Photos from my recent trips to the Feather River Canyon

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Itsed65

Well-Known Member
So as it’s a couple of hundred miles away from my normal area of train watching, I will put these shots in a separate post. This is a compilation of two trips up to the Feather River canyon over the last couple of weeks. It's always a bit hit or miss traffic wise up there, and sure enough, I only saw a total of three trains, one the first day and two the second day, but I chased them up and down the highway to get a variety of locations.

The first trip I took, I caught a local waiting at the tunnel by the horseshoe curve outside of Oroville:
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Red Light by lennycarl08, on Flickr


After that sighting, I spent all morning and early afternoon waitng, but all I heard was a BNSF wating at Keidde, and an eastoubnd BNSF crew timing out at Virgilia, both waiting on a west bound UP. It was getting late and I thought I was going to get skunked, but just as I was about to call it a day, I saw UP 9915 West, a manifest, coming out of a tunnel right at me. If I wasn't sitting in traffic at a flagman, it would have been the perfect shot. Anyway, I got turned around, and thankful I had the Bimmer that day versus the minivan, made my way briskly back down the canyon, finding that the Rock Creek Damn area would be the best place to grab a first shot, even though it was late in the afternoon and light was getting to be a challenge.

I had a curious visitor wondering what I was doing on his shoreline waiting for a train
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My friend the otter by lennycarl08, on Flickr

Finally I heard than saw the approaching train
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Between two tunnels by lennycarl08, on Flickr

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20140815-_MG_7791 by lennycarl08, on Flickr

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Rolling along the river by lennycarl08, on Flickr

The next good photo spot was the trestle at Tobin. Thankfully the trains travel at a leisurely pace and it is not hard to get ahead of them if traffic is light
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Trestle at Tobin by lennycarl08, on Flickr

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UP 9915 West at Tobin by lennycarl08, on Flickr

At this point the right of way climbs quite a bit higher than the highway
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Clinging to the mountain by lennycarl08, on Flickr

Time to get ahead of it again, taking the highway as it climbs far above the river near Pulga
14972596631_1c1843bf7b_b.jpg9915 at West Pulga by lennycarl08, on Flickr

14975683105_173dafdb25_b.jpgUP9915 West Monochrome by lennycarl08, on Flickr

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From far above by lennycarl08, on Flickr

For fun the Atlas Model Railroad version
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Minature Feather River Canyon by lennycarl08, on Flickr

And a much wider angle from the same spot
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UP 9915 East at Pulga by lennycarl08, on Flickr

So I went back the next Saturday (no I do not have anything better to do!), and on the first trip up the canyon, I caught another UP westbound manifest. Back to the Rock Creek Damn! Morning light is just as tough as afternoon light here, This is one place that some clouds would have been nice (and yours truly should have remembered his cp filter)

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Union Pacific 8318 West at Rock Creek Reservoir by lennycarl08, on Flickr

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Tunnels at Rock Creek Damn by lennycarl08, on Flickr

Heading west along the river
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Morning in Feather River Canyon by lennycarl08, on Flickr

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Westbound Manifest on the Feather River Route by lennycarl08, on Flickr

I have never really figured out a good angle to shoot from here
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Morning in Feather River Canyon by lennycarl08, on Flickr

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Mountain Railroading by lennycarl08, on Flickr

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UP8318 in the trees by lennycarl08, on Flickr

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8318 West of Tobin by lennycarl08, on Flickr

Back at Tobin
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UP 8318 at Tobin by lennycarl08, on Flickr

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3 on the Tobin Trestle by lennycarl08, on Flickr

And again at Pulga
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Taking the main track by lennycarl08, on Flickr


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8318 heading west at the Pulga siding by lennycarl08, on Flickr

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8318 at Pulga west by lennycarl08, on Flickr

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Passing Pulga California by lennycarl08, on Flickr

It was still pretty early, so I headed east up to Keddie to see if anything was happening, and it wasn't, other than an old guy sitting up on the hill patiently waiting with his camera at the wye, so I decided to head back west and if there was nothing I would call it a day. Luckily just west of Rock Creek damn, I caught an east bound BNSF vehicle train, and as a bonus, it had an executive paint job unit in the consist. Score. Back to my parking spot!
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Peek-a-boo by lennycarl08, on Flickr


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BNSF 4067 East at Rock Creek by lennycarl08, on Flickr

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4067 East of Belden CA by lennycarl08, on Flickr

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Three Amigos by lennycarl08, on Flickr

This is the tunnel I caught the westbound UP exiting the previous week in my car. I would love to get a shot of any westbound train from here.
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BNSF 4067 East entering tunnel by lennycarl08, on Flickr

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BNSF 4067 East B&W by lennycarl08, on Flickr

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4067 East making waves by lennycarl08, on Flickr

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Big Scenery by lennycarl08, on Flickr

It was on to Virgilia, where I caugt this shot just before the train took stopped and blocked my exit route to wait for the crew van to swap them out. Luckily I had a cooler with my lunch in it, and I found a nice shady spot to wait it out and enjoy my lunch. That was it for this trip. No more trains that day, so I headed home after this. It's a good 3 hours each way, so it makes for a long day. It's fun, but it will be a while before I tackle this again. Thanks for looking!
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BNSF 4067 East at Virgilia by lennycarl08, on Flickr
 
Great shots. I miss the FRC, but don't miss the lack of traffic. The amazing thing is of the 3 trains you saw, only 1 was a BNSF. I like the shots at Honeymoon Tunnels.
 
Three hours each way does make for a long day, but the scenery is spectacular. Thank you, your efforts are greatly appreciated.
 
Beautiful Images and location shots, I'm from Ohio and will be out that way next April for a few weeks are some of those locations
easy to get to.
Thanks, Alan
 
Beautiful Images and location shots, I'm from Ohio and will be out that way next April for a few weeks are some of those locations
easy to get to.
Thanks, Alan
Thanks!

Very easy. All of these shots were taken right from the side of Highway 70.
 




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