Logging company altering future of Amador County railroad
By Matt Weiser, Sacramento Bee
Along the rusted tracks of the Amador Foothills Railroad, woodpeckers hammer drooping oak trees and hawks cry overhead. The birds command attention, because the sharp clatter of train wheels has stopped – perhaps forever.
The railroad runs 10 miles from Ione to Martell in Amador County, one of the curviest and steepest short-line railroads anywhere. Built in 1904 to serve bustling gold mines in a time before
Photo/Sierra Nevada Logging Museum
the automobile, the railroad may have seen its final train car last month.
