Siding on the W&CV Ry Parlor Car

Two new volunteers signed up at the El Dorado County Fair this year. The first, Pete, is a retired carpenter and wood worker. He's agreed to work at the engine house one Saturday each month. Pete is going to help the El Dorado Western renovate Westside and Cherry Valley Railway Parlor Car No. 101.

Office to Office

Each Saturday I trade my office in downtown Sacramento for one in an West Side and Cherry Valley Railway combine car. Instead of analyzing budgetary issues for the state's prison health care system, I edit and publish the newsletter for the railway.

I expect the publish the summer issue of The Dispatch in mid-August.

I returned to work last Tuesday after a 10-day vacation to chef the kitchen at children's camp. As a result, I missed three consecutive Saturday work days at the engine house of the El Dorado Western Railway.

Skip on over to my personal blog if you're interested in the process of feeding 155 campers and staff for a week.

In the photo to the right, Keith Berry (sorry, I didn't aim the camera properly!) and I discuss the identify a two-truck, Class B Shay locomotive image on the laptop.

The photograph, which was snapped at Bear Meadow, shows the locomotive pulling a consist of 10 or more skeleton log cars south from the re-load point.

Bear Meadow is located to the north of Caldor. The California Door Company operated a mill at Caldor until 1923, when a fire destroyed the mill. After the fire, the logging company used the mill site as a camp and re-load point.

A Civilian Conservation Corps camp was located at Caldor in the late 1930s.

The railway acquired the caboose and baggage car from the West Side and Cherry Valley Railroad over a decade ago.