The Sierra Nevada range of mountains in California have stood through time as one of the last
insurmountable barriers to east-west travel.
But the successful crossing by rail proved to be one of the greatest triumphs in the
development of our country.
As in the past, today's railroad continues to be an important link in the movement of
goods from the west coast to the cities of the east.
Known as the Hill, these 138 miles of 2.4% grades between Roseville and Reno closely
follows along the original trail of the legendary Central Pacific Railroad.
Now, Southern Pacific operates this mountain division and provides the man and power to
move 10,000 ton trains over these seemingly invincible grades.
During this uphill struggle, the elements of nature present more barriers to this mountain
crossing.
Men and equipment are pressed to their limits in the battle to keep the line open.
This is Donner Pass.
Approval for the rail line over the Sierras was granted by Congress in 1861 as the Pacific
Railroad Bill.
The line was originally surveyed by Theodore Judae in 1856 as he was exploring the Sierras
for a suitable pass for a wagon road.
The idea of a railroad, the Pacific Railroad became his primary focus and a route was laid
out over Donner Pass.
Organized as the Central Pacific, the Big Four, Huntington, Hopkins, Stanford and Crocker
began construction during the Civil War.
By the war's end, over 4,000 men were hard at work.
Railroad labor in the west was uncertain and expensive and with the attraction of nearby
gold mining and farming lands, there was a steady drain on construction crews.
Charles Crocker liked the idea of using Chinese workers for railroad construction.
He stated that the people who built the Great Wall could certainly build a railroad.
Eventually large numbers of Chinese were put to work, estimated to be as many as 9,000.
The construction work was so well planned and coordinated that had it not been for the
heavy snows in the winter of 1866, 67 and 68, the Central Pacific would have met the
rails of the Union Pacific at Laramie or Cheyenne.
Finally completed in 1868, the Central Pacific's main line over the Sierra Nevadas was now
open for traffic.
Over 120 years have now passed since the railroad was built.
The tracks over Donner Summit today are run with modern Southern Pacific power and operations
and the route provides valuable access to California for the rest of the nation.
Virtually every freight train that climbs the grades of the Sierras requires helpers.
Diesels are added mid-train and vary from 2 to 8 units.
Pushers are also used and one unit is commonly added behind the caboose.
With
all the modern power available in climbing the grades of the Sierras, Southern Pacific
has to still conquer another obstacle that is sometimes greater than the uphill battle,
the snows of winter.
How was it?
Winter in the Sierras can be brutal, but trains have to run year round through good weather
and bad.
As the storms begin to arrive in October, the snows begin to fall.
From that time until April, the job of keeping the railroad open is a full-time job demanding
the most from the men and equipment.
Southern Pacific maintains a fleet of snow fighting equipment of all descriptions.
When the snows get deep, the call goes out to the ultimate snow fighter, the rotary snow
plow.
The rotary is pushed through the snow by steam or diesel locomotives, and its large rotating
blade is capable of cutting a 13-foot wide path in the snow.
Originally, all the rotary snow plows were steam powered, and today the rotaries are
powered by electric motors.
As the rotating blade chews its way through the drifts, it throws the snow up to 150 feet
from the tracks.
A cab forward is slowly pushing a rotary clearing tons of snow from the tracks and making a
path for the trains.
This piece of equipment is known as a spreader.
It has large steel wings that are hydraulically operated and can be opened on either side
to a distance of 17 feet.
Pushed along by steam or diesel power, the spreader is used to further clear the snow
from the tracks.
Its massive wings can be raised or lowered allowing the operator to effectively move
the snow away from the road bed.
Spreaders are used to clear the tracks between storms and to move snow into the path of the
rotary.
Shove it 6 miles per hour, the spreader is shoving a ton of snow for every foot of track
down the hillside.
The flanger is another piece of equipment designed for lighter and faster removal of
snow.
More widespread and frequently used, the flanger has a blade that digs down between the rails
to throw out the snow.
Pulled along, the flanger covers the greatest distance in the shortest amount of time.
They are generally used when the snow depth does not exceed 3 feet along the tracks.
Snowsheds are also used to fight the snows.
They are built of heavy timber and act as covers to keep the snow off the tracks.
Winter storms come hard and fast in the Sierras.
There is barely enough time to clear the tracks before the next storm arrives and drops more
snow.
But the worst snow falls in the history of the Sierras are about to be told in the winter
of 1951-52.
This is how the storms came.
In October, 31 inches of snow.
November, an additional 32 inches.
December, 3 storms totaling 170 inches.
January, 245 inches more.
February, another 116 inches.
March, 160 inches, bringing the season total to 790 inches of snow.
It was the greatest snowfall ever recorded in the Sierras.
In January, 1952, a snow slide trapped the city of San Francisco's streamliner, train
101, at Yuba Pass.
Snow crews were dispatched from both directions in an effort to free the stricken train.
After a 72-hour ordeal, the line was cleared to the site, freeing the passengers and crew.
It took three more days for rescue crews to dig the train out.
After clearing an enormous amount of snow from around the train, the task of removing
the locomotives is at hand.
The big hook was brought in, but its efforts could not budge the engines.
The addition of three bulldozers was required, and their combined power added to the task.
With the slack taken up and everyone and everything pulling as hard as possible, the engines were
finally freed from their entrapment.
The cars are being removed two and three at a time from their winter stay at Yuba Pass.
In the history of the railroad, this was the only train to ever be snowbound.
Roseville is home base for activities over the Sierra Line and is located at an elevation
of 168 feet.
Its large classification yard and engine facilities mark the western end of Donner Pass.
The dispatcher's office is located here, along with maintenance, track crews and snow-fighting
equipment.
As trains arrive from other points along the western expanse of the railroad, they are
reclassified in the Roseville yards.
Crews and locomotives are called and are assigned for each train.
After an air test is made, the train can leave the yards and begin heading for the grade.
Southern Pacific generally uses six-axle power on the hill, most all of it supplied by the
Electromotive Division of General Motors in the form of SD40s, SD40T2s, SD45s and SD45T2s.
About 20 miles east is the city of Auburn at an elevation of 1,275 feet.
Here the railroad makes the first of several crossings of Interstate 80.
This train, powered by 11 units, is an eastbound lumber train from Eugene, Oregon.
This locale used to be the site of a small station which is now gone.
The station was once very active during the steam era, but desalination has made small
stations obsolete as trains no longer have to stop for water, oil or train orders.
The
east and westbound tracks converge in an area near New England Mills after being separated
in the lower foothills.
A six-unit set of helpers coast downhill on the westbound tracks.
Helpers are usually cut off at Norton and returned light to Roseville.
At an elevation of 2,424 feet, an eastbound manifest passes through the yard at Colfax.
Power for this train is 10 diesel units with four on the front and six mid-train helpers,
known to railroaders as a four by six.
It is home for two, including one single-terrain platform as westbound.
Colfax is a helper station both in the days of steam and also with today's modern diesels.
A set of lead units have uncoupled from their train and are backing down to a pair of helpers
stationed here.
The helper set is split up.
One unit is added to the lead engines and the remaining unit is sent to the rear of
With the head-end power now out of the yards and on the main, they back down to their train.
Amtrak's westbound California Zephyr train 5 pauses in Colfax for a few minutes on its
daily run over the mountains to Oakland.
The station sees only two Amtrak trains each day while freights go by almost constantly.
With the helpers added and an air test made, this eastbound freight heads out of Colfax
for the hill.
The approach to the Long Ravine crossing is downhill, the only downhill section between
Roseville and the summit.
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With the lead units working uphill, the mid-train helpers are supplying power to the train even
on the downgrade.
Amtrak's California Zephyr runs over the Donner Pass line during daylight hours to allow passengers
the opportunity to view the beautiful Sierra Nevadas.
The train is equipped with superliner cars and an occasional private car is attached
to the rear.
In 1914, the line around Cape Horn was rebuilt and a new double-track tunnel bored through
the mountain.
However, exhaust gases and clearance problems forced the tunnel to be converted back to
single-track usage for westbound trains.
Trains use the old line around the hill.
Gold Run is at an elevation of 3,233 feet and was named for the trace amounts of the
precious metal found along the right-of-way.
A station was located here during the days of steam and all that remains now is the siding.
The
project begins.
A six unit set of helpers drifts down the hill through Dutch flats.
Train six climbs eastbound through Dutch flats behind two Amtrak F40 diesels.
The high-level cars are designed for ease in viewing the scenery and are often run at
full capacity during the summer months.
A westbound freight with some borrowed Burlington Northern power rumbles downhill.
More than 15,000 horsepower is on the point as this SP freight grinds its way up the 2.4%
grade.
Pulling hard through the S's just below the big curve at Blue Canyon, an eastbound lumber
drain marches by.
TD Judah's Ridge Rod Railroad is easily observed at Emigrant Gap where the tracks follow the
broken mountain ridges of the lower Sierra Nevadas.
The beauty that is Donner Pass towers over an empty coal train heading east.
anks
With more than 30,000 horsepower passing through the town of Emigrant Gap,
an SP freight heads for the freeway crossing.
The train is on its way to Emigrant Gap.
At an elevation of 5,625 feet, the grade eases to a stiff 2 percent, but the locomotives are
still operating with full throttles as they pull their train under the highway overpass.
The locomotive is still operating with full throttles as it pulls its train under the highway overpass.
The steel bridge at Butte Canyon carries the tracks high above the South Yuba River Valley and into one of the few remaining
The steel bridge at Butte Canyon carries the tracks high above the South Yuba River Valley and into one of the few remaining concrete snowsheds.
The concrete snowsheds are the most common type of snowsheds in the United States.
During construction, Cisco had a population of 7,000 and for one and a half years was the eastern terminal of the railroad while work progressed through the granite rock to the summit.
The concrete snowsheds are the most common type of snowsheds in the United States.
The western portal is concrete, the eastern portal is still wood.
The east opening of the Norton Snowshed reveals the structure for the covered turntable built in 1925.
The north opening of the Norton Snowshed reveals the structure for the covered turntable built in 1925.
The east opening of the Norton Snowshed reveals the structure for the covered turntable built in 1925.
Just east of the summit, the eastbound track enters a two-mile long downhill tunnel that passes directly under Donner Peak.
This tunnel is known to train crews as the Big Hole.
The tunnel, next to the Norton Snowshed, is a two-mile long and a four-mile long tunnel.
On the east side of the mountain below Truckee, Amtrak's California Zephyr rolls downhill
towards Reno along the Truckee River Valley.
The Amtrak California Zephyr rolls downhill towards Reno.
Climbing through 5,500 feet, a heavy westbound coal train is heading for the eastern slopes
of the Sierra Nevadas. The coal originates on the Denver and Rio Grande in Colorado,
and power for this train is 10 units arranged in a standard 4x6.
The Amtrak California Zephyr rolls downhill towards Reno.
Truckee's elevation is 5,825 feet.
Amtrak Train 5, the westbound Zephyr, will make its daily 5 minute stop to pick up passengers
before continuing the steep climb to the summit.
Ten thousand tons of coal, requiring more than 30,000 horsepower, pounds the great uphill.
Railroading in the high sierras could not be finer.
The Amtrak California Zephyr rolls downhill towards Reno.
An eastbound train exits the snow shed at Norton and heads downhill to the big hole
a mile east of this point.
The roadbed on the left is Track 1 and is the original route over Donner Pass,
and even though still in use, most trains use Track 2 in this area when schedules permit.
Smile as the line is dough at number 2.
An exceptionally heavy westbound freight eases into view rumbling past some of the last remains
of the wooden snowshed network that once covered Donner Pass.
So many trains cross the Sierras each day of each month of each year that another crossing goes by
almost unnoticed. But this apparently inconsequential cresting of the hill contrasts
with the awesome struggle of 120 years ago as men and equipment shoveled and blasted their way
across these mountains. The construction of the first transcontinental railroad was one of the
greatest technological accomplishments of the 19th century. Now more than ever this crossing is
important to many people of the world as large amounts of lumber from the northwest, fruits and
vegetables from the San Joaquin Valley of California and goods from the Pacific Basin
combine to be transported over the hill as another train crests the summit of Donner Pass.
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