Western Railroad Discussion > Exploring the Wall above Dunsmuir

Near milepost 329, just a few miles north of Dunsmuir, the former Southern Pacific mainline hugs the upper side of the Sacramento River Canyon after it crosses the river for the last time at Cantara Loop (mp 328). The climb is slow (max 20mph for freight) and some trains are well below trackspeed in this steep section. The video below shows the two retaining walls along with the shotcrete-stabilized cut. The snowy peak to the right is Mt. Shasta and the cone on the left is Black Butte. Hope you enjoy watching the MRVPT (Roseville to Portland) snake along with leader UP 2613.

Ryan Wilkerson
Fair Oaks, CA

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Very Nice. Still amazes me how these big trains climb out of that canyon on roadbed originally cut for 4-4-0 locomotives.

Superb train following. I like the way Shasta pops up in the upper right too.  

Paul G
 

Great job, Ryan!  Where were you controlling from?  Are you going to give that residence that is in the middle of Small a wide berth?

Thanks Paul, it's amazing what shows up in the background when you back away and get some elevation!
e9abba Wrote:
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> Superb train following. I like the way Shasta pops
> up in the upper right too.  
>
> Paul G

 

Ryan Wilkerson
Fair Oaks, CA

I stay away from that very unpleasant individual inside Sawmill Curve!

jr3316 Wrote:
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> Great job, Ryan!  Where were you controlling
> from?  Are you going to give that residence that
> is in the middle of Small a wide berth?

Ryan Wilkerson
Fair Oaks, CA

Great location for droning, it's tree'd in a lot. Some of Bob 's older photos show how steep that hillside really is. I've sat on that little bump of land next to the retaining wall and seen rocks slide off and they came really close to landing on the tracks below. Suspect there's at least one lens cap that did.

The land inside Sawmill curve has always been a mystery to me. One of my first trips up there we ran into the owner who accused us of going after some fallen trees on the property, of course we didn't even have a chain saw never mind anything to haul firewood away with. I've recently been told about where the old Stage road crosses the RR, yep right in the landowners driveway. Still haven't pinned down where the townsite of Mott was (tree by tree so to speak), I'm sure that's part of the larger story.

I'd like to explore this couple miles (between Sawmill Curve and Cantara Loop) some more. Definitely a good location to see all the action of the climb.

A story about that same landowner from a couple years ago. I was on one side of the tracks and noticed an older railfan on the opposite side as a train was approaching (3 minutes away). He had driven down the road from Mott Rd., which is dirt, and is a long driveway. As the train approached, I heard a car and this woman drove right up to the man's truck (she couldn't see where he was) and got out yelling about being on her property. The train was coming so he prepared to get his photo. She wasn't satisfied so she laid on the horn for 2 minutes straight. I'm guessing she knows that some of us do video and that it would ruin the audio track. When the train passed, he walked back and he tried to talk reasonably to her, apologizing, explaining he was from Nebraska and just driving through. She was livid and kept yelling as she drove away. I showed him a better route to the spot, if there were a next time. So that was my third encounter with her.

TCnR Wrote:
-------------------------------------------------------
> Great location for droning, it's tree'd in a lot.
> Some of Bob 's older photos show how steep that
> hillside really is. I've sat on that little bump
> of land next to the retaining wall and seen rocks
> slide off and they came really close to landing on
> the tracks below. Suspect there's at least one
> lens cap that did.
>
> The land inside Sawmill curve has always been a
> mystery to me. One of my first trips up there we
> ran into the owner who accused us of going after
> some fallen trees on the property, of course we
> didn't even have a chain saw never mind anything
> to haul firewood away with. I've recently been
> told about where the old Stage road crosses the
> RR, yep right in the landowners driveway. Still
> haven't pinned down where the townsite of Mott was
> (tree by tree so to speak), I'm sure that's part
> of the larger story.

Ryan Wilkerson
Fair Oaks, CA

Great job!!

There was an elderly Lady living there who was over 100 years old when she passed away, there was a story in the local paper. I believe the property went to her son, who looked to be a lot older than me. Taller as well.

A few years ago a person could walk from the grade crossing straight towards the tracks and find the area with slide fences, then manuever around them to the retaining wall shot, that trail has been gated and signed. There was a lot of furniture and such had been dumped in the area. If you knew which trail to follow you could find the tracks where the tunnel had been, it had caved in at some awkward places and had to be filled in and sealed. The whole area is pretty well tree'd in, in contrast the walk downstream was in decent shape except for lots of brush last time I ventured down there.

+ Should add that it gets pretty hot in that area, should wait until things cool off a bit to walk up the grade. Or start walking as soon as Bob wakes up, should be there by sunrise.



Edited 1 time(s). Last edit at 07/21/16 15:34 by TCnR.

Heres what was once tunnel 12 just to the north of the wall. It was bypassed many moons ago and when I took this photo in the early 1990's it had collapsed in several places  so they just bulldozed it down to nothing.

Robert Morris Photography



Edited 1 time(s). Last edit at 07/21/16 17:14 by photobob.

---

Thanks for adding that shot Bob. I think I have video from 4 years ago from close to your perspective. I'll have to make another video clip :-)

Ryan Wilkerson
Fair Oaks, CA

Thats a real cool video Ryan. It really puts the "Wall" into perpective.

I enjoyed the video!!

Very nice way to show the entire train, Ryan. Great camera work and implicity, great piloting! 

Great work, Ryan.
BTW: Did you happen to catch on video any of the UFO's said to fly into and out of Mt. Shasta? LOL!

While traveling on Hwy 97 near Penoyar and Bray Saturday afternoon, I overheard two train crewmen talking on the road channel.  If I heard correctly, one told the other that he had just seen his (earlier) train on a post on TrainOrders. I suspect he was referring to this video.  The other crewman, on a different train, remarked "Now you are famous!".   And there was no mention of foamers in the conversation.

fyi....work trains are currently active in that area dumping all new ballast.

That's funny stuff! Good to see you here again.
-Ryan

Graybeard1942 Wrote:
-------------------------------------------------------
> While traveling on Hwy 97 near Penoyar and Bray
> Saturday afternoon, I overheard two train crewmen
> talking on the road channel.  If I heard
> correctly, one told the other that he had just
> seen his (earlier) train on a post on TrainOrders.
> I suspect he was referring to this video.  The
> other crewman, on a different train, remarked "Now
> you are famous!".   And there was no mention of
> foamers in the conversation.
>
> fyi....work trains are currently active in that
> area dumping all new ballast.

Ryan Wilkerson
Fair Oaks, CA