Ledger-Dispatch

By Jerry Budrick (jbudrick@ledger-dispatch.com= )=20

The Baldwin S12 locomotive crosses = Highway 49 for=20 the last time Thursday. From left, Keith Lynch, Bryce Ward, Josh = Cazadd,=20 Alicia Brenner, Jason Cazadd (rear) and flagman Bill Stewart ride=20 along.

Photo by: Jerry = Budrick

Impromptu track crossings had to be = built at some=20 locations to facillitate moving the train across highway=20 intersections.

Photo by: Jerry=20 Budrick
The steel behemoth rumbled = cautiously along=20 the tracks for what may have been the last time Friday afternoon, = glistening in=20 the bright June sun like an aged ship mounting one last = expedition.

Only=20 this ship was the last locomotive engine in Amador County, and the = expedition it=20 was taking was to its potential new home in Portola, turning Friday's = tricky=20 journey into a bittersweet parade of endings and new = beginnings.

The=20 logistical challenge was moving the locomotive down the 3 miles of track = from=20 the Martell depot to the Ridge Road crossing of Highway 88. That section = of=20 track is likely to be removed as part of the transformation of the = former=20 sawmill property into retail, light industrial, manufacturing or other=20 commercial uses. The movement of the locomotive down the other 10 miles = from=20 Ridge Road to Ione may also have been the final trip for an engine of = its size,=20 although that stretch of track has been leased to a recreational = railroad club=20 and is scheduled for continued use.

Warned of the imminent = arrival of the=20 salvager's torch, a pair of locomotive lovers came to the rescue of the = last=20 engine in Amador County, 125 tons of history worth more in recyclable = pieces=20 than in its entirety. Doug Morgan and Hank Stiles are volunteers at the = railroad=20 museum in Portola. Morgan, who operates a business rebuilding vintage = railroad=20 cars and locomotives, has a deep sense of history and affection for such = vanishing treasures.

"The goal," said Morgan, "is to preserve the = engine.=20 I'd like to see it used."

The locomotive is one of only two = Baldwin S12s=20 still running in the state of California. Manufactured at the Baldwin = plant in=20 Eddystone, Penn. in January 1952, it is a rare, old dinosaur rendered = obsolete=20 by technology, no longer allowed to run on the same rails as Amtrak or = modern=20 freight trains.

The shed from which the locomotive was removed is = on a=20 20-acre parcel owned by Sierra Pacific Industries. SPI has applied for = division=20 of the parcel into four smaller lots, one of which is home to Morgan = Ready Mix,=20 another to Hunt Drilling, a third across Jackson Gate Road, with the = fourth=20 filled with railroad tracks and what's left of the buildings that once = served as=20 depot and maintenance sheds for the Amador Central = Railroad.

Morgan is=20 the owner of a specially-adapted pickup truck, with axles shortened to = railroad=20 width and drop-down rollers front and back that look like trainer = wheels. With=20 this vehicle, Morgan can zip along the rails, which he did in front of = the=20 Baldwin all the way to Ione.

Stiles, who spent 30 years as a = conductor=20 for Union Pacific, largely on the San Francisco-Salt Lake City run, = manned the=20 controls as engineer for this historic journey.

But it would be a = journey=20 that was also fraught with some logistical challenges. On two separate = occasions=20 between April 10, 2004 and June 6, 2008, SPI was driven to remove = sections of=20 rail to achieve other purposes. The April date was still on the wall in = the=20 locomotive, on the bill of lading for the last known delivery of = particleboard=20 from Ampine to the switching yard in the Central Valley.

The task = of=20 replacing those missing sections fell to the pair of intrepid railroad = buffs,=20 Warner and Stiles, rust eaters and track-layers.

With railroad = ties and=20 gauging bars, gravel and greenstone, fragments of hardwood and old rail = spikes,=20 nuts and bolts and fishplates, the two pieced the tracks back together. = It=20 wasn't all pretty when they declared it done, but they decided to = entrust their=20 250,000-pound treasure to it.

Still, the rescuers needed some = rescuing=20 themselves. When they tried to fire up the engine Thursday afternoon, = with its=20 1,200 horsepower diesel motor, they discovered that the huge batteries = were=20 stone-cold dead.

Jump-starting a Baldwin can't be done by = stretching=20 cables from the old pickup truck, but a hero magically appeared with a = solution.=20 Right across Jackson Gate Road from the locomotive shed is a very large = sign=20 reading Lynch's Automotive. Enter Keith Lynch.

Lynch strung = together a=20 half-dozen batteries that produced 75 volts of direct current, loaded = them on=20 his Case 440 track shovel-loader and drove over to the railroad shed. = The diesel=20 started up and the railroaders thanked Lynch, let him leave and let the = motor=20 run for an hour, mistakenly thinking that would charge the=20 batteries.

Friday morning, the batteries were dead again, so = Lynch came=20 back, jump-started the Baldwin again and asked the fateful question, = "Can I come=20 along for the ride?" Morgan and Stiles gratefully = agreed.

Following a=20 couple of hours for last-minute track inspection by Morgan and SPI = project=20 manager Alicia Brenner, the final run was ready to begin. Lynch was = called and=20 arrived with three other young men, all four in mechanic's overalls. = This was a=20 good thing.

The first third of a mile passed uneventfully, = including the=20 final crossing of busy Highway 49, if not for the incredibly powerful = sound of=20 the locomotive's air horn, enthusiastically sounded by Stiles. Stiles = was quick=20 to explain that it is a state law that the horn be sounded for 15 = seconds at all=20 road crossings, and there must be a flagman on the road. Bill Stewart = got the=20 flagman job, riding with Morgan in the pilot pickup.

The sound of = the=20 horn caught the attention of one of Amador County's preeminent = photographers,=20 Carolyn Fox, who happened to be shopping at Meek's. Fox had at least one = camera=20 with her, in addition to her cell phone, which she used to call fellow=20 photographer Larry Angier, who came running.

Fox and Angier then = followed=20 along for the entire voyage, from Meek's to Ione, documenting every step = along=20 the way.

All went well, though slowly, until the mighty Baldwin = came to=20 the first repaired section of track, which was crossed with great care,=20 eliciting sighs of relief at its end.

Next came the only truly = dangerous=20 section, about 150 feet of track laid on ties in a makeshift bridge over = a=20 recently-paved asphalt road in the Amador Central Business Park. As the = S12=20 approached the squiggly stretch of rail, Stiles brought it to a full=20 stop.

Through the power of cell phones, the adventure had drawn a = small=20 crowd that joined the engine at the rickety bridge. Morgan and Stiles = instructed=20 the passengers to assign themselves to each of the eight wheels to spot=20 potential derailments before they happened.

As Stiles inched the = engine=20 forward, one wheel began to slip off the rail, at which point the four = mechanics=20 took center stage. Lynch, Bryce Ward, Jason and Josh Cazadd set to work = and got=20 the rails lined up, tightened and wrenched into passable shape. Everyone = hopped=20 back onto the locomotive, including Ashley Lynch and Isabella Cazadd, = who joined=20 their fathers.

It was smooth sailing from there on down to Ione, = with=20 five ear-splitting road crossings, views of idyllic hidden valleys with = spring=20 water troughs for the cattle and wildlife, and old ranch houses nestled = at the=20 bottom.

It's all downhill from Martell to Ione, with some grades = as steep=20 as 3 percent, which make for super-heated brakes that have to be cooled = from=20 time to time.

The end of the line, so far, for the Amador = Foothills=20 Baldwin S12 is at the old Ione depot, just beyond Ione Junior High = School. Its=20 future depends upon how it can be moved. Morgan said the possibility = still=20 exists that this massive symbol of Amador County history could stay in = the=20 county, if someone steps up with the right plan.

All in all, it = was a=20 bittersweet trip that saved the symbol but signaled the end of an = era.

Jerry = Budrick