Northern California Explorer

Saturday morning dawned with cloudy skies and a light rain.  Car hosts loaded bag lunches and passengers boarded for an on-time departure at 9:00 a.m.  The train headed over the former Western Pacific Feather River Canyon line, now UP's Canyon Subdivision.  The first 23 miles are over the 1962 track relocation built during the construction of Oroville Dam that flooded the original WP right of way.  At 9:45 a.m. the train slowed as it passed over the North Fork Bridge and joined the original WP right of way.  Just before Keddie lunches were distributed to passengers.

Arriving at Keddie at 11:45 a.m., the train paused as the UP pilot detrained and the BNSF pilot boarded the locomotive.  From Oroville to Klamath Falls we travel over freight-only trackage that Amtrak crews are not qualified on.  From Keddie to Klamath Falls we travel over BNSF's 202-mile Gateway Subdivision.  Opened in November 1931, Western Pacific constructed this line from Keddie to Bieber where it met the Great Northern from Klamath Falls.  This Inside Gateway provided a competitive route to Southern Pacific's Shasta line between the Pacific Northwest and Southern California with a GN-WP-Santa Fe route.  The line to Bieber was downgraded when UP took over WP.  As a condition of the UP-SP merger, UP granted trackage rights to BNSF from Stockton to Salt Lake City, Utah over the ex-WP route and directed UP to sell the Keddie to Bieber portion to BNSF.

Just Turn Left At Keddie

Departure from Keddie was at 11:56 a.m.  From Keddie to Moccasin the maximum speed is 12 mph as the track was clinging to a rocky wall high above Spanish and Indian creeks as we head up a 1.5 per cent grade.  At Moccasin we meet a southbound BNSF general freight powered by General Electric ES44DC No. 7349 with a two-unit Distributed Power Unit on the rear.  Because the Gateway Subdivision is dark territory and operated by Track Warrant Authority, meets are complicated.  Extra 7349 was granted track authority on the main line to the south limits of Moccasin siding.  Amtrak 88 North was granted track authority to the south limits of Moccasin with instructions to take siding.  Because the length of Extra 7349 exceeded the 4208 feet of the siding, a saw-by was required.  For this to happen, once Amtrak 88 was in the clear on the siding it had to release its track authority. Then the dispatcher granted 7349 authority from South Moccasin to Keddie.  This allowed the freight train to pull down to clear the north siding switch and release his track authority to Moccasin and in turn the dispatcher granted track authority to the excursion train to enter the main track and continue north.  The meet at Moccasin delayed us about 27 minutes.

Clear Creek Junction

Continuing on, we follow the shore of Lake Almanor passing many lake shore vacation homes as we are limited to 25 mph.  Because of clouds the view of Mount Lassen is obstructed.  We pass Clear Creek Junction, once the connection with the Almanor Railroad, a 13-mile short line operated by Collins Pine Company to the lumber town of Chester.  This railroad was recently abandoned and the lumber company now trucks its lumber to Clear Creek Junction to load freight cars.  This section of track was part of the original Red River Lumber Company operations and was once electrified.

Red River Lumber Company

Red River Lumber 2-6-0 No. 32 at Westwood on June 5, 1936.  (Don Douglas Collection)		Red River Lumber 2-8-0 No. 101 at Westwood on May 21, 1939. (Don Douglas Collection)

Meet At Westwood

We roll to a stop at Westwood at 2:10 p.m.  In 1912 Red River Lumber Company moved from Minnesota and constructed a large lumber mill and operated extensive logging spurs in the Lake Almanor area.  In  1944, Fruit Growers Supply Company took over Red River Lumber Company's extensive logging operations.  In 1956, FGS closed the Westwood operations.  Southern Pacific built the Fernley & Lassen Railway from Fernley, Nevada to Susanville and Westwood in 1914 to serve the lumber mill.  Today Westwood is base for BNSF maintenance of way crews with fire-service tank cars stored in case of fires, and a Jordan spreader to handle winter snow conditions. We meet another southbound BNSF freight with a two-unit DPU on the rear and depart at 2:50 p.m.

Departing Westwood, we travel on the ex-SP line four miles to Mason.  WP was granted trackage rights over this portion until SP abandoned this line when it passed to WP control.  We reach Norvell, the highest point on the line at 5,734 feet, on a 1.5 per cent grade and see patches of snow along the right of way.  At Poison Lake, the Red River Lumber Company had some logging spurs heading off to the west.  These were taken over by Fruit Growers Supply in 1944.

At Halls Flat, Red River had extensive logging spurs heading east from the WP main line.  From Halls Flat to Dixie we encounter more 1.5 per cent grades and curves as speed drops to 25 mph.  After passing through Dixie we drop down a 1.5 per cent grade with many curves and pass through Pit River Canyon and pass over the Pit River.  From here it is a short three miles to Bieber.

On The Old Great Northern

We pass through Bieber at 5:20 p.m.  Not much is left of this junction between GN and WP.  A wye and a few yard tracks are all that remain.  The roundhouse and depot have been torn down.  From Bieber to Klamath Falls the maximum speed is 49 mph.  Beyond Bieber we pass Lookout, a former junction with the McCloud River Railroad.  Abandoned by the McCloud Railway, the right of way can still be seen heading off to the west.

Continuing north we cross the UP ex-SP Klamath Falls-Alturas Modoc line at Stronghold and soon cross into Oregon just outside Malin.  With the train crew nearing the expiration of their 12-hour limit we speed on to Klamath Falls only to be slowed as we pass BNSF's Klamath Falls Yard and make our way to Bieber Line Junction and a connection to the Union Pacific line to the Klamath Falls Amtrak station, arriving at 8:15 p.m.  Charter buses transfer passenger to local hotels. Caption: Car hosts clean the train at Klamath Falls.

Additonal Notes

Because of space limitations on the train, NCE excursion organizers rented a large truck from Budget Rentals to carry luggage. Passengers were encouraged to "check" their baggage with the promise that their checked bags would be waitng for them at each night's destination. To the credit of the drivers, this promise was always met.