Western Railroad Discussion > Northern California/Eastern Oregon Road Trip

I am planning on a visit of the Oroville, Feather River Canyon, Portola, and Susanville areas AND looking for advice on “what to see” and possibly do.
From there (2nd leg on the journey) to go to Klamath Falls, Bend, and eventually Hinkle.
Tips, photo spots that “are not to be missed” would be appreciated.

wdkerr - Tacoma,WA

Posted from iPhone

Bridge wise, Pulga, Keddie Wye, Crooked River Gorge, bridge just north of Madras, OR. for starters.
JB

williams loop just a few minutes out of Quincy. In an around Keddie Wye it reminds one railroading in the Alps in Switzerland.

wdkerr Wrote:
-------------------------------------------------------
> I am planning on a visit of the Oroville, Feather
> River Canyon, Portola, and Susanville areas AND
> looking for advice on “what to see” and
> possibly do.
>
>
> Posted from iPhone\

In terms of the Canyon Sub - nearly all of the UP trains are Westbounds. Unless a specific train has a DPU facing rearward your best bet to is to shoot the line the Afternoon after 2pm (during summer that is). I would advise chasing a train westbound from Portola early afternoon and get shots at Williams Loop and Keddie and points west. Then head back East and see if you intercept any more w/b's. Rock Creek Bridge east of Pulga is a favored spot.

The Gateway Sub see's 6-8 trains a day so It's crap shoot. Almanor is a favored spot to shoot for S/B's (maybe N/B's during summer).During late spring and summer shots from the highway (89) towards the bridge at Moccassin is nice as well in the afternoon. 

The BNSF tracks to the south of Klamath Falls has some interesting locations that I was able to catch in the top of post,

https://www.trainorders.com/discussion/read.php?1,3425889,3425889#3425889

The mainline crossing at Stronghold is an interesting site in Western Railroading, there's a couple of photos just south of the crossing but not the crossing itself in that post. The post also includes locations along Pittville road which is an area for a day or two by itself which I would not recommend during a quick trip. The two lane hiways in that area are diagonal to the tracks which makes it a tough chase. You may be able to find NuBieber but no idea if there will be something there to photograph.

I have some Oregon Trunk locations on my PBase site, once again the Deschutes Canyon would be a major trip by itself but there are some easy locations around Maupin:

https://pbase.com/clivew/bn_oregon_trunk

The drive along Upper Klamath Lake is frustrating as the tracks are right there but finding a safe spot is pretty tough. Chiloquin has some open locations, more frustration until Chemult where the Amtrak station provides decent access and also the junction and signals where the BNSF splits off to the north. There's a few location near La Pine, Bend is kinda tough these days and the stone depot has been moved. Redmond and Madras allows some access. Maupin provides an easy access but is a long drive and no promise of trains.

As mentioned above the Crooked River bridge is an amazing sight, there's a rest area on the south edge of the canyon. Interesting location but horrible facilities last time I was there. Back 'in the day' I would spend days travelling those areas, other times it was straight through with no photos, no trains, no stops. At that time I would stay in the Pasco/Kenniwick area and then drive back. There's some newer hotels in the Redmond area and along the Gorge that would work out these days.

Hope that helps.

 



Edited 1 time(s). Last edit at 05/07/19 12:00 by TCnR.

TCnR's thoughts are quite accurate. Although you are in beautiful country, access can be problematic, especially north of Keddie, especially with limited time available. Gateway Sub traffic is very erratic and hard to predict. Last Tuesday, we had 6 trains in daylight in suburban Crescent Mills (roughly 8 miles north of Keddie). The following day: just 2. If I were going railfanning, I think I would follow a northbound until it met something else. I live within sight of the tracks so not too much slips by me if I am home.

North of K'Falls, the Deschutes Canyon is beautiful but again, about the same frequency, and presumed irregularity, with the Gateway Sub. We went that way to a Washington wedding about 3 years ago and I think we only saw one train (a southbound) north of Bend, and nothing in the Deschutes Canyon itself. I would sure like to explore more in this area! I've even thought about doing a raft ride out of Maupin and hope something comes along!

TJY



Edited 1 time(s). Last edit at 05/07/19 18:21 by icancmp193.

Stop in Merrill Oregon and visit the Kepner steam collection.

Stop by Meacham Oregon on I-84 in the Blue Mountains.  UP traffic thru there. It’s not far from Hinkel. 
Good luck, hope to see pictures from your road trip. 
Robert

If you're coming in the next two weeks, you should be in good shape for Friday through Sunday train counts.  Everything has been bunched up lately because of the tie gangs. They are still in the canyon working north between Oakbrook and Moody the next couple of weeks. They have been working Monday through Thursday with 10 hour windows which keeps the train count down during the day.  Because they are so far north now, the trains are moving more in the daylight with quite a few (for the Trunk anyway) southbounds today.  The old UP right of way across the river from Maupin north to Sherars bridge provides some decent vantage points.  Gateway and South Junction are good spots as is Culver and the bridge at Madras.  I second that that Crooked River Bridge north of Terrebone is a great spot.  There is the morning and afternoon local out of Bend that works north towards Madras each day.  The Klamath local works south to the mill just south of Westwood, but I can't remember which days.  It's been busy down here lately.