Amador County – The Amador County Board of Supervisors last week discussed donating its wooden, life-sized Emma Sweeney train to a Colorado RR Historical Society, with discussion ranging from logistics of the move to the possible trading of a Mother Lode-area historical object in return.

The model train has been owned by Amador County for 32 years, since its donation, and the Durango Railroad Historical Society requested that the county donate it to their organization. The Durango Society’s president gave a presentation on the link of the fictitious “Emma Sweeney” engine, a copy of a real train engine, the both of which were used to film a movie in Durango. The real engine is now being refurbished for the Colorado Railroad Historical Society, in Golden, Colorado. The Durango organization offered to make a $5,000 donation to the Amador County Museum, to help fill the space where the wooden movie prop train now sits.

Amador Historical Society President Gary Reinoehl wondered if the Emma Sweeney, now labeled the “Amador Cannonball,” was part of a collection, and if the museum needed to handle its donation in a special way. GSA Director John Hopkins said the train was donated in 1979, but is not a part of a collection. Hopkins recommended the board designate it as surplus to make the donation, and he said there was no advantage to offering it for sale or putting it out for bids.

Durango Rail Society president George Niederauer said the society “asks that the county donate it to us just as it was donated to them.” He pledged the cash donation, and said moving the train would be a “substantial cost.”

Amador Museum Curator Georgia Fox said she read his request and “reluctantly agree” to the donation. She incidentally met Niederauer when he was looking at the train last week, and discussed moving it, with dismantling seen as the best approach.

Supervisors also discussed recognition of Amador County for the donation, and Niederauer said a sign would summarize Amador County’s relationship in the history of the Emma Sweeney, while a following book would more thoroughly illustrate Amador County’s role in preserving the engine. That includes the Oct. 25, 1980 dedication of the train by the Amador County Chamber of Commerce, after restoration by the Mule Creek State Prison community.

The train is painted with the name of “Amador Cannonball,” and its fuel car has the name of the Amador Central Railroad, the spur which linked Martell by rail with Ione.

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