Imagine a real Thomas The Tank Engine

Yesterday morning I noticed something as I dropped my three-year-old granddaughter off at preschool. While waiting in line, I saw two boys wearing Thomas The Tank Engine t-shirts. A third boy sported a brand new Thomas daypack.

It got me to thinking. If the railroad tracks along the 28-mile Placerville Branch are torn out by Iron Horse Preservation Society, as proposed by the Friends of the El Dorado Trail, then these boys (and their sisters) will never have the opportunity to ride the rails on the historic Placerville Branch rail line.

Sure, the parents of our young Thomas fans could drive the family to the California State Railroad Museum and ride the train on the Sacramento Southern Railroad. After all, the museum is a worthy destination with its amazing collection of locomotives from California's long railroading history.

But I say, why drive over 40 miles to ride an excursion train when there could be at two local railroad venues, one at each end of the line? Boys and girls from throughout the area would encourage their parents make the short drive to passenger depots in Folsom, Latrobe, Shingle Springs, El Dorado and Diamond Springs.

Can't you picture a young El Dorado County family boarding the train at the newly re-created historic Southern Pacific passenger depot in El Dorado? Approved by the county Board of Supervisors last year, the El Dorado County Historical Railroad Park will soon become the premier rail destination for the local region.

The Diamond and Caldor No. 4 Shay locomotive would pull the train – with young Thomas fans sitting on the edge of their seats – to the end-of-track at Missouri Flat Road, near the location of the old Diamond Springs interchange with the Diamond and Caldor Railway. On the ride, the conductor will tell our young Thomas fans how the Four-Spot once pulled trains loaded with rough-cut lumber from the Caldor mill to Diamond Springs.

Then these young Thomas fans will get the view of a lifetime as they poke their heads out the window. At the head of the train, the brakeman will uncouple the Four-Spot from the train. And the engineer will guide the century-old geared steam locomotive through the switch onto the run-around track.

What child wouldn’t react with enthusiasm as the Shay backs down on the run-around track? The engineer and fireman will wave as if they were personal friends of each boy and girl on the train. Our young fans will have come into contact with the real “Thomas” in person.

Along the way, our young Thomas fans will enjoy an afternoon of family fun, while viewing some of the best countryside in California. And, they’ll experience history in the best way possible – by experiencing it firsthand! Captivated by the train crew, dressed in bib overalls, long-sleeved shirts and striped engineer caps, our young Thomas fans will feel the heat of the engine as it passes by. And the sweet aroma of the steam exhaust will capture their hearts.

If the citizens of El Dorado County allow the Friends of the El Dorado Trail and Iron Horse Preservation Society to rip out the twin steel tracks of the Placerville Branch, they’ll be tearing out a piece of our history for good. And families, both young and old, will never be able to experience the once daily passenger local, bound for Placerville.

Come to think of it, I don’t recall seeing any boys in bicycle t-shirts! Tear out the tracks and these boys and girls will miss the sights and sounds of the real Thomas The Tank Engine.

Steaming toward El Dorado, California

This article is reprinted from the fall 2009 issue of The Dispatch, the official newsletter of the El Dorado Western Railway Foundation. This a project that I'm actively involved with in my role as vice-president of the El Dorado Western Railway Foundation.

Steaming toward El Dorado
County Supervisors approve concept plan for El Dorado County railroad park
By Keith Berry, President

The long awaited moment has now occurred. The El Dorado County Railroad Park concept plan has been approved!

Over the past years, we have searched for a site to establish exhibit and operational trackage for our rail logging artifacts. Several sites were evaluated but could not be developed for a variety of reasons.

Our growingly difficult challenge was to locate a site where the local community would support our plan, and a site with rail in place to shorten the development timeframe.

The site would also require public access, be close to U.S. Highway 50, yet be reflective of a pastoral setting reflective of the age of logging railroad activity in El Dorado County.

Such a site was found along the old Southern Pacific Placerville Branch adjacent to the township of El Dorado, now designated as a transportation corridor featuring multiple recreational formats.

During the summer months, we worked with our Museum Director Mary Cory to assemble our concept plan including a detailed site plan drawing by Harold Kiser. During August, this plan was carried thru the Joint Powers Authority and the County Board of Supervisors by Supervisor Jack Sweeney.

Final plan development was assigned to the County Department of Transportation for survey work, utility verification, road access evaluation, and coordination with other corridor recreational stake holders including trails and visiting rail groups.

Given full support by the community, recreation commission, and trails groups, approval was achieved with unanimous votes! A vital resource was the concept watercolor volunteered by ANOVA Architects.

While all this was going on, we had the opportunity to "glean" the rail materials from the old Diamond Springs Yard, adjacent to Missouri Flat Road. This project permitted the reuse of approximate three-fourths of a mile of track and switches at El Dorado, and cleared the area for public trail development along the right of way to the east.

A tremendous effort was put forth by all volunteers and friends to accomplish the disassembly and transport of tons of materials in the course of several weeks during the dog day heat of summer.

Thank you to all who came to work and kept with it until this valuable inventory was protected and protected for the future recreational benefit of our community.

Currently, we are waiting for a property survey to verify the actual boundary lines, this very much in our favor to recover the entire right of way to public use. The fire season is almost over; we can then address the current unkept weedy nature of the area.

Railroad work will commence with replacement of rotted ties along a 1,500-foot section north from the old station site, this to allow use in 2010.

As this work will soon commence, while we continue to restore equipment, we encourage all volunteer support, we need your help in a variety of ways.

Our moment has arrived!

New reader ... sort of

One of the joys of writing a blog is that you occasionally meet one of your readers. Most find 'Round the Chuckbox through web searches or word-of-mouth as I don't expend a lot of effort marketing the blog.

Occasional Dutch oven cook Matt Allen (pictured, left) first found the blog some two years ago during a Google search for camping recipes. Matt enjoys baking sheepherder's bread and apple crisp in his Dutch ovens while camping.

However, Matt and I didn't meet in a culinary context as you might expect. He quickly jumped to the the El Dorado Western Railway blog. As a railroad enthusiast, he's followed the crew's effort to restore the Diamond and Caldor No. 4 Shay locomotive for the past two years.

We finally met Saturday at the engine house, where Matt quickly found a place as the railway pipefitter. He's agreed to evaluate and design the piping for the airbrake system for the Diamond and Caldor Railnus No. 10 at the El Dorado County Historical Museum.

Maybe Matt will agree to assist me next time I cook for the crew.

Lunch at the engine house

I haven't cooked lunch for the crew at the engine house of the El Dorado Western Railway in six months. Several priority projects kept me from cooking in the months leading to my early June departure for the summer camp job. My labor was more important at that point.

Railway President Keith Berry and I first discussed a lunch meal several weeks ago. We both wanted to reward the crew for a summer of notable accomplishments. Twice this summer, Keith called on the volunteers to complete high-profile projects in a short period of time.

Last June the crew rallied to remove the rail, tie plates and rail joiners from the old Southern Pacific yard at Diamond Springs. Once the county gave its approval to remove the track and associated hardware, we had no more than two weeks to complete the track disassembly.

The crew completed the project in eight days. Several volunteers worked every day. The rails and hardware will be used to add a third rail and build the yard at the recently approved El Dorado County Historical Railroad Park in the town of El Dorado.

The county board of supervisors approved the park on August 25. The park will be located on the right-of-way of the Southern Pacific depot in El Dorado.

Volunteers again answered the call this weekend when it became evident that we had to move about 300 ties to a secure location. The ties were open to theft in their current location along the old right-of-way, which is being converted into a riding and walking trail.

Lunch menu

I often use meals at the engine house to try new recipes and to use ingredients that I already have at home. Since I had a 4-pound pork shoulder in the freezer, I knew the menu would be built around a pork dish.

Although chili verde is a favorite -- a dish I enjoy cooking for potlucks -- I wanted to try a flavor combination that was new for me. The idea for a pork stew came to me as I watched Alton Brown's Good Eats television show last week.

In the re-broadcast of his 2005 "Dis-Kabob-Ulated" episode, Brown marinated beef sirloin in a spicy marinade with red wine vinegar and olive oil. Turmeric, smoked paprika and cumin formed the flavor base for the marinade.

Since it isn't practical to make pork kabobs with the tougher pork shoulder, a braised or stewed dish seemed to be the best way to tenderize the meat. I used the marinade to impart flavor, then prepared a tradition stew from that point.

I worked the recipe in my mind Friday evening as I moved railroad ties. I had originally planned to work out the menu and shop that evening. But a 3 p.m. telephone call from Keith brought me to the Diamond Springs yard instead.

When I arrived at the storage site for the ties, the crew asked me what was on the lunch menu for Saturday. I received a chuckle or two when I told them that Keith had pulled me away from my menu planning duties.

They weren't amused when I said that I should be home planning the menu. At that moment, the crew was more interested in my back than culinary skills. Since we didn't quit until 7:30 p.m., I delayed shopping until Saturday morning.

My original thought was to prepare the stew with orange marmalade, but hit on the idea to build the stock with apple juice after moving almost 250 ties. Yams and apples seemed like a natural addition from that point.

Here's the menu for the El Dorado Western Railway lunch:

• Pork stew with yams and apples
• Buttermilk biscuits
• Dutch oven bread pudding

I arrived at the museum yesterday around 9 a.m. After setting the chuckbox and firepan up next to a historic Studebaker wagon, charcoal briquettes were lit by 9:30 a.m. and the meat was at a simmer shortly after 10 a.m.

All three dished were prepared in 14-inch Dutch ovens. While I could've made the stew in a 12-inch deep Dutch oven, I customarily use 14-inchers when cooking for crowds.

In the end, 11 crew and guests enjoyed the meal. While I cooked, the crew loaded the 1937 Waukesha engine from the Diamond and Caldor railbus onto Doug's trailer. Doug is going to rebuild the six-cylender engine and return it to the museum next spring.

After lunch, Keith asked if I was going to help move the last 40 or 50 ties at Diamond Springs yard. Lunch over, it was time to get back to work.

PORK STEW WITH YAMS AND APPLES

Use the marinade to flavor diced beef for spicy beef kabobs. Prepare the marinade and combine with 3 to 4 pounds of boneless beef sirloin as directed. Alton Brown's recipe has cooking instructions.

4 pounds pork shoulder
8 cloves garlic, minced
4 teaspoons paprika
1 teaspoon turmeric
2 teaspoons ground cumin
2 teaspoons kosher salt
1 teaspoon ground black pepper
2/3 cup red wine vinegar
1 cup olive oil
1 quart apple juice
2 pounds yams or sweet potatoes, diced
3 Granny Smith apples, diced

Cut the pork into 1- to 1-1/2-inch cubes and place into a large bowl or container. Set aside.

In a bowl combine garlic, paprika, turmeric, cumin, salt, pepper and red wine vinegar. Drizzle in olive oil while vigorously whisking.

Pour the marinade over meat and toss to coat. Place in the refrigerator in an airtight container or a zipper-lock bag and marinate for 2 to 4 hours.

In a colander, drain marinade from stew. Discard remaining marinade. Heat a 6- or 8-quart Dutch oven to medium-hot. Brown pork in 2 or 3 batches to avoid overcrowding. Remove each batch to a waiting plate or bowl as it's done.

Return browned pork to Dutch oven. Add apple juice and stir. Season with salt to taste. Simmer until pork is tender, about 60 to 75 minutes. Add yams and apples and continue cooking until yams are tender, about 15 to 20 minutes.

Makes about 12 (1-cup) servings. Serve over buttermilk biscuits.

Fifteen minutes of fame

Andy Warhol said in 1968, "In the future, everyone will be world-famous for 15 minutes." I'm not certain that I obtained world notoriety. But I may have gain a bit of regional fame in the Sacramento Bee this morning.

Bee writer Cathy Locke interviewed Keith Berry, myself and the crew at the engine house of the El Dorado Western Railway on Wednesday. We enjoyed the opportunity to tell the California capital region about the recently approved El Dorado County Historical Railroad Park in the town of El Dorado.

Enthusiasts hope El Dorado rail park is just around the bend

By Cathy Locke, Sacramento Bee writer
Published: Friday, Sep. 11, 2009, Page 3B

El Dorado Western Railway Foundation volunteer Steve Karoly talks about the Shay No. 4 behind him. It is the last of the locomotives from the California Door Company's logging railroad. Bought in 1907, the engine was retired in 1952 after years of hauling logs for the Diamond and Caldor Railway. (Sacramento Bee photograph by Anne Chadwick Williams.)

An old locomotive, screened by a chain-link fence and a row of trees, is easy to miss at the El Dorado County Historical Museum in Placerville.

But volunteers have labored for years in the storage yard to restore vestiges of an industry and an era nearly as important to the county as the Gold Rush. By next spring, their handiwork may be on view in the El Dorado County Historical Railroad Park.

The park, to be developed within a former Southern Pacific Railroad right of way in the town of El Dorado, will spotlight the county's logging railroads. [Continue reading]

Click here to view the photo gallery.

Day off and breakfast with a buddy

June 9, 2009 was the last time I worked on the rail project with friends in the old Southern Pacific rail yard at Diamond Springs.

My summer job at Loon Lake in Eldorado National Forest has kept me far away from the day-to-day action of the El Dorado Western Railway and El Dorado County Historical Museum.

When I left for Deer Crossing Camp the next day, the rail removal project was just getting started. Except for weekly email updates from friend and EDWRF President Keith Berry, I've been out of the loop.

Home for a rare two-day stretch, I emailed Keith earlier in the week and arranged to meet him at the Diamond Springs Hotel for breakfast yesterday.

By chance, Keith and I met up with El Dorado County Fire Battalion Chief Kurt Taylor and EDWRF board member Ed Cuhna at the hotel just after 8 a.m.

Local politics kept the foursome busy as we enjoyed breakfast by Kevin, the hotel's morning cook. With two firefighters at the table (Ed is a retired fire captain), conversation quickly moved to stories of the 1992 Cleveland Fire and Kurt's vintage firetruck that the two are restoring.

Once Kurt and Ed left to work on the fire engine, Keith and I talked on. Our conversation shifted over to railroad happenings in El Dorado County. (Go to the El Dorado Western Railway blog for news of the project.)

I caught up on the happenings of the railway and the proposed El Dorado County Railroad Park at the old El Dorado depot site in El Dorado.

Breakfast gave me a chance to re-connect with rail buddies and get my mind a way from the camp kitchen.

Ever gracious, hotel co-owner Amy Shim (with husband Moon) and Kathy, our server, kept coffee and soda flowing for two and one-half hours.

Workin' on the railroad

I've twice had opportunity to lay and remove railroad track. The first came in 1983 when my reserve unit, Naval Mobile Construction Battalion 2's Detachment 0402, built a 880-foot rail spur at McClellen Air Force Base in Sacramento.

I should've come away from the five-month project with a new found appreciation for the heavy physical labor required by track workers. But it didn't happen that way back then.

I worked a desk job during the years that I drilled with Det. 0402. As the detachment career counselor, it was my job to convince the young Seabees to stay in the Naval Reserves when their first enlistment came to an end.

During those years, I often held counseling sessions on the tailgate of my pick up truck at the job site. While I spent many hours at McClellen as the Seabees removed the old spur, built a new loading dock and lay the ties and rail, I pushed paper instead of driving spikes.

I did drive several spikes at the insistence of some of the Seabees on the project. As a life-long rail enthusiast, I eagerly joined in. I can say that driving a spike with the long, pointed spike maul is not easy. It takes years of experience to hit the spike square on its head.

My newest experience started Saturday. The crew of the El Dorado Western Railway is removing the track on the old Southern Pacific Placerville Branch right-of-way east of Missouri Flat Road in Placerville, California.

The crew is relocating the track, along with the switches, joiners, joiner bolts, spikes and tie plates from the old Diamond Springs yard to the site of the proposed El Dorado County Railroad Park in the town of El Dorado. A contractor is currently expending the El Dorado Trail a long the old right-of-way from Placerville to Missouri Flat Road.

I have a new found appreciation for the work of the old section gangs. It took two four-hour days for the crew to remove the joiner bolts on approximately 1,000-feet of mainline and siding track.

Using early twentieth century track tools, our crew of six unbolted the joiners that were spaced every 30 feet on Friday and Saturday. A four-man crew removed spikes on 300 feet of track on Sunday afternoon.

I realized Sunday that track work gives you a good, healthy cardio workout. My pulse approached 130 beats per minute after I had pulled spikes for an hour. I felt good despite a few aches and pains Sunday night. I belive my evening walks helped.

The track relocation is a project of the El Dorado County Historical Museum. As volunteers of the museum, the El Dorado Western Railway is providing labor and technical assistance to the museum as it moves forward with the railroad park in El Dorado.

Engine 74 at the museum

ECF E74 at the museum
Originally uploaded by SeabeeCook

This isn't exactly earth-shattering news, but El Dorado County firefighters stopped by the El Dorado County Historical Museum this afternoon to help with a fire alarm issue.

We're still not sure what happened, but think one of the heat sensors in the engine house or machine shop malfunctioned. We weren't doing anything in either building that would've set the alarm off.

I'm not sure why E74 responded as the engine is houses at Station 74. The station is located in the community of Lotus, about 10 miles northwest of Placerville. Maybe the closest engine, Engine 25, was out at the time.

Snow on the tail track

Snow on the tail track
Originally uploaded by SeabeeCook

A heavy snow storm slammed into the Placerville-Diamond Springs corridor last night.

As I drove home around 5 p.m., I could see mixed rain and snow blowing over the hood of my truck. Within 15 minutes I was in the middle of a full-blown snow storm.

By 5:30, large, heavy snowflakes blanketed the El Dorado County foothills at the 1,600-foot elevation and higher.

As the two-hour weather system moved eastward, the heavy flakes stuck to everything in their way. By the time I left the house at 6:30, all the roads were covered and CalTrans had set up chain control just east of Placerville on US 50.

A layer of snow still covered the tail track out of the engine house at the El Dorado County Historical Museum this morning. It's all gone now.

Hit-and-miss

Hit-and-miss #1
Originally uploaded by SeabeeCook

Until now the historic collection at the El Dorado County Historical Museum has been nothing more than a rusting pile of junk. Last month museum volunteer Mark Bruto started working on the collection of hit-and-miss engines.

Today, he and Keith Berry fired up this 1-1/2 horsepower Chore Boy engine this morning. The engine was built by Associated Manufacturing Co. of Waterloo, Iowa.

Here's what Wikipedia has to say about the engine's name:

The name comes from the method of speed control that is implemented on these engines (as opposed to the "throttle governed" method of speed control). The sound made when the engine is running is a distinctive "POP whoosh whoosh whoosh whoosh POP" as the engine fires and then coasts until the speed decreases and needs to fire again to maintain its average speed.

Bean pot

Bean pot
Originally uploaded by SeabeeCook

Another old bean pot warms in the morning sun at the El Dorado County Historical Museum in Placerville, California. This pot has weathered the years in the museum yard and is in good condition.

Careful rust removal and high temperature re-seasoning should give you an usage cast iron pot. You should be able to pass it on to your grandchildren.

This and many other surplus items will be sold at a museum yard sale in August. I'll post the date of the sale as soon as it's made public.

If there's a hole in the bean pot ...

If there's a hole in the bean pot ...
Originally uploaded by SeabeeCook

The picture of the rusting bean pot reminds me pot of beans cookin' over a campfire.

Today, the bean pot warms in the morning sun at the El Dorado County Historical Museum in Placerville, California, never to be used again. It won't hold any more beans.

I looked for missing piece this morning at the museum, but couldn't find it. I'd be a nice pot if you could weld the broken piece back onto the pot.

A flower pot is about the only use you'll get out it now.

This pot and many other surplus items will be sold at a museum yard sale in August. I'll post more information on the sale when it's released.

Pour no more

Pour no more
Originally uploaded by SeabeeCook

This old corroded tea kettle has sat on a rusted cast iron wood stove in the yard of El Dorado County Historical Museum in Placerville, California for years. Though I've taken many photographs of water reservoir, this is one of the first that satisfies my inner artist. I can imagine many cups of beautifully brewed tea and coffee were poured from this spout.

The kettle, stove and many other objects (some in good condition, many others not and all of it old!) go on sale at the museum this spring. Watch the county purchasing website for the invitation to bid. It should be posted within the month.

Through the eyes of a steam dome

Through the eyes of a steam dome
Originally uploaded by SeabeeCook

The engine house and museum yard reflect back into the polished steam dome cover from the Diamond and Caldor No. 4 as I take the picture. The Shay geared locomotive is being restored to full operation by the El Dorado Western Railway. It's located at the El Dorado County Historical Museum in Placerville, California.

One museum's junk is another man's treasure

One museum's junk is another man's treasure, originally uploaded by SeabeeCook.

On March 29, 2008, the El Dorado County Historical Museum will be holding a walk-through of surplus items on sale. Offers can be made by sealed bid due by 4:00 PM that day. Photographs and descriptions of the items to be sold are posted on the county's Purchasing Department website.

All items on sale have been reviewed by the Museum Commission and do not fit into the museum mission because of condition or history. Items will be, for the most part, sold in lots. Individual items on sale of note are the 1954 Willys, an upright George Steck and Co. piano, antique oil dispensers, an antique lathe, and antique washing machines. Please see the website for the complete listing.

Rain date for the sale will be April 5, 2008. Please call Mary at (530) 621-5828 for more information.

Mary Cory
El Dorado County Historical Museum

Village Smith

We're posting them at the rate on one a day. That makes this blog no. 15 for December ...

Once a common sight in America, technological advances have bypassed the blacksmith shop. The blacksmith repaired and manufactured most everything made from metal. Tools for miners, loggers and farmers were everyday products for the town smith. Unlike the shop at Coloma State Historic Park, the blacksmith shop located at the El Dorado County Historical Museum serves as a static exhibit today.

Centered

I often view centered subjects in pictures with a jaundiced eye. After all, my artistic side of tells me that I must to apply the rule of thirds to all my photographs.

Centered pictures often lack interest. The object of the camera lens just seems to sit there. You don't get the sense that the subject is doing anything.

But the more I gazed at the picture of a local Native American bark tee pee, the more I like it. The picture almost looks like the trunk of a towering redwood that's reaching for the humid coastal air.

If you're looking for application of the rule of thirds, it's there. The native hut may be centered. But the leaves from the nearby liquid amber come alive at the proper points in the grid.

This shot shows the photographer that you can mold the rules -- like the long venerated rule of thirds -- to fit your artistic style and interpretation of the scene.

As with my last three or four pictures, this photo was taken in the yard of the El Dorado County Historical Museum on Octover 13, 2007.

Shot settings: f/11, 1/30 second shutter speed, 39 mm focal length, ISO 200 in aperture priority.

Connected

The link and pin coupler joins the combine car to the parlor car behind the engine house of the El Dorado Western Railway. The Diamond and Caldor Railway used these basic couplers throughout its 47-year history. The dangerous devise spelled the death of at least one trainman on the common carrier line. Ultimately, the existence of the coupler, which was outlawed in the U.S. in 1893 for common carriers, caused the demise of the railroad.

Shot settings: f/5.6, 1/90 second shutter speed, 34 mm focal length, ISO 800 in manual mode.

Room with a View

The cupola to the Camino, Placerville and Lake Tahoe Railroad's only caboose stands empty on a pleasant fall day. I'm sure the brakeman and conductor admired the fall colors along the eight-mile line between Placerville and Camino. The subdued yellow oaks with the occasional bright red tree helped the crew pass the time as the train rambled up the grade to the mill.

The gutted standard-gauge caboose sits in front of the El Dorado County Historical Museum in Placerville.

Shot settings: f/16, 1/60 second shutter speed, 30 mm focal length, ISO 200 in aperture priority.

Cemetery of Lost Souls

These headstones -- long separated from the graves they once marked -- mark imaginary graves in the Cemetery of Lost Souls in the courtyard of the El Dorado County Historical Museum. They remind us of the frailties of life. And they remind us that men die and go to the grave.

Someone asked the apostle Paul, "How are the dead raised up?" (1 Corinthians 15:35a). Perhaps they were thinking of what can happen to the body before death. Some, after battling cancer for months, leave a body that's ravished by disease. Others are be burned with fire, dismembered in accidents or drowned and lost at sea. And they knew the body decayed in the grave.

These thoughts may have led them to ask, "And with what body do they come?" (1 Corinthians 15:35b). The Corinthians were questioning the reality of the resurrection of the dead. It seems they wandered how God would put a body back together after death had destroyed thier earthly bodies.

What kind of body will a man have in the resurrection? The answer is simple, according to Paul. He said, "But God gives it a body as He pleases, and to each seed its own body" (1 Corinthians 15:38).

Just as God gave each creature a body that's fitted for their habitation on earth, He is able to fit us with a body suited for a heavenly existence. The simplest answer to their question is this: we will have the same kind of body that Jesus had at His resurrection, as Paul said elsewhere:

"For our citizenship is in heaven, from which we also eagerly wait for the Savior, the Lord Jesus Christ, who will transform our lowly body that it may be conformed to His glorious body, according to the working by which He is able even to subdue all things to Himself" (Philipians 3:20-21).

He concludes our earthly body, which is sown in corruption (that is to say, the body is subject to decay), "cannot inherit the kingdom of God" (1 Corinthians 15:50).

No matter the condition of our body upon our death, God will raise those who believe in the death, burial and resurrection of our savor, Jesus Christ (1 Corinthians 15:1-5). God does not need our earthly body to raise us as He is able to give us heavenly bodies the resurrection.