WP 922-A • Keddie CA • 09/69 - a photo on Flickriver

            Founded in 1903 as a way to give the powerhouse Southern Pacific railroad competition into northern California, the Western Pacific was built to connect the Rio Grande railroad in Utah with the San Francisco Bay area.  To cross the formidable Sierra Nevada mountains, WP’s engineers chose a route further to the north than SP crossing in order to take advantage of the canyon cut into the mountains’ granite by the Feather River.  The WP was completed in 1909, with the final spike being driven here, at Keddie, California’s, Spanish Creek Trestle.  “Completed” can be a fluid term, however, as in 1930 the WP began construction of a 112-mile line north from Keddie, in the eastern end of the Feather River Canyon, up the east side of the northern Sierra to a connection with the Great Northern in Bieber, California.  Opened in 1931, this line provided yet another way to compete with the SP, this time with traffic to and from the Pacific Northwest.  This new junction was known as the Keddie Wye, consisting of the original crossing of Spanish Creek, along with a new steel trestle and a tunnel (Tunnel 32) on the third leg of the wye (in the shadows to the right of the train in this photo), forming a triangle of track to provide a connection to this new line from either the east or the west on the original mainline.  On the new line, known as the Highline (and also as the Inside Gateway), the first 25 miles of serpentine track north from Keddie required eight tunnels, with a ninth needed further north as well.  On a September 1969 day, a Western Pacific freight comes off the Highline and begins heading west to Portola behind an impressive lash-up of F-Units:  F7A 922-A leads the train, followed by F3A 926-A (ex-WP 801-D, nee-NYO&W 503) still wearing passenger colors and nose logo, two F7 or F3 B-units, another A-unit, a B-unit and another A-unit – Seven Fs in total!  (Leo J. Munson photograph - Keddie California - September 1969). Leo J. Munson photograph, Craig Walker Collection
   

Taken in: United States / California / Keddie (show map)

Taken on: July 6, 2019

Tags:

Western Pacific

Keddie CA

Keddie

California

W{ 922-A

WP 922

F-Unit

Keddie Wye

bridge

Feather River Canyon

General Motors Electro-Motive Division

Electro-Motive Division

EMD

diesel

locomotive

train

railway

railroad

Feather River Route

Inside Gateway

steel bridge

Highline

trestle

Spanish Creek Trestle

covered wagon

cab unit

classic

classic railroading

Bieber Connection

Kodachrome « less

Sets appears in: • 1960s Railroading • From The Collection more » • Leo J. Munson Photographs « less

Groups appears in: • Kodachrome • North American Railfanning more » • Railroad Bridges • fallen flags • EMD • Western Railroads • Steel Rails Across North America. • Western Pacific Railroad • E-Units and F-Units • Railroad Photographer USA/Canada • Railfans Of America • Trains of the U.S.A. • Mountain Trains World-Wide/you MUST geotag • Class 1 Railroads • USA Trains • U.S. Railfan Pictures • -EMD Power- • EMD Locomotives • Class I Railroads • Trains On Film • Classic EMD Power • EMD Group • California Railfans • Western US Rails • Rural Railfanning • EMD Locomotive Gallery • Heritage/Special Interest Locomotives & Rolling Stock • Railfan Atlas • Worldwide Railfanning (WRP Flickr) • Railfan Nation « less

Stats: 4,378 views / 5 comments