Easter Picnic Express

March 30 @ 11:00 AM – 3:00 PM

Rail Motorcar Trip from Oak Station to Willow Springs (about 60 minutes total)

Enjoy the serene beauty of springtime as you and your family travel with us to an idyllic spot known as Willow Springs! Nestled in the woods next to beautiful Willow Creek right in the middle of Folsom, the peaceful, oak covered grotto at Willow Springs offers plenty of activities for your family. Bring a picnic lunch to enjoy during your stay, play some games with the kids, help them with various arts and crafts, and don’t forget to let them throw some rocks in the creek! As your family boards the motorcar for your return trip to the station.

Motorcars depart from the station every 30 minutes, and you can stay as long you like.
(Typically a 60 minute experience for your family)

WE DID IT! Folsom City Council Voted to support PSVRR 5-0 !

The Folsom City Council meeting agenda item #10 was to give the recommendation to the Sacramento-Placerville Transportation Corridor Joint Powers Authority (SPTC-JPA) This will help direct the JPTC-JPA on how to craft the operating license. The Folsom City Council voted 5 – 0 to support PSVRR and directed staff to work with us to resolve the crossings and track issues. We still have some hurdles with the Capital SouthEast Connector JPA. But we are very confident that we can work with the City and County of Sacramento to work out all issues.

From Folsom Times :

Before a near-full City Hall chambers, members of the Folsom City Council unanimously voted to recommend an operating license renewal of a seven year term to the PSVRR. The renewal is ultimately issued by the Sacramento Placerville Transportation Corridor Joint Powers Authority (JPA), which included the City of Folsom, Sacramento County, El Dorado County and Sacramento Regional Transit.

The PSVRR rail excursions for the public take place on portions of the historic Southern Pacific Railroad’s “Placerville Branch.” The segment is described by the PSVRR as, “a scenic gem that has wound through Sacramento and El Dorado Counties for over 160 years.” The excursions are in addition to a number of shorter rail events that take place in the heart of the city as well, such as the annual Pumpkin Patch Flyer train, Santa’s Whistle Stop, and others, all of which are operational fundraisers for the 501 (c)3 non-profit organization. The shorter events are not subject to the operating license that was in question recently, but are not events in which the organization can operate on alone when it comes fundraising and finances in order to continue being self-sustained as they have been.

If you would like to watch the Folsom City Council meeting you can see it here and fast forward to item 10 on the agenda it is 1 hour 10 minutes into the meeting or click on the agenda below the video.

Where do we go from here?

We will work with the City of Folsom Staff, Connector staff, FRA and CPUC to work out the crossing issue. PSVRR has a history of solving these issue with no costs to the City and will continue to offer solutions. We will start operation of the full size train in the spring once we repair track damage for winter storms. We will also bring out the steam locomotive for the first time for public rides.

Keep the trains in Folsom! We need your help.

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/