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  • Feather River Route/Highline

  • Pertaining to all railroad subjects, past and present, in the American West, including California, Arizona, Nevada, Colorado, New Mexico, Wyoming, Montana, and The Dakotas. For specific railroad topics, please see the Fallen Flags and Active Railroads categories.
Pertaining to all railroad subjects, past and present, in the American West, including California, Arizona, Nevada, Colorado, New Mexico, Wyoming, Montana, and The Dakotas. For specific railroad topics, please see the Fallen Flags and Active Railroads categories.

Moderator: Komachi

 #1507008  by Stu30
 
Hi
I have come over from Australia and will be spending the next 2 days at Lake Almanor which I will be able to spend 1 day in the canyon. Any idea what the traffic levels are going to be.
Thank you
 #1507068  by riffian
 
Pretty sparce. You will always have the two BNSF Inside Gateway manifests (Barstow to Vancouver, WA and Barstow to Pasco, each way daily) plus a Bakersfield to Pasco train a couple of days. Southbound Canadian grain and potash trains run occasionally, too few to predict. On the UP you will have one west manifest (North Platte-Roseville), one west vehicle train (ANPMI) to Milpitas , CA and most likely at least one west loaded grainer , but could be as many as three. Its a crapshoot. So for sure, you should get a minimum of about 7 trains west of Keddie and up to as many as 10-12. UP's all westbound. Problem is trying to catch one passing through the Canyon during daylight hours. Also, you should check with the Highway Patrol to see what the conditions are on SR70. They were having lane closures and directional traffic due to the earlier flooding in the canyon. Not sure what the current status is, but it could seriously screw up you chase plans.
 #1507117  by Stu30
 
Do I work on 50/50 for night and day. Late this afternoon there was 2 BNSFs one each way and there was 1 UP sitting a Portola about midday heading west.
 #1507147  by riffian
 
No schedule on any of this stuff and as far as I know, no general times either. The ANPMI (Auto North Platte/Milpitas) frequently arrives in the Bay Area early in the morning (0500-0600) which would put him down the canyon the afternoon/evening of the day before. Maybe someone who actually lives up there has a better handle on daily operations. If you have a train in Portola Yard, I'd stick with him, because they generally change crews and get on the move again in short order.
 #1507184  by Stu30
 
We saw no UP today but there was one due at Keddie at 1.30pm and at 3pm still no sign of it.A UP work train picking a rocks blocked the main for the morning. 2 BNSF went down the canyon at 1pm with them being 15 minutes apart. 1 BNSF when up the canyon and arrived at Lake Almanor at 6.45pm with one leaving at Lake Almanor at the same time and arriving at Keddie Wye at 7.20pm when we headed back
 #1507188  by riffian
 
Sounds like you had a pretty good day. Getting three trains in the canyon in daylight is probably about as good as you can get these days.