! Bruce Cunha, Russ Elmore and Keith Berry put together a great reopening plan which was submitted to the County Public Health office. The plan was approved with a couple of additions, and the modifications were implemented. The El Dorado Western Railroad successfully operated four Sundays (Oct. 25, Nov. 1, Nov. 15 and Dec. 6) with two household groups per car, face coverings in place, and other requirements. It was a real pleasure to see the excited kids anxious to go on their train ride, and being able to to offer the program in a safe Teresa spraying disinfectant between runs on the EDWR’s manner for volunteers and the public. reopening day; Russ recording Volunteer hours after a day of collecting rotten ties replaced by H & H Engineering in When the county moved into the more restricted tier, May; and below a happy family ready to ride the EDWR! operations were suspended in compliance with the State’s Public Health Office, requiring the closure of all Museum programs, inside and out, in order to help our regional health care facilities and staff. We are all looking forward to a healthier 2021, and when its safe to open operations, the El Dorado Western Railroad will be ready! My sincere “thank you” to all the volunteers and supporters who have worked so hard in 2020 despite the many difficulties we have all been dealing with. Happy Holidays and best wishes for a Happy New Year and a healthy 2021! Spotlight on RAILROAD The Dispatcher is published quarterly by the El Dorado VOLUNTEERS County Historical Museum. Articles contributed by Keith Berry, the editor is Mary Cory. Comments can be directed to [email protected]

EDWR Volunteers working together to accomplish so much in 2020! Currently all railroad operations are suspended. For current information, contact the El Dorado Plugging new ties Western Railroad. Call (530) 663-3581 or Like us in preparation for at www.facebook.com/ElDoradoWesternRailroad/ installation; turning around the Regular schedule: Every Sunday, improperly weather permitting,10AM – 1PM installed trucks on (El Dorado on1st & 3rd Sundays, SP #1198 Shingle Springs on 2nd & 4th Sundays) Caboose