BTB Blog

The last line to be rail-fanned on this trip by car are the BNSF and UP gateways to Portland via the Columbia River Gorge. The 100 miles from Portland, OR to The Dalles, OR (UP) and Vancouver, WA to Wishram ,WA (BNSF) are very scenic featuring a continuous transition form Pacific Northwest rainforest to bare high desert. Also, the lines are quite busy. Although partly just single track, I encountered a lot of trains- and this on a Saturday! I only experienced that kind of…

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The region south of Portland, OR is known for its short line railroads. I happened to run into some Willamette and Pacific Railway locomotives in Eugene, OR. The most interesting unit of this trio is the GP9, dressed in the classic SP “Black Widow” paint scheme. The engine built in 1959 for Southern Pacific is still on duty for the WPRR and a treat to nowadays trainspotters. A little detour from Sisters via Eugene, Albany and Salem brought me back near…

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Heading north from Dunsmuir into Oregon I followed the Union Pacific Cascades Subdivision from Klamath Falls to Oakridge. This is an impressive area with beautiful stretches of High Desert, mountains and lots of evergreen forest. Especially the ramp from Oakridge, OR to Crescent Lake is another example for fine mountain grade engineering- again featuring quite some tunnels, bridges and snow sheds. Unfortunately it takes tremendous efforts and time to get at least a glimpse of the tracks. Even as Highway 58  sometimes…

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The Caboose is an icon of American Railroading. Developed in the early days as a home away from home for train crews it survived the end of steam locomotives by about three decades. When railroads started to retire cabooses in favor for advanced end of train devices, train minded pople realized the idealistic value of those cars and therefore many got the chance to live a second life. Some 30 cabooses of various origin found a new home at the Railroad…

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High up in the mountains, on the Northern end of the of the Feather River line, lies the town of Portola, CA. There a division point for the UP can be found as well as the Western Pacific Railroad Museum. This Museum provides a way different experience than the CSRRM in Sacramento. Pretty much all the rolling stock of the huge collection is situated outside on the large museum’s premises. One can roam around the area and is even allowed to…

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Its time to watch trains “in the wild” again. From Sacramento I took a different turn going north towards the Feather River Canyon. This railroad, connecting Oakland, CA and Salt Lake City, UT was built by the Western Pacific a little over 100years ago. Being late in the game of crossing the Sierra Nevada this stretch of track features a lower grade than other mountain lines in the West but at a price of extraordinary engineering and construction. Besides numerous tunnels the…

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No visit to the Sacramento area is complete without stopping by at the California State Railroad Museum. This nation wide recognized institution is still one of the best of its kind and has been a role model for numerous train themed museums. I am always happy to return to the Old Sacramento district which the CSRRM is a vital part of. My favorite of the exhibition is Southern Pacific Cab-Forward engine 4294. Being both, a SP fan and a friend…

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Somewhere all those engines we train watchers meet along the lines have to be fed, maintained and staged. Roseville, CA is home to such a facility and, luckily for rail fans, action around the shops can be conveniently observed from the nearby Amtrak station. Not only gets regular UP motive power shuffled around the engine house, there is also an interesting collection of other railroad equipment waiting to be watched. In the background one of the several spreaders used for…

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One General Electric locomotive as well as two EMD built engines pull hard to get a double stack container train around several S-curves and up the more than 2% grade. They are at a point known as Cisco on the UP Donner Pass line. I climbed steep,  rocky slopes as well in order to get to this location. High above I80 (exit 165), enjoying a marvelous view of the line up to the crest, I waited for the notorious, daily Amtrak train and almost…

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