Haulin' brush on the railway

One of the goals of the El Dorado Western Railway has been to reduce the vegetation load along the right-of-way. For the past several years, the Folson, El Dorado and Sacramento Historical Railway Association performed this task for the Sacramento-Placerville Transportation Corridor JPA. Last spring Keith Berry and Steven Karoly joined the FEDS in this effort. EDWR is now taking on this task with railway assets.

(While the SPTC is the current official name ascribed to the historic rail line, we prefer to call is the Southern Pacific Branch after its last operational designation.)

While the task may seem insignificant, it's important to preserve the historic right-of-way in operating contition. You can read about Keith and Steven's brush cutting work by clicking here, here or here.


Keith leads the crew in a safety brief at Hagen's crossing on the north end of Oriental Road.

Most of the morning the crew removed down brush in the area between the Oriental Road and Blanchard Road grade crossings. Keith transported the crew one-quarter mile to the east to the spot where brush was at its heaviest.

Volunteers tie off a load of brush on the Southern Pacific push car. The crew ferried about 10 loads of brush throughout the day to a staging point near the old depot site.

Billy Bellas of Cameron Park operates the speeder on the return trip. The railway uses these work days to train all volunteers how to operated its equipment.

Keith guides the Camino, Placerville and Lake Tahoe No. 4 speeder down the track on the last run of the day.