I live and ride my bike near these old lines around Ione. I miss seeing the trains here since the demise of the Amador Central. The only trains we see here now are the rare ones that move gravel out of the plant near Ione. And those are few and far between. I think they mostly run at night as I have only ever seen one during the day.
I bet that the railroad was there first, and the highway engineers simply used the railroad's engineering to show the best route for the road to follow.
Almost certainly, unless there was a wagon road previously. The branch line dates all the way back to I believe the 1870s, built by the Central Pacific for coal and gravel. Eventually the Amador Central was built in the early 1900s to serve the gold mines and later the lumber mill
Another great SP video! Thanks for posting it. I always liked the SP-Rio Grande power mix.
I live and ride my bike near these old lines around Ione. I miss seeing the trains here since the demise of the Amador Central. The only trains we see here now are the rare ones that move gravel out of the plant near Ione. And those are few and far between. I think they mostly run at night as I have only ever seen one during the day.
Great video and info. Thanks
I bet that the railroad was there first, and the highway engineers simply used the railroad's engineering to show the best route for the road to follow.
Almost certainly, unless there was a wagon road previously. The branch line dates all the way back to I believe the 1870s, built by the Central Pacific for coal and gravel. Eventually the Amador Central was built in the early 1900s to serve the gold mines and later the lumber mill