{"id":5026,"date":"2018-09-11T14:22:46","date_gmt":"2018-09-11T14:22:46","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/www.backroadswest.com\/blog\/twin-point-little-known-overlook-of-the-grand-canyon-copy\/"},"modified":"2022-03-22T04:56:08","modified_gmt":"2022-03-22T04:56:08","slug":"historic-train-trip-thru-feather-river-canyon","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"http:\/\/www.backroadswest.com\/blog\/historic-train-trip-thru-feather-river-canyon\/","title":{"rendered":"Historic Train Trip thru Feather River Canyon and Mt. Shasta Country"},"content":{"rendered":"\n
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On this trip, we are trading in our usual dirt-road travel for something on two iron rails.<\/strong>\u00a0 Join us as we take this unique train trip on a seldom-traveled route through remote Northern California and Oregon aboard a collection of historic railcars.<\/strong>\u00a0 Our three-day excursion starts in Sacramento and goes through the Feather River Canyon, onto the BNSF Inside Gateway, past Klamath Falls to Chemult (south of Bend), down around Mt. Shasta, along the rugged Sacramento River, over Lake Shasta, then down the middle of the Sacramento Valley and back to our starting point in Sacramento.<\/p> <\/div>\n<\/div>\n <\/div>\n

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The Genesis of our Trip<\/h2>

Railroad enthusiasts had been planning this trip for several years.\u00a0 Their plan was to roundup most of the privately-owned and restored rail coaches around California, negotiate with three different railroads (BNSF, Union Pacific and Amtrak), lash the coaches altogether into one train and then hook them up behind two modern-day Amtrak locomotives.\u00a0 And part of this trip would travel on rails that haven\u2019t seen a passenger train since the 1970s.\u00a0 Quite ambitious!\u00a0 We were very honored to be able to join this historic 2015 trip and now you can go along, too!<\/p>

Our trip almost didn\u2019t happen.\u00a0 A few of the railcars were stored in towns served by Union Pacific and, after negotiating a cost to move them, the UP decided to triple the price plus they were trying to back out of allowing the special train to operate on segments of their track.\u00a0 After some wheeling and dealing, a last-minute deal was struck, and the trip was back on.\u00a0 BNSF railroad was very accommodating and stuck with the original plan.<\/p>

Our Trip Starts<\/h2>

Starting at Sacramento station, just a few hundred feet away from historic buildings and museums that mark the western terminus of the first<\/em> Transcontinental Railway completed in 1869, we headed east, then immediately turned north onto tracks originally built by the Western Pacific Railroad.\u00a0 Ironically, the Western Pacific built the last<\/em> transcontinental railroad completed in 1909, which goes through the Feather River Canyon above Oroville, California, and provided an easier crossing over the mighty Sierras back then.\u00a0 When it was completed, the new Western Pacific line stretched from the San Francisco Bay to Salt Lake City.\u00a0 Now, the UP owns the track through the canyon and eastward into Nevada.<\/p>

After we turn north onto the Western Pacific line, we cross a steel bridge over the American River.\u00a0 The line then heads needle-straight for over 35 miles towards Oroville.<\/p>