Amador Central Railroad Highlighted in New Book

Oct. 6, 2011 - PRLog -- New from Arcadia Publishing’s Images of Rail series is Amador Central Railroad by local author Deborah Coleen Cook. The book boasts more than 200 vintage images along with a supportive narrative.

Resting in the community park in Ione, California, is old No. 7, affectionately known as “Iron Ivan,” the last steam engine that served on the Amador Central Railroad. At the southern edge of town, one can glimpse the rails it once rode. Built in 1904, the Amador Central Railroad—a 12-mile, standard-gauge short line that snakes its way through the Sierra Nevada foothills from Ione to Martell—served both passengers and freighters for a century until 2004.

It was said to be the slowest line in California, with over 75 curves and a grade of four percent in some places. In 2010, Sierra Pacific Industries sold the railroad to a nonprofit consortium to preserve the historic line.

Highlights of Amador Central Railroad include:
•   Birth of the Ione & Eastern
•   Into the Heart of Amador
•   Iron and Steel
•   Ups and Downs of Running the Rails
•   Hooray for the Timber!
•   Tracks to the Future

Available at area bookstores, independent retailers, and online retailers, or through Arcadia Publishing at (888)-313-2665 or www.arcadiapublishing.com.

# # #

With more than 7,500 local history titles published to date, Arcadia Publishing is the leading publisher of local and regional history in the United States. Widely recognized sepia books feature hundreds of vintage historical images.