Sacramento-Placerville Transportation Corridor Joint Powers Agency: [sptc-jpa.org]

The JPA (Sacramento & El Dorado Counties, City of Folsom, and Regional Transit) purchased of the SP line from 65th St. to Placerville.

From 65th St. to Folsom, the line is owned by Regional Transit and used by its light rail line. A UP-operated freight line also runs in the RT corridor from Brighton to just east of Hazel Avenue, along Folsom Blvd - only a few customers.

The JPA's ownership map (PDF) shows that RT shares ownership with the City of Folsom within the city limits along Folsom Blvd - probably because at one point the City used the old r/w to widen Folsom Blvd. between the freeway and Blue Ravine Rd. so they had to help RT find space for light rail when the time came. The wye connections between Bidwell and Natoma Streets are cut off; there is no "national network" connection from the wye to the end of the freight line.

Fun fact: the light rail bridge over Willow Creek between Blue Ravine and Parkshore is the old SP bridge, with a bit of cleaning and a paint job. The old SP trestle at Alder Creek, though, had to go; the replacement bridge is generic concrete, but they saved part of the old stone abutments from the trestle.

Heading up the hill, Folsom owns the r/w within the City, and there's a short stretch from White Rock Rd. to the County Line that's owned by Sacramento County. The Folsom rail group that now has the Chiggen uses the the City and Sacramento County portions of the line.

All of the line within El Dorado County is owned by the county. With specific trip permission by the County Board of Supervisors, the Folsom group has made special runs to Latrobe, but not beyond. Another group does occasional rides in the Shingle Springs-El Dorado segment. The County tore out the line between Missouri Flat Rd. and Placerville to build a bike path. The portion within downtown Placerville and up to Camino was torn out long ago, possibly before the JPA; the downtown segment was eventually used for widening of Hwy 50, and the part up to Camino is a multi-use trail. Local bike groups are strongly pushing El Dorado and Sacramento Counties to tear up the rest of the line east of White Rock for a bike trail (which the adjacent land owners are not happy with...).

Somebody who was around back then might have chapter and verse, but the remaining line from the wye east appears to be technically "out of service" rather than "abandoned."

The Folsom train people are based at the wye, but the train rides all start at Old Placerville Road just off E. Bidwell and Iron Point, near In N Out Burger, and head east. They've been out of action for a while due to the land development work and its effects on the track, but they do intend to be back once the track is fixed up and open again. Last time I was through there a couple of months ago it looked like most of the new grade crossings were in, but no crossing gates (except at White Rock, which will have to come out when WR is widened to 4 or 6 lanes in the coming years), and the rest of the track needs much love. They've done speeder rides and short (1 or 2 car) tourist rides on some weekends in the past, and plan to start that up again with the Chiggen. Short rides go to White Rock and return, with long rides to the county line and back.