Amador County – A new joint venture, the Amador Central Rail Road will meet Saturday in Ione to discuss short-term and long-term plans for the rail spur.

The Amador Central Railroad is a joint venture agreement that formed to purchase the 10-mile railroad spur that links Ione to Martell. The groups formed a managing committee, which is meeting this weekend to work on short-term and long-term plans.

The committee has equal representation from its two owners, the Amador County Historical Society and the Recreational Railroad Coalition Historical Society. The two non-profit corporations acquired about 10 miles of the old regular-gauge rail line from Sierra Pacific Industries in October 2010.

The 2010-2011 managing committee includes Historical Society members, Chairman Larry Cenotto, Debbie Cook, Andy Fahrenwald and Gary Reinoehl. Railroad Coaltion members of the managing committee are Larry Bowler, Mitch Haik and Grant Vogel.

The managing committee will meet at 10 a.m. Saturday in the Ione City Hall chambers.

The meeting will be in two sessions, with routine business in the morning, scheduled from 10 a.m. to noon. After a lunch break, the afternoon session will begin with intensive planning for the Ione Rail Fair, scheduled for May. The committee will also consider other requests from “speeder” groups for access to the historic Amador line.

A committee from the two partners will continue work on a permanent joint venture agreement which will govern all railroad operations as co-owners of the Amador Central Rail Road.

The group is also planning a small inaugural speeder run out of Ione on Jan. 29 for ACHWS directors, to familiarize them with the operation, and for local press. The run is being limited to about 20-25 people. If interested, contact AMCRR soon.

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Story by Jim Reece This email address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it.