Folsom Valley Railway

Folsom Valley Railway attraction was built in 1970 by the Sherman brothers with the blessing by Mayor Jack Kipp.

June 1978 It was purchased and operated by Mylon Thorley from 1978 to 1990 in January 1, 1991 when it was acquired by Terry Gold who operates the the Folsom Valley Railway today.

Operating a steam powered locomotive.

It takes 2 hour to steam up and half-hour to power down the steam engines.  As a system where steam (water) intermixes with machined metal parts a Steam Engine requires elaborate daily lubrication and chemical treatment of boilers to avoid corrosion and siezeure of moving parts (see 'stored over winter' descriptions in '3001' history). 

 Engine 'Cricket'

Engine '3001' 

Engine 'Cricket' 

The Cricket is a 12 inch coal fired narrow gauge. 4-4-0  American class locomotive it was built in 1950 by Erich Thompson in the Berkeley hills,California. It ran in Tilden Park for 20 years. In 1970 the engine and coaches was sold to the Sherman Brothers and brought to the Folsom City Park  where it has been running continuous.

June 2000 the cricket was converted from coal to oil fired locomotive.

The Cricket operated a special run at California State fair 2000 and 2001operation.

Engine '3001'

The 3001 is a heavy Atlantic 4-4-2 oil firer locomotive.  The Engine weighs 4,000 pounds, is 16 feet long and has 16-inch drivers 

'3001' was built in Sacramento by Alan Shelly and started construction in 1938 and completed in 1949.  It is a duplicate of its older brother a green Atlantic 3025 

'3001' ran in William Land Park in Sacramento in spring of 1950 for four months, but the local population in the early 50s it was not large enough to support continuous train operation. 

'3001' and '3025' went into Winter storage for eight months. When Mr. Shelly pulled the Engines he was dismayed to find all internal moving parts had rusted and they would not run.  This was a first indicator of the challenges of maintaining and operating model steam locomotives.

The Engines were sold to private collector Gordon Bennett in Oakland as museum pieces where they remained for 27 years.  After Mr. Bennett's passing his widow sold both Engines to train enthusiast Mr. Fred Simpson near Seattle Washington. 

Mr. Simpson planned to run the Engines as an attraction at his bed and breakfast hotel. Simpson restored 3025 for himself, and 3001 for his son to operate . He added a functioning water pump, air pump steam generator and  lights and brakes. 

After a two year project to restore both engines father and son enjoyed a summer season in a side-by-side track operation at the hotel. 

With the long Seattle rainy season upon them the trains had to be put into storage after only three months of operation. 

After Mr. Simpson's passing is his widow donated on loan the engines to a steam power plant near Seattle where they were added to Boeing Field’s steam engine collection.

Sixteen years later the owner passing away the Engines came to the attention of engine builder and restorer David Higgins.  David informed Terry who traveled to Seattle and decided to purchase Engine 3001 May 2006. 

It took Terry three months and $5,000 just to find a service to move the Engine as far as David's shop.

Nine months and $75,000 later '3001' to restored along with a new tender (the box located at the back of the engine that holds the water and fuel)

On February 26, 2007

Terry rented a truck for $2,000 and transported the '3001' Engine all the way down to Sacramento.  '3001' went into operation on Folsom Valley Railway in April of 2007.