Date change for City Council agenda item discussing moving our operations out of the city limits. It is now January 23rd at 6pm. Please consider attending and commenting.
AN URGENT PLEA TO THE COMMUNITY
Since Fall of 2010, Placerville & Sacramento Valley Railroad (PSVR) has provided rail excursions for the public on portions of the historic Southern Pacific Railroad’s “Placerville Branch”, a scenic gem that has wound through Sacramento and El Dorado Counties for over 160 years. PSVR has enjoyed steadfast support from the community over the years, from our incorporation as a Non-Profit in 2008, to the acquisition of an operational steam locomotive in 2020, and of course the tremendous financial support we received during the COVID Pandemic. So it is with a heavy heart that we report that City of Folsom will soon be considering a proposal by staff that will put significant additional burdens on our operations and is guaranteed to result in the eventual failure of this historically and culturally valuable program.
YOUR HELP IS DESPERATELY NEEDED!
The seeds of this program were planted over 30 years ago, and were nurtured and cared for by the dedicated members of the Folsom, El Dorado and Sacramento Historical Railroad Association, visionary public leaders, experts from the railroad and business communities, and of course you, the enthusiastic public. Over the last 13 years our program has carried over 50,000 passengers and has reinvested over $560,000 back into the program and our community. Over this time, volunteers have generously spent more than 75,000 hours restoring and maintaining equipment, repairing many miles of track, culverts and bridges, and worked tirelessly to provide over 500 days of public events. The team at PSVR is grateful to you, the riding public, for many sold out events such as Mother’s Day Brunch, Pumpkin Patch Flyer, Santa’s Whistlestop Adventure, Iron and Wine Sundowner dinner trains, and many others.
As a 501(c)3 Non-Profit Organization, Placerville & Sacramento Valley Railroad currently operates under a license issued by the Sacramento Placerville Transportation Corridor Joint Powers Authority (STPC-JPA), the entity that owns and manages the railroad corridor. This Joint Powers Authority is made up of El Dorado County, Sacramento County, Sacramento Regional Transit District (RT) and the City of Folsom.
OUR OPERATING LICENSE EXPIRES AT THE END OF THIS YEAR
As the management of PSVR has worked through the renewal process over the last 18 months, we have identified several critical points that are essential to not only the success of the program, but to the very survival of the railroad.
Learn more by going to https://www.psvrr.org/advocate/