Folsom Rail Festival

I stopped by the Folsom Rail Festival on the way home from work this evening. There wasn't a lot of activity. A small gang from the Folsom, El Dorado & Sacramento Historical Railroad Association was making last minute repairs to the Faimont A-6 gang car. And a crew from Regional Transit was getting ready to babysit the Pacific Gas & Electric No. 35 trolley for the night.

Visit the El Dorado Western Railway on Saturday and Sunday. Our booth will be open from 9 a.m. to 5 p.m. The rail festival is located along Placerville Road in Folsom, ajacient to Starbucks and Hampton Inn. The nearest cross street is East Bidwell. The EDWR Whiting Trackmobile No. 601 will be on hand for viewing.

The FEDS Skagit Speeder No. 30 is ready to offer rides to the public Saturday and Sunday. Built around 1939, Weyerhauser Timber Co. used the speeder to haul track materials and work crews on its 26-mile logging line in Vail, Wash. Two Fairmont speeders (Models A-4 and A-6) are spotted behind the Skagit.

The motorman's station stands empty as the sun sets over Folsom. The trolley was built in 1913 by the American Car Co. PG&E ran it on the Sacramento City Lines until 1934, when it was retired. The car is currently owned and operated by the Sacramento Regional Transit Authority.

Lights on the Whiting Trackmobile

This morning the mechanics wired trailing lights on the Whiting Trackmobile. Trailing lights differ from tail lights in that they signify the end of train when the Trackmobile is running on the track alone. Since the Trackmobile is designed for combination road and track work, it also features a tail light.

Mechanics Mark Bruto (on the hood) and Larry Nygard wire the newly installed trailing lights.

Only one light will be on at a time on each side. The headlight will shine on the side of the Trackmobile that's making forward movement. The training light will shine on the oposite side. I took this photograph before Mark and Larry worked out a wiring issue.

Why do we do this?

Several weeks ago I began a short series that explorers why the volunteers of the El Dorado Western Railway do what we do. Railway President Keith Berry's originally wrote the series for the summer newsletter.

Each week 16 or more volunteers gather at the engine house to work on various projects. While most volunteers contribute mechanical skills to the railway, a shall team of "office" workers handle administrative tasks.

Unlike past years when most work was accomplished on Saturday, our volunteer pool has developed into a diverse group of weekday (mostly Wednesday and Friday) and Saturday workers. The weekday team largely consists of retirees and those available mid-week. Those still working a 40-hour week help out of projects on Saturdays.

Here's the second installment of Keith' assessment:

REASON #2: We all have some inherent train gene in us, attracting us to train things rather than old clothes, furniture or farm equipment, which we refer to as real rust. Trains reach out to us; trains are special, uniquely attractive without reason through our lives. Trains talk to us; they come alive much as the trains once under the Christmas tree came alive in our hands. It's sentimental to work on these trains, they all are unique, come with a personality and deserve their place by being refurbished. So, we await work day's to once again meet and "play with trains."

REASON #3: We enjoy the challenge. Refurbishing this stuff is not easy. It's really a lot of hard work and periodic frustration. Train parts are heavy, sometimes hot and always hard to handle. Regardless of the technical challenge, or the logistical problems, we enjoy finishing something. Years ago, we adopted the motto "One piece at a time, she goes back together again." We needed this motto given the fourteen years of effort just on Diamond and Caldor No. 4. You have to be patient, and find success in every part or you go nuts looking for the nuts (or the bolts, or the pipes, etc.).

Diamond Springs Labor Day parade

The El Dorado Western Railway featured the Whiting Trackmobile in the Diamond Springs Labor Day parade. With the loan of a flatbed truck by from Tom Anderson at Diamond Crane, the team hauled the Trackmobile down Main Street at 1 p.m. under leadership of railway Vice President Ed Cunha.

Ben Cunha and Steve Karoly rode in the cab of the Trackmobile. Since the Trackmobile was mounted on the bed of the track, Ben and Steve devoted their full attention to waving and greeting the crowds on Main Street.

Ben blew pulled the lanyard and blew whistle very minute or so. We ran the air compressor for the full length of the parade (about 20 minutes) to supply air to the whistle. Unfortunately, we weren't able to blow regulation signals, like the grade crossing alert (two longs, one short, one long). The mechanics need to install a three-quarter-inch supply line to the horn so there's sufficient air to warn of the approaching train.

Ed guides the Trackmobile past the Diamond and Caldor flatcar (up on jacks) as Ben drives it into the Veterans Memorial Building parking lot. The railway has completely refurbished the Trackmobile since it took delivery in mid-June. Railway President Keith Berry said that Breaker Glass will install a set of new windows next week. The painters also need to finish the interior.

Ben watches the Trackmobile as it's loading onto the flatbed. The crew washed the Trackmobile in the parking lot. The unit looked great with a fresh coat of paint and lettering as the EDWR No. 601.

First locomotive lettered for El Dorado Western

The Whiting Trackmobile was lettered at the engine house as the El Dorado Western Railway Trackmobile No. 601 today. This marks a significant achievement for the railway as it is the first piece of rail equipment that has been lettered for the EDWR.

As a rule, assets that don't have historical significance to El Dorado County will be lettered for the railway. Locomotives and rolling stock with a historical attachment to the county retain its original identification. For instance, the Shay locomotive will retain its identity as the Diamond and Caldor No. 4 because it operated within the county for 47 years.

Kelly Roberts of Placerville removes the backing from the El Dorado Western sticker on the door to the Trackmobile. Kelly operates HKR Promotions with his wife Heather.

EDWRF Vice President Ed Cuhna (left) poses with Kelly at the completion of the job.

Why do we do this?

President Keith Berry wrote this piece last month as we geared up for the summer issue of The Dispatch, the official newsletter of the El Dorado Western Railway Foundation. Since I didn't have room for the article in the newsletter, I'll share Keith's thoughts on volunteerism over the next several weeks here.

The El Dorado Western Railway engine house and machine shops are located in Placerville, on the grounds of the El Dorado County History Museum. Several locomotives, a railbus and various other railroad cars are scattered about, all creating the look of an over sized model railroad. All of us are museum volunteers, our objective being to interpret and explain the work going on toward operating restoration of these community artifacts.

Frequently, we are asked, "Why do you choose to do this work, especially as a volunteer?"

Well, that is a good question, one which we ponder deeply, search for the best explanation and then get right back to the work. Being volunteers, we take breaks, called "standing around," and discuss just why we do volunteer for this work, donating time and expense to keep the work progressing toward a distant conclusion. Usually, we all reach the same answer, we don’t quite know! However, here are the most frequent opinions.

REASON #1: We are attracted to rusting junk! Now, seriously, we don’t like rust. It only serves to entice us to look beneath it for the original pieces and parts which offer recovery to their original beauty. Getting to the item through decades of rust is the attraction to find, save and restore to operational level something 100 years old. We are on a treasure hunt -- a hunt for old trains, steam trains, logging trains, trains of long ago.

To be continued ...

Progress on the Trackmobile

Here are three photographs from Saturday, August 14, 2010:

In the past two weeks, our father and son painting team have made significant progress painting the Whiting Model 3TM Trackmobile.

Ed Cuhna, the new vice president of the El Dorado Western Railway, paints the roof.

Ben Cuhna preps the roof for painting as Ed gets the paint ready.