crosses over the railroad bridge, which crosses over the
Feather River near Pulga.
Early history Interest in building a transportation artery through the Feather River Canyon and across the deserts of
Nevada and
Utah began with the discovery of
Beckwourth Pass, in the
Sierra Nevada, in 1850. The pass, at in elevation, is the lowest pass through the Sierra Nevada. In the 1860s, Arthur W. Keddie began surveying in the Feather River Canyon, in order to find a suitable route for such an artery. He eventually found such a route, and helped to found the Oroville and Virginia City Railroad Company in 1867 to build a railroad along it. Political pressure from the
Central Pacific Railroad, among other factors, led to the end of all construction efforts by 1869. Throughout the 1870s and 1880s, little progress was made in forming a company to construct the railroad line. Some interest remained, because the proposed route was much less steep and passed through the Sierra Nevada at a point lower than that of the recently finished
First transcontinental railroad, owned by the
Central Pacific Railroad between
Sacramento and
Ogden, Utah. The
Union Pacific Railroad, which terminated in
Ogden at the time, considered building the line multiple times throughout this era to bypass the Central Pacific and access the
Pacific Coast on its own. None of these proposals resulted in any level of action, and the idea was widely considered dead by the 1890s.
History under the Western Pacific This did not stop the Western Pacific from introducing the
California Zephyr in 1949. The
Zephyr, which operated over three railroads on its route between
Oakland and
Chicago, gained immense recognition but failed to last past the year 1970, when lack of riders and unprofitability forced the Western Pacific to abandon the service. In 1957, a portion of the route between Oroville and Intake had to be relocated to make way for the
Oroville Dam. The new line features the
North Fork Bridge,
Shared trackage agreement , between
Battle Mountain and
Carlin. The Feather River Route and
Overland Route run parallel on opposite sides of the river The Feather River Route parallels the
Overland Route in central Nevada between
Weso (near
Winnemucca) and
Alazon (near
Wells). The
Southern Pacific Railroad and Western Pacific came to a shared trackage agreement to use
directional running. Eastbound trains of both companies used the tracks for the Feather River Route while westbound trains used the Overland Route. In the shared track area, the tracks mostly run on opposite sides of the
Humboldt River; at some points the two lines are several miles apart. Crossovers were constructed where the lines run in close proximity to allow bi-directional service to the areas previously only accessible from one of the lines, such as
Battle Mountain. There is a grade separated crossover of the two lines in the shared track area near
Palisade, Nevada. This results in trains following
right hand traffic in the eastern half of the shared track area, but
left hand traffic in the western half. By 1967, a second section of the Feather River Route was converted to directional running. The easternmost portion of the line (
Shafter Subdivision), from the
Kennecott Smokestack of the
Bingham Canyon Mine smelting facilities to the end of the line in downtown
Salt Lake City was operationally combined with the
Lynndyl Subdivision of the former
Los Angeles and Salt Lake Railroad for a continuous dual track into Salt Lake City. Initially this required a crossover between the two tracks. When the WP and UP merged in 1983, the crossover was eliminated.
Present The Western Pacific was purchased by the
Union Pacific Railroad in 1983. In 1996, the Union Pacific acquired the Southern Pacific, resulting in both lines between Oakland and Utah being owned by the same company. The
Western Pacific Railroad Museum, a preservation society founded in 1984, is located next to the Union Pacific rail yard in
Portola, California. The remaining portion of the Feather River Route follows a corridor similar to that of
State Route 70 in California and former
State Route 49 in Nevada. == Lines served ==