I have been watching the Pentrex DVD Donner Combo and was wondering does Union Pacific still use Donner Pass as a mainline connection or do they prefer to use Feather River Canyon? Here are a couple of video captures of the area. [ 07. March 2004, 05:11: Message edited by: Colonel ]
Donner is still used but no double stacks. Those go Feather River or down the valley or north through Klamath Falls.
Colonel, Great shots of the pass from that video. I rode Amtrak from Sacramento to Reno in the cab with a friend of mine in 1978 who worked on the SP and knew the Amtrak engineer. What a great trip. We paid for our seats from Martinez to Reno on the train but never used them past Sacramento. We had the best seats in the house. Shannon WP LIVES (no matter what the UP says)
Living in Auburn,CA about 100 yrds from the rails, I can assure you by the sounds I hear, this line is used quite frequently. On the other hand, UP must have some new cloaking technology cause I can go trackside for hours at a time and see nothing...
Donner is definitely well in use, but I sympathise with you John haha...Some days the action is really good and quite often they're absolutely nothing. Some of my favorite locations are in the foothills as oposed to the summit, especially the flyovers at Applegate and Rocklin and the Newcastle crossover. I think they're only running 10-15 trains a day (?) but once the trench in Reno placing the tracks below grade level is completed several years from now I hear they're supposed to double the traffic. The City of Reno had a fit when UP ate espee in 1996 and then said they were going to increase traffic over the pass and through the heart of the city, so the trench is being built at primarily the city's cost so UP can increase traffic...Much to the chagrin of Reno taxpayers...
I have a videotape of Donner Pass, which was probably made in the late '80's. Absolutely wonderful tape! Includes a section on clearing the pass of snow after a particularly severe storm. Incredible depths of snow can fall in a short time up there! The scenery in summertime is beautiful. Always promised ourselves that one day we will come over to the US and drive over the pass.
Alan. I have driven over Donner Pass hundreds of times both winter and summer and the scenery is beautiful any time of the year.
Reading the thread made me think of my freight train trips on both routes over the Sierras, WP through the Feather River and SP over Donner Pass. As far as I'm concerned it was 6 of one and half a dozen of the other, both great trips, both beautiful scenery. The Feather River route over the Tobin Twin bridges, picking a direction at the Keddie Wye, around the Williams Loop and over the Clio trestle all while sitting in a lawn chair between the open doors of a boxcar. The SP route from Roseville to Sparks over the Long Ravine trestle, through the Summit tunnels, by the Chinese walls and through the snow sheds over Donner Lake while standing at the wall of a gondola car. Those were the days!
