Donner Pass Eastbound, Including the Old Route, Pt 1

Google Earth has some great photos of this area and does a good job of rendering the rugged terrain in 3-D. The flyover begins at the summit and heads down the eastern side of the mountain. The original route down the mountain looks like it would have been quite a ride. You can see Donner Lake as well as all the snowsheds and tunnels. The old route was replaced by a tunnel which makes the trip a lot easier. The route that the railroad takes is marked with a red line.

Category:

Travel & Events

Tags:

• Donner
• Pass
• Truckee
• CA
• trains
• Union
• Southern
• Pacific
• railroad
• railfan
• Sierra
• Nevada
• mountains
• tunnels
• snowsheds

[Alwaystrains]

Does anyone know when the old route was abandoned? I remember driving over Donner Pass all the time on interstate 80 and would always see the old route on the opposite side of the lake. And for the longest time, I always thought that was the route the trains where taking, until I found out about about summit tunnel #41. A.K.A, "The Big Hole" just recently.

[GregInCalifornia]

Amazing!

[ubuibiok]

*****