Western Railroad Discussion > Lake Oroville ?

Theres been all this talk of how low Lake Shasta is and I assume Lake Oroville is way low also. It just dawned on me that my favorite Western Pacific was rerouted in the late 50's because of the dam. I was wondering if anything can be seen of the old line and if anyone even has any pictures of trains running on the old alignment. I think that area was way more secluded than at Lake Shasta so I dont even know what kind of access one would have even had back before the Lake, much less what access would be like now.
Were there any tunnels flooded out or any bridges flooded ?. I remember a TV program (probably 30 years ago) on the construction and I remember them showing blowing up a real nice arch concrete bridge. I dont have any old maps of the area so I cant even see what roads were nearby. Im pretty sure thah Hiway 70 wasnt rerouted because of the dam, am I correcton this ?.

You know that road that goes down to the gap between tunnels 7 and 8? It's maybe a half-mile long, and it comes off a paved road the name of which I forget-- Dark Canyon Road, maybe? That's the old highway.

Both highway 70 and the WP were rerouted by the Oroville Dam.
You probably need a boat to see the old RR right-of-way, the area
(the old main canyon) is almost inaccessible by land.

DaveL.....Guess what ? it is RAINING.....Indian Creek up over 16" at the Greenville "Y".

The designers of the Line Change had the benefit of more modern excavation and tunneling equipment, which resulted in an alignment that was 4.04 miles shorter than the original. The 2 extra-long tunnels helped out a lot with that. Whether by accident, coincidence, or design, both line segments had/have 5 tunnels. I never got back in there, but I understand that there is one (might be old tunnel #8) that is accessible during low water (maybe only by boat). I think it's near Berry Creek.

rh

Big Bend Powerhouse, a PG&E hydroelectric power plant submerged by Lake Oroville, should also be visible at very low water. If memory serves, the plant was visible from the old highway 70 which is the road you take down to Dark Canyon from today's highway 70. The old WP R/W was across the river from the old power plant.

Remains of the Feather River RR should be down there too, no?