Plymouth loco run day at El Dorado

There's nothing more exciting than to wake up Christmas morning and find a HO-scale train under the tree. All you want to do is piece the track segments together, plug in the transformer and run the five-car train in a circle for hours on end. It's a holiday ritual that's been practiced in millions of American homes over the past century.

Last Saturday morning the town of El Dorado woke up and found a full size Plymouth locomotive under the oak trees. The banner on the engine housing proclaimed, "Merry Christmas to El Dorado, CA."

It's the gift of the El Dorado Western Railway to the historic town of El Dorado, a town that once served as an important stop on the Southern Pacific Placerville Branch rail line. Two long blasts on the whistle indicated that the railroad had returned to El Dorado.

Steven Karoly takes his turn at operating the No. 1. The crew ran the El Dorado Western Railway No. 1 up and down the rail this afternoon. The 18-ton Plymouth locomotive was donated to the railway on Friday, December 17, 2010 by the CertainTeed Corporation in Chowchilla, California.

The Plymouth approaches Hagen's Crossing at Oriental Drive. The banner over the radiator thanks three companies for their assistance in the donation of the Plymouth locomotive to the railway. They include the CertainTeed Corporation for its donation of the engine, Diamond Crane of Diamond Springs for lifting the locomotive onto the track and Bordges Timber of El Dorado for transporting the engine to El Dorado.

Cal Jessiman relaxes for a moment after completing the first leg of his run to Hagen's Crossing.