Western Railroad Discussion > A Different Take on the 150th - Donner Pass

While I wish I could have traveled east to photograph the 4014, it just wasn't possible with my work schedule. I figured the second best place to be to celebrate the 150th of the completion of the transcontinental railroad would be on Donner Pass. I haven't been trackside much to document the latest and greatest but instead focusing my attention towards the remnants of railroad histories past that still exist in the everchanging vicinity of the SF Bay Area. This series ties in together well with other related projects I've been working on so it was a wise choice.

Roughly ten years ago I hiked through the tunnels and snowsheds at the summit of Donner Pass and figured this would be a good destination to head towards. With a scheduled day off work, planned trip aboard the earliest Capitol towards SAC and some help from my friend Mark Jones, I was Donner bound with cameras and snow shoes ready to document all I could on the special day. A bit of snow shoeing up the hill and I found myself at the famous "China Wall" followed by a walk through Tunnel 8 and the snowsheds. Water and ice added a nice touch to the photographs and looking back, one of the highlights was running into one other person in the tunnels, Russ, with his bike and guitar, who expressed that the only place he wanted to be on the special day was in the tunnels and snowsheds where we ended up crossing paths...

A small selection of views that I came home with...

Photos 1 - 2: snow sheds east of tunnel 8
Photo 3: China Wall up close

Take Care,
Alex Ramos 
www.alexramosphoto.com

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Inside Tunnel 8 and the snow sheds. The ice and snow mounds were breathtaking and made the hike up the hill entirely worth it. After a couple of hours I decided to call it and head back towards Sacramento to catch an afternoon Capitol back towards the Bay Area.

 

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Looking west from China Wall.

Take Care,
Alex Ramos
www.alexramosphoto.com

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I really like those "inside" shots with the ice. Beautiful.

Posted from Android

Very good!  Thanks for posting, have missed your photos!

 



Edited 1 time(s). Last edit at 05/15/19 00:22 by norm1153.

Good stuff Alex long live B&W.

Robert Morris
Dunsmuir, CA
Robert Morris Photography

Absolutely fantastic collection of photos Alex, you and photobob should do a now & then series with your black and white photos.

And a great way to spend the 150th.

Nathan

Posted from iPhone

Is the tunnel still open to hike in ?

Great photos as always Alex. I believe the China wall is the wall bellow the location of your Photo 3. The wall is a stacked stone wall bellow the ROW between tunnel 7 and 8 seen here: http://sylvester.faculty.geol.ucsb.edu/WALLS/WALLS-Pages/China_wall.html
 I believe the wall in photo 3 is a retaining wall to block snow above the China wall location
Thanks for sharing your pics and glad to see you still do RR photography!

Dave

alex14ramos Wrote:
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> Photo 3: China Wall up close
>
> Take Care,
> Alex Ramos 
> www.alexramosphoto.com

How was the footing inside the snowsheds?  Looks very slick.

mapboy

mapboy Wrote:
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> How was the footing inside the snowsheds?  Looks
> very slick.
>
> mapboy

Bring your ice skates.

Alex, man  have I missed your photography on this site. Thanks for posting.

Paul Brennecke
Golden, CO

Thank you for the kind words! To answer some of your questions, the tunnels are open to walk through and the ground is very slick covered in a lot of ice.

Dave, thank you for the clarification... Here is a view of the wall partially covered in snow. 

Take Care,
Alex Ramos

 

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Thanks for the pics...