Amador County moves to protect Amador Foothills rail line in CA

From the Shortline news group on Yahoo!, this bit of info. Looks like the former route of the Amador RR and Amador Foothills isn't dead yet!

Amador County moves to protect Amador Foothills rail line in CA

Amador County (CA) Ledger-Dispatch:

http://www.ledger-dispatch.com/news/newsview.asp?c=137727

ACTC moves to protect rail line

Friday, December 31, 2004

By Sean Rabé

The potential abandonment of the Amador Foothills Railroad was met with
opposition at the Dec. 15
meeting of the Amador County Transportation Commission.

The board voted 5-1, with Commissioner Mark McKenna casting the no vote
and Commissioner Richard
Vinson absent, to spend up to $20,000 to hire a consultant to determine
the costs, liabilities,
alternatives and benefits of protecting the historic rail line’s right
of way. The rail line runs
from the former mill site in Martell to Ione and dates back as far as
1902.

Additionally, the commission approved a letter to be sent to the
Surface Transportation Board asking
to protect the rail line’s right of way for public purposes and
opposing the abandonment of the
line.

One issue involved with ACTC protecting the line’s right of way,
however, is the potential for
liability.

According to ACTC legal counsel Dan Fuchs, should ACTC accept the right
of way for the rail line, it
would be responsible for the maintenance and liability on the line.

McKenna reasoned his no vote with concerns that the line would
primarily benefit private business in
the Martell area and that the balance in the Regional Surface
Transportation Program account - where
the $20,000 consultant fee is to be paid from - is very low. With the
approval of the expenditure
the account will dwindle to just $1,900 with no future revenues for
fiscal year 2004-2005
anticipated. McKenna also stated that the rail line issue should be a
low priority for ACTC,
compared with other projects that need to be completed.

As previously reported in the Ledger Dispatch, according to information
at
<http://www.trainweb.org>, the railroad incorporated April 12, 1904, as
the Ione & Eastern Railroad.
It operated on rails between Ione and Mountain Springs in 1904 and
extended to Martell in 1905.

Amador Foothill Railroad [PSH: actually Amador Central] took over
operations of the line on Jan. 1,
1909. It was then acquired by Georgia Pacific Corp. in June 1988.

The last revenue freight run of the railroad was March 28, 1997 and the
line shut down. The property
was then sold by Georgia Pacific Corp to Sierra Pacific Industries in
1997. [PSH: Sierra Pacific
than renamed it Amador Footlills Railroad.]

The site <http://www.uprr.com>, an online “Short Line Directory,” said the Martell to Ione track is 11.79 miles, with a maximum load limit of 200,000 pounds.

The Web site <http://www.cencalrails.railfan.net> describes the Ione Branch, which runs from Galt toIone where it connects with the Amador Foothills Railroad.

The Web site <http://www.amadornet.net> lists part of the history of the rail line:

“In the beginnings Amador Central and its short lived predecessor (Ione & Eastern) hauled gold ore down from the mountain mines. As the ore began to yield less and less gold, concentrates from the mines were shipped to an enormous smelter at Selby, about 20 miles north of Oakland.

“The huge quarries outside Ione were another source of business for the line, shipping out car loads of fire brick used for lining furnaces and chimneys,” according to the site. “Eastward traffic included mail, groceries, clothing and animal feed for the foothill towns. The towns people also moved by rail.”

The site credits Highway 88 with hurting the economics of the line, and wonders, “What is going to happen in the future? No one really knows at this writing, but the hope of the future are always there.”

Related:

Sierra Pacific halts Amador railway
http://www.ledger-dispatch.com/news/newsview.asp?c=109251

 

Well, I like seeing RR lines preserved. But after they do so, what happens? I'd be curious to learn what defines "preserved" to these folks.



Boxcab E50

 

Bite yer tongue!!!!!

 

So what they're planning, is to lift the rails forever? Hiss......



Boxcab E50

 

I hope this will be true. Keep those rails in place, and see them in use again!



Boxcab E50