The Feather River Route in California

This video, taken on a very rainy day in May, 2019, shows features of the Feather River Route, which is a railroad line that was built by the Western Pacific Railroad from 1906-09. The route’s name comes from its path through the rugged Sierra Nevada mountains along the North and Middle Forks of the Feather River. The entire route is now owned by the Union Pacific Railroad.
We see some of the features of this dramatic route as we follow it from Portola to Pulga in northern California, including bridges and trestles at Clio, Blairsden, Chandler Creek, Keddie, Tobin and Pulga, the last two being double bridges that cross each other serving car and rail traffic. At Williams Loop we check out the way trains gain or lose altitude by crossing over themselves. At Quincy we see two locomotives in Sierra Pacific Industries colors, as well as the junction between the Quincy spur and the main line. Near Cresta we notice a long autorack train waiting while a MOW unit checks out the line ahead for rockfalls. The payoff comes at Pulga when we finally experience the drama of this huge train snaking its way through the deep canyon gorge under the spectacular bridge there.