[?]

A Southbound Coast Starlight Detour over the High Line and Feather River Canyon 3/21-24/2003

Union Pacific announced that it was going to be undertaking major track work on the Shasta Route, replacing 72,000 wooden ties with concrete ties and thought it would be best to re-route the Coast Starlight via the former Western Pacific Feather River Canyon Route to Keddie then over the Highline to Klamath Falls. I read about this on Trainorders.com, learning it would be four segments of ten days, with five non-working days between each, equalling forty days of track work.

Early the next morning, I purchased a Rail Sale ticket from Sacramento to Klamath Falls and a regular one-way ticket back to Martinez for a trip in the middle of the first cycle. I modified a set of 50 percent off tickets I had for the same weekend to make this trip work. Over the next week, the detours started with one very late train really messing things up, so much so, that they were going to call off the detours. Number 11 would now run through and Train 14 would only detour if it did not reach Dunsmuir by 7:00 AM. I still decided to ride anyway.

My Coast Starlight did not arrive in Los Angeles until 7:38 AM and with tonight's southbound 11 running late, Amtrak decided to break the cycle of very late-running trains by annulling 14 out of Los Angeles and turning Train 11 into 14 at Oakland and bussed all of 14's passengers from Los Angeles to Oakland. I found that out while I was at work the morning I was going to leave then left work at lunch and went home to pack, wondering if I was going to be detoured or not?

Our train as it arrived then I boarded the lower level of the cab car with Assistant Conductor Andy Jackson pointing me the way to a car with seats on this packed train. Other than having to flag to cross Eckhoff Street in Orange, it was a rather usual trip to Los Angeles, where we arrived on time.

I walked down the long tunnel to the Thruway Bus, boarded and waited for departure time then made really good time to Bakersfield, but as we pulled in, I was thinking, "Where is the train?"

The public address system came alive with announcements. San Joaquin 714 would not be here until 7:45 PM and San Joaquin 703 would not depart until 8:15 PM or later. The reason for this was because the Starlight was so late, they put all of their Los Angeles and connecting passengers on that train which left Oakland late due to mechanical problems and then lost its slot down the BNSF mainline. In order to get me and the other eleven connecting passengers for the Coast Starlight in Sacramento, they were going to bus us to the train. I looked at the situation that if I am being bussed to get to a train, it would make me happy.

We departed at 6:13 PM and proceeded north on California Highway 99 as the sun was setting. It was really a fast journey since I had my music with me and I chose The Rolling Stones' "Bridges to Babylon" followed by the Tubes' "Live" which took me most of the way to Sacramento. I gave the bus driver directions and we arrived at 10:20 PM, thirty-five minutes before the train would have arrived. If you take the fact we left twenty-three minutes after the train should have left, our non-stop bus trip was almost an hour faster than the train. Yet I will always prefer the train, no matter what. The waiting room was full of passengers waiting for the last train of the night.

About 11:05 PM, the conductor was collecting tickets inside the station and when it came to my turn, I asked, "Which way are we going tonight, Keddie or Dunsmuir?" He said, "The normal route, as why would you want to do the other way in the dark? Duh?" It just had not been my day. I went outside to the platform and waited in a cold breeze for the Starlight to arrive and at least now I could plan on sleeping the whole night through.

The Starlight arrived after midnight with the surprise that the consist was backwards, i.e. they either did not, or could not, turn the train in Oakland. I boarded the third coach, the kiddie car and received an aisle seat for my trip to Klamath Falls. We departed at 12:30 AM and I stayed up as the train ran up the former Western Pacific from Haggin to Binney Junction, where we continued the trek up the normal route as I slept.

Later that morning, I was up early at Sims deep in the Sacramento River Canyon and ventured into the empty lounge car to enjoy the pre-dawn portion in the morning rain. We made it to Castle Crag where we sat for thirty minutes while I enjoyed a breakfast of French Toast and sausage then slowed through Dunsmuir before curving around the Cantara Loop. Finally at Mount Shasta City, I spotted two McCloud River Railroad locomotives and their caboose at the interchange.

Mount Shasta and Black Butte were both hidden by the clouds, but the valley to the north deserved a picture. At Hotlum, we passed a northbound Union Pacific freight whose last locomotive was an Amtrak Surfliner-painted F40PH.

Entering Oregon. With no further delays, we arrived at Klamath Falls forty-five minutes late.

I detrained in the rain for a picture of the crew change before getting a taxi downtown and finding the Maverick Hotel on Main Street where I received an excellent rate. I freshened up and napped for a few hours as I was still very tired.

The same Union Pacific train that we had passed at Hotlum arrived at Klamath Falls. I stopped at Blondie's, a fast food restaurant for a hot dog and fries which I took back to my room then called a few people before exploring downtown and found a Safeway, among other businesses. I spent this rainy afternoon watching VH1, TV Land and the FX channels then walked and found my restaurant for dinner but it did not open until 5:00 and since I had plenty of time, I walked around downtown then back to the station to see what was going on. The street layout of Klamath Falls was crazy with streets at all different angles. I made it back to John & Lori Steak County Restaurant & Lounge where Marcia was my server and I enjoyed an excellent Filet Mignon wrapped in bacon. The food was fantastic and I would recommend this restaurant. I returned to my room and had a hot bath before watching "Matilda" then once that funny and touching movie was over, I checked out and walked back to the depot.

A BNSF freight came though the yard waiting to leave, then a Union Pacific freight came through with two Canadian Pacific Railway locomotives trailing the lone Union Pacific one. I decided to try a little night photography since even after two years, I was still learning with this camera. I checked to see if there were any rooms on the train for sale, but of course there were not. I sat down and met Graham from the Bay Area and we talked until train time then the same conductor pulled my ticket and we had a good laugh about my failed trip to ride the Highline. Graham and I were already planning a future date to try the detour again and he said the only way we would be able to ride through the Feather River Canyon on this trip was if something major happened!

Over the scanner we then heard the dispatcher say "Where are you?" "Castle Crag siding". "You derailed". "Is it just the siding or mainline which is blocked?" "Both." "How many cars are on the ground?" "34!" I told Graham we just received our miracle and the conductor walked up to us and said "Boys, you most likely got lucky tonight. I will keep you in the know as the evening goes on." We were two very happy railfans! The Coast Starlight arrived and we boarded the train, taking the front coach seats on the right side of the car.

3/23/2003 My day of my sobriety switched from day 2,985 to 2,986 at midnight as we continued to sit then at 1:05 AM, we reversed eight-tenths-of-a-mile to clear a switch to put us on the track next to the station so we pulled back into the station. Graham stayed up while I managed about three hours of sleep and I woke up with him giving me the thumbs-up that we were being detoured. Our BNSF pilot engineer arrived at 4:13 AM and we highballed Klamath Falls at 4:32 AM {10:00 PM}, pulling down to the south end of the yard where we waited for a signal and a BNSF freight pulling down next to us. At Bieber Line Junction, we finally curved off the Union Pacific's concrete ties for the wooden ties of the BNSF Gateway Subdivision and my new mileage began.

A small piece of history on the Inside Gateway. In 1929, the Great Northern proposed to extend its line from Klamath Falls towards the Western Pacific which would build north from their line at Keddie to connect somewhere in between, which was at Bieber in 1931. This line, along with a friendly Santa Fe connection in Stockton, would provide competition to the Southern Pacific. The line never saw passenger train service, but James Hill of the Great Northern once thought of extending the Empire Builder to California, although the Great Depression wiped out that idea. The line is dark territory with a top speed of 49 MPH and no signals. The line north of Bieber became the Burlington Northern with its merger of the Burlington, Great Northern, Northern Pacific and Spokane, Portland & Seattle in 1970. The Union Pacific gained control of the Western Pacific but had to give up the line to the BNSF when it merged with the Southern Pacific to provide competition to Union Pacific's Shasta Route.

We proceeded to the BNSF South Klamath Falls yard where we waited to receive our orders and while all that was happening, I enjoyed a snack car breakfast. We left the yard at 5:50 AM, received our track warrants and went out in the early morning, passing the Klamath Falls Airport. It was going to be a great day of train riding. We travelled among the sagebrush and fields with Mount Shasta looming off in the west, then passed through Merrill before continuing to Malin, where we turned south as we are making this trip as Extra 112 West. We received our next track warrants at Kephart then crossed into California before we traversing the Modoc Line at the signalled junction at Stronghold before running by the Tuklelake National Wildlife Reserve.

Lava Beds National Monument came into view with Mount Shasta standing guard behind. We ran along the high desert to Kandra, passing an ash-loading facility and to the west was Medicine Lake volcano. The pine trees started to make an appearance and became a forest by Mammoth as we made our way to Kephart.

Mud Springs Lake on the way to Scarface, after which we proceeded to Lookout, the eastern junction with the McCloud River Railroad. The Starlight cruised across the Madeline Plain making its way to Bieber where the old water tank still stood. This was the end of the Great Northern-built trackage of the Inside Gateway. Now on the former Western Pacific, we descended to Pitt River, which we crossed on a low bridge.

The Starlight then started its climb up the grade, twisting and turning to gain elevation, passing a small dam on Pitt River, which started into a canyon it had cut out through the basalt rock.

Mount Lassen was in view for a few minutes before clouds covered it, just as they were now doing to Mount Shasta. The climb out of Pitt River Canyon was spectacular, as was the view looking back northeast over this unique and unspoilt part of California. We turned south, running above Clark Valley, which we looped around to the southeast then continued to Horse Creek before reaching the siding at Little Valley. We had Amtrak P42DCs 112 and 113 for power, the two locomotives which were notorious for having problems. We stopped for five minutes as the crew tried to successfully restart 113, which had shut down and we resumed our journey then rounded several "S" curves to gain more elevation to follow Beaver Creek to William Springs. We crossed the creek there before rounding another ridge to Jellico, where there was snow on the ground as we neared Halls Flat, where we had to line the switch to pass BNSF 4504 South in the siding at 9:30 AM.

We had been travelling through the Lassen National Forest, then went by Ebey Lake and across Grass Valley before paralleling Poison Lake.

The islands in Poison Lake are man-made and created for nesting waterfowl to protect them from shoreline predators. California Highway 44 ran across the valley as we continue southeast.

It started to snow as we neared Lodge Pole where we met our northbound counterpart, Coast Starlight Train 11, sitting in the siding. A few minutes later, we crossed Pine Creek Valley with the creek of the same name and I saw Windy Hollow to the southeast. The Starlight sprinted along at 40 MPH across Highway 44 and then along snow-covered Long Lake, making our way through the forest to Robbers Creek then continued on to Westwood. This was the end of my new mileage as I had ridden here behind the Feather River E9s in 1994. I was having a great day and wondered if it ever gets any better than this?

We passed the BNSF plough train and the Lassen Power Plant on the way out of Westwood then went through Clear Creek Junction and the connection with the Almanor Railroad before crossing the Hamilton Branch. I enjoyed the view of Lake Almanor through the trees prior to our reaching Almanor siding. We passed Canyon Dam before rounding the giant "S" curve crossing the Wolf Creek Overpass then plunged into Tunnel 6.

The Starlight proceeded to Greenville, where we went into the siding for a smoke break for the passengers on the left while BNSF 747 North, the Swift Roadrailers passed on the right. We departed at 11:52 AM just as the rain started and went by the relocated Greenville depot on the left side of the tracks as we made our way across the west side of the Indian Valley. The train next ran through Crescent Mills and crossed Indian Creek then at Moccasin siding, we paused for Union Pacific 6245 North. At the south end of the siding, our crew had to throw the switch so we could continue. Indian Creek descends to make the entrance into the Feather River Canyon with Highway 89 running along it. We crossed over the high curved trestle before entering Tunnel 5 with Indian Creek far below. Minutes later, we plunged into Tunnel 4, then 3 and crossed another curved trestle before rounding a curve crossing a high straight trestle.

You could see the tracks we would be on in a few minutes across the canyon before we plunged into Tunnel 2. With us still high above Spanish Creek, the train rounded a curve, bringing the famous Keddie wye into view. A van was waiting for our Union Pacific pilot crew and a hi-rail vehicle was then sent out in front of us, a regular practice in bad weather. This brought our trip down the Highline to an end, now the Feather River Canyon.

The Western Pacific was completed in 1909 as a 927 mile railroad with a grade of only one percent all the way from Oakland to Salt Lake City. The Golden Spike was driven right here on the Keddie trestle back in those days. The most famous of all passenger trains to run over the railroad was the California Zephyr, which ran until March 23, 1970, a year before Amtrak was born. The Western Pacific was one of my favourite railroads and it was a sad day when it became part of the Union Pacific.

After our pilot crew change at 1:00 PM, we proceeded out onto the Keddie wye then straight into Tunnel 29, across a trestle straight into Tunnel 28, followed by 27, 26, 25 and 24, which took us to Paxton as we then continued our trek to Twain and Virgilia, where we met BNSF 6331 East. The train headed down through Serpentine Canyon, whre the colours of the rocks were incredible as we dropped through Rich Bar. Any day is a great day when you are riding through the Feather River Canyon. The North Fork of the Feather River entered the canyon right before Belden and we ran along Rock Creek Reservoir and went through the Honeymoon Tunnels as the rain fell again. However, it was dry as the Starlight reached Camp Rodgers then continued to Tobin, where Highway 70 and the Feather River were crossed on a truss bridge.

We made our way to the Rock Creek trestle, ran by the empty siding of Merlin and across the canyon, the rock face was very impressive as we neared the Elephant Buttes. At Pulga, we met BNSF 4677 East on the main while we pulled into the siding at 2:50 PM to relieve our Amtrak crew, who were about to die on the hours-of-service law.

This delay was going to be only thirty minutes but the new crew was not here yet, so it was made a fresh air break and everyone detrained with people going down to the river, the children throwing rocks and others having a good time talking. I took the time to get chicken wings for dinner as the lounge was about to run out of food. Union Pacific 4560 West passed, as did another westbound, which was followed by our old friend from Halls Flat, BNSF 4504 West.

The new crew arrived and we waited for BNSF 4834 East to pass before we departed Pulga at 4:35 PM, then reached James at 5:13 PM with Union Pacific 4864 East tucked away in the siding. We went through the last tunnel and entered the Sacramento Valley with the Sutter Buttes to the south and ran below Table Mountain with verdant hills, with our train looking impressive against that background.

We crossed the Feather River one last time and passed the fantastic restaurant in the old Western Pacific depot in Oroville at 5:46 PM then turned the corner and sped south towards Sacramento down the very green Sacramento Valley before going by Craig with old friend BNSF 4504 West in the siding, waiting for us to pass again for the second and last time today. We approached Binney Junction and as we crossed the Union Pacific East Valley Line, our detour came to an end, but what a detour it had been!

We went straight on the former Western Pacific before circling the west side of Marysville and crossed the Yuba River. The sun had set as we continued to Sacramento so light-wise, it was the reverse of this morning, making it an interesting ending of a fantastic day of train riding. We crossed the Bear River and sped south in twilight, when it was announced that all connecting passengers for the Pacific Surfliners were to stay on the train to Los Angeles, while all other San Joaquin passengers and those mentioned as bus connections were to detrain in Sacramento. They said that we should reach Los Angeles about 9:00 AM, which suited me just fine as it would easily make up for the rail mileage that I lost by taking that bus from Bakersfield to Sacramento.

I went to the Pacific Parlour Car, since the railphone in the lounge did not work, and called my mother from there to ask her to call work for me and that I would take a sick day, as well as to let her know what the revised plan was and to say that I love her. I am very lucky to have such a great mother! My mood truly improved with that latest news. We crossed the American River and at Haggin, curved onto the former Southern Pacific Overland Route to the Sacramento Amtrak station, arriving at 6:47 PM where our train was watered, fuelled and serviced. We departed 7:58 PM, basically on the old schedule of the ill-fated Spirit of California, that state-sponsored overnight train that ran from 1981 to 1983, during Governor Brown's period of running our state.

Graham and I talked the rest of the way to Suisan-Fairfield, where I called it a night after a very exciting day of rail travel that I will never forget! At Emeryville, Graham woke me to say goodbye before he detrained and to keep in contact. I went back to sleep as we continued down the former Southern Pacific Coast Line.

3/24/2003 I awoke briefly at San Luis Obispo at 5:15 AM {3:20 PM} and was up for good just after the Coast Starlight passed through Grover Beach. Sunrise came after Guadalupe and the climb though Casmalia was beautiful in the early morning light. Crossing Vandenberg Air Force Base, the deer were out in force, something I had never seen in all my trips across the base. There was no dining car service this morning (why?), so it was another lounge car breakfast. I pointed out the coastal sites to a family from Oregon and we saw pods of whales spouting, another first-time experience. The clear skies turned into low clouds as we cruised east along the Santa Barbara Channel and we passed the state parks and went to Santa Barbara, a mini-fresh air stop. On the move again, I just sat back, listened to the Scorpions' "Live" and let the Starlight take me south.

The Scorpions took me to Simi Valley at 9:27 AM {7:41 PM} and in honour of my two-night trip home, I selected Night Ranger to be my musical selection to Los Angeles. We met Metrolink 105 at Hassan and then went to Chatsworth to take the siding for Pacific Surfliner 763 then made our way across the San Fernando Valley with no further delay until Burbank, where there was a Metrolink train in the station and Metrolink does not allow two trains in a station at the same time. We reached Glendale at 10:19 AM {8:23 PM} with a Union Pacific log train sitting in the siding. These logs are being salvaged from the Arizona wildfire near Snowflake to the lumber mills in California and Oregon.

Next the Starlight passed what was left of the former Southern Pacific Taylor Yard shops and at the Metrolink yard, I saw Amtrak F40PHs 256, 300 and 338, which Metrolink had just bought. Minutes later, I saw Pasadena Gold Line cars out testing. We arrived at Los Angeles Union Station at 10:32 AM {9:00 PM} and I had an outstanding southbound trip on Amtrak, even though I set a new Amtrak all-time late record of 13 hours and 32 minutes.

A film crew was filming "Garfield" (the cat) on Track 13 which made getting to my train on Track 12 slightly more difficult this time, but when I saw AC Andy Jackson, I knew I was in the right place. I shared a brief trip experience with him and we departed on time and I was really glad to be on my way home. All of yesterday's experiences had me really dragging today and I sat back, listened to my music and relaxed while the Surfliner took me south. We had a yellow signal at La Mirada which became a red signal at Basta and we sat there for twenty minutes. BNSF's LACBAR baretable train could not get into the clear before our train arrived, then we stopped at Fullerton and then Fullerton Junction, where we passed the BNSF local. After that, we ran with no further delays as we managed to make up a minute before arriving at Santa Ana, only 19 minutes late, ending another exciting yet incredible Amtrak adventure.

RETURN TO THE MAIN PAGE