November 20, 1998

Bringing the past to life

by GEORGE LLOYD, Staff writer If the eight members of the El Dorado Western Railway Foundation have their way, the county will someday boast an operating narrow-gauge logging railroad, running from Shingle Springs to Ray Lawyer Drive and bringing to life an important element of the past.

"We want the railroad to be a demonstration project, an offshoot of the county museum," said foundation vice president Terry Ross, a licensed architect from Sacramento with a background in historical projects.

Ross was present at a regular Tuesday get-together of several foundation members at the "engine house," a large metal shed located on the county fairgrounds behind the Veterans Building on Placerville Drive.

Inside the building stands 81-year-old Caldor Co.'s Shay Locomotive No. 4, a key element in the foundation's plan to build the demonstration railroad.

Built in 1907 by the Lima Locomotive Works in Ohio, and operated by the Diamond and Caldor Lumber Co., the locomotive hauled lumber between Diamond Springs and the Caldor Mill near Grizzly Flat for 46 years.

The Shay (named after its designer Efrom Shay) was given to the county by Diamond and Caldor in 1954, and sat outside the museum for nearly 50 years.

Keith Berry, president of the foundation, who works as a health care administrator, waxed enthusiastic about the Shay, rattling off its specifications, reciting its history, relating the progress of its restoration by foundation members.

Berry said the restoration work on the engine is 75 to 80 percent complete.

"Five years before the Titanic sank, this locomotive was working in the county, and when we fired up the engine's boiler a year ago - after extensive restoration work -- it achieved pressure comparable to what it produced when brand new," Berry said proudly.

Restoration of the engine -- supported entirely by donations and volunteer labor -- began four years ago and involved near total disassembly.

"We had it down to the boiler sitting atop the frame, Berry said."

Frank Jacobi, project director at Goldbug Mine and Doug Youngberg, a quality control supervisor at Aerojet spent two years rebuilding the "trucks," the structures to which the wheels are attached.

And the wheels themselves needed major work.

"We had to turn all eight wheels on the lathe, as each of them had a different circumference," said Berry. "I don't know how the engine was able to negotiate the sharp turns along its 34-mile route between the sawmill and lumber yard."

The foundation had to have the Knight Foundry in Sutter Creek cast new brake shoes, bearings, bolster guides and other parts of the Shay that needed replacing.

The locomotive is made of cast iron, and stands solidly on its tracks. Painted flat black and unadorned -- except for new brass valve fittings - the Shay is imposing.

"But you have to see it when the diesel oil-fired engine is running," Berry said. It takes on a life. It breathes, it pants. It's finicky and needs nurturing."

The various parts of the engine are heavy and big, the iron plates of the boiler attached by rivets with inch-and-a-half shanks.

"We had to replace some of the rivets and we did it with the same technology used when the engine was built, heating the rivets in a forge until they glowed orange, then pounding and shaping them into place. They didn't have slide rules and computers at the turn of the century, but they made things to last," said Berry.

He said the locomotive was designed to pull heavy loads along curving track up steep grades.

"Developing only a couple hundred rpm, the Shay isn't a fast locomotive, seldom exceeding 10 mph, but it's powerful enough to pull the paint off this building."

Berry said the key to any engine restoration is the condition of its boiler, and the Shay's was in excellent shape.

To pass certification, the boiler had to undergo an ultra-sound test, where it's approximately half-inch walls were checked every 12 inches on center for soundness.

"The state also required a hydrostatic test to determine if the boiler had any leaks."

Berry said the success of the restoration is due to the generosity and cooperation of the community and in large measure, luck.

He credited Placerville resident and foundation member emeritus Bev Cola - known as "Mom" to foundation members -- as the project's benefactress.

Cola, who serves on the county museum commission, and her deceased husband Joe, started the project by setting up a shelter for the engine on the fairgrounds.

Berry also mentioned Walley Ripley, a sheet metal worker, from Diamond Springs.

"We approached Walley about replicating the Shay's original headlight, which years ago had been replaced with an improved device."

Rather than agree to build a new light, Ripley miraculously produced the original.

"He told us how he used to pass by the engine each day as a school boy, and one day the Diamond and Caldor people were replacing the lights on their engines. They had a stack of old lights on the ground and asked Ripley if he wanted to have one, and he chose that of the No. 4 Shay," Berry said, a look of astonishment on his face.

In addition to restoring the Shay, the foundation plans to build a turntable from the period.

"We needed to have castings made for the various parts of the turntable, but we didn't have any designs. When we contacted the Knight Foundry they found patterns for turntable designs dating from the 1900s."

To help them in their work, foundation members have built and equipped a machine shop a short distance from the engine house.

Original signs from the Camino-Placerville & Lake Tahoe Railroad, Michigan-Cal Lumber and Diamond & Caldor Railway hang above the '40s and '50s vintage machines standing on the shop floor.

A lathe in the corner holds one of the Shay's three new pistons, almost a foot in diameter with a two-foot long shaft.

We'd like to use the shop to provide courtesy support to other historical groups," said Ross.

Although Berry and the other members of the foundation relish their work on the Shay for its own sake, they never lose sight of their larger purpose.

"In association with the historical museum and the county we want to create a quality logging railroad facility that is historically accurate, that promotes education about El Dorado County logging, and that provides logging railroad reenactment for the satisfaction and benefit of the community," said Berry.