Railfanning Oroville, California: September 7, 2009

Railfanning Oroville, California, September 7, 2009

First, we see a Hy-Rail truck speed by at the east end of the Feather River Bridge at 9:58 AM.

Train #1) After relocating to the west side of the Feather River Bridge, dispatcher 10 is heard over the scanner stating that there is one westbound lined up and should be at our location soon. About 20 minutes later, a westbound double stack comes into view with EMD SD70ACe #8387 and two EMD SD70M's in the lead. The westbound turns out to be an IG2OA intermodal, with a car count of 151 and an axle count of 440. The west end of the Feather River Bridge is evidence of an older railroad line, part of the original Western Pacific main that used to continue east along the river until the bridge was built in 1967. Completion of the Oroville Dam in 1968 resulted in flooding of about 27 miles of the original WP line. I am standing at the exact location of the western end of what is called the Oroville line change. This part of the original line is now part of a bike trail that extends to the Oroville Dam. The remains of the old line can be seen leading off to the right at 3:20. GE C45ACCTE #7386 serves as a mid-train DPU.

Another Hy-Rail is later seen heading east at the Feather River Nature Center at 11:13 AM. Once the Hy-Rail passes, listen as the track foreman notifies us via scanner that traffic is down due to Labor Day, and that there will be no more trains for quite a while. At this point we were a little discouraged, but at least we had somewhat of an idea as to how the rest of the day looked as far as train traffic.

Train #2) The track foreman was correct, we didn't see anything east or west for a couple hours. The last train of the day that we did end up seeing was the westbound ZNPOA, led by a trio of SD70M's; #4279, #4408, and #4488. This was across from the old WP depot at 1:26 PM. We decided to pack up after the ZNPOA, assuming that once again there wouldn't be anything for a while.

Category:

Autos & Vehicles

Tags:

• union
• pacific
• uprr
• sd70ace
• sd70m
• c45ac
• gevo
• double
• stack
• intermodal
• ig2oa
• znpoa
• hy-rail
• feather
• river
• bridge
• railfanning
• oroville
• 9/7/09

[JetMechMA]

What in the world are all those square frames along the bridge?

[C60AC]

@JetMechMA Originally there were power lines adjacent to the ROW through there.

[JetMechMA]

@C60AC That's a interesting looking bridge. It seems to be more substantial than other railroad bridges. It actually has sides to it where someone could walk. On most railroad bridges if the train breaks down the train crew is out of luck...nowhere to walk. Great video. Enjoyed it very much. Thanks.

[C60AC]

@JetMechMA If you say so. Thanks...

[trainboy94]

Better then on the TV

[DardanellesBy108]

Beautiful videos! Great job. Thanks for sharing them with us.

[trainguyONR]

Awesome quality! I've never railfanned in the US before but I've wanted to for a long time. Check out my channel if you want, I only need 5 more subs to reach 200

[Lightwolf333]

Awesome catch on all trains George. As well as the hy-railers.