Western Railroad Discussion > Donner Pass train counts

In 2019 I noticed a significant decrease in the amount of trains that traverse the old Southern Pacific route of Donner Pass, while trains have become longer and heavier(?)

Does anyone have a pretty accurate train count these days? I pegged the amounts, varying each day of course, to be around 12-16 freights per 24 hours.

Thoughts?

Posted from Android

The following are the scheduled trains over Donner Pass: 

•intermodal
IOANP Oakland, CA - North Platte Van, NE daily
ZG2LT Global 2, IL - Lathrop, CA Mo-We, Fr, Sa
ZG2OAB Global 2, IL - Oakland, CA Th
ZLTG2 Lathrop, CA - Global 2, IL Tu-Sa
ZLTG2B Lathrop, CA - Global 2, IL Mo-Sa 

•manifest
MFRNP Fresno, CA - North Platte, NE daily
MOGRV Ogden, UT - Roseville, CA daily
MRVOG Roseville, CA - Ogden, UT daily
MRVSP Roseville, CA - Sparks, NV daily 

•BNSF trackage rights
H STOPVO1 (UP QBCPVJ) Stockton, CA - Provo, UT We, Sa
H PVOSTO1 (UP QPVBCJ) Provo, UT - Stockton, CA Tu, Fr

•Amtrak California Zephyr
5 Chicago, IL - Emeryville, CA daily
6 Emeryville, CA - Chicago, IL daily 

Add maybe an empty unit train or two and Donner Pass may see 10-12 trains per 24-hours.   

The following are the scheduled UP road trains via Feather River: 

IG2OA Global 2, IL - Oakland, CA daily
ANPMI North Platte, NE - Milpitas, CA daily
MNPFR North Platte, NE - Fresno, CA daily 

Add ~1-2 loaded unit trains a day and there may be 4-5 UP Feather River trains per 24-hours (not including BNSF from Bieber). 

Andrew

Edit: Added the BNSF trackage rights trains over Donner Pass.



Edited 2 time(s). Last edit at 01/22/20 17:08 by florida581.

Don't forget the BNSF Trackage Rights trains, Used to be 3 a week each way, Not sure what it is now.

donner_dude1 Wrote:
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> Don't forget the BNSF Trackage Rights trains, Used
> to be 3 a week each way, Not sure what it is now.

Thanks.  I added to the list.

Andrew

Wow, that is way down indeed. PSR consolidated a lot of trains indeed.

I remember when I lived near the Donner Pass line we would see 24+ trains per day. FRC had even more sometimes back in the post-merger days (when they ran stack trains in the canyon instead of Donner). Amazing that the FRC is down to 4-5 UP trains/day.

Any idea of the BNSF trains in the FRC? Those seem much more numerous.

florida581 Wrote:
-------------------------------------------------------
> The following are the scheduled trains over Donner
> Pass: 
>
> •intermodal
> IOANP Oakland, CA - North Platte Van, NE daily
> ZG2LT Global 2, IL - Lathrop, CA Mo-We, Fr, Sa
> ZG2OAB Global 2, IL - Oakland, CA Th
> ZLTG2 Lathrop, CA - Global 2, IL Tu-Sa
> ZLTG2B Lathrop, CA - Global 2, IL Mo-Sa 
>
> •manifest
> MFRNP Fresno, CA - North Platte, NE daily
> MOGRV Ogden, UT - Roseville, CA daily
> MRVOG Roseville, CA - Ogden, UT daily
> MRVSP Roseville, CA - Sparks, NV daily 
>
> •BNSF trackage rights
> H STOPVO1 (UP QBCPVJ) Stockton, CA - Provo, UT We,
> Sa
> H PVOSTO1 (UP QPVBCJ) Provo, UT - Stockton, CA Tu,
> Fr
>
> •Amtrak California Zephyr
> 5 Chicago, IL - Emeryville, CA daily
> 6 Emeryville, CA - Chicago, IL daily 
>
> Add maybe an empty unit train or two and Donner
> Pass may see 10-12 trains per 24-hours.   
>
> The following are the scheduled UP road trains via
> Feather River: 
>
> IG2OA Global 2, IL - Oakland, CA daily
> ANPMI North Platte, NE - Milpitas, CA daily
> MNPFR North Platte, NE - Fresno, CA daily 
>
> Add a ~1-2 loaded unit trains a day and there may
> be 4-5 UP Feather River trains per 24-hours (not
> including BNSF from Bieber). 
>
> Andrew
>
> Edit: Added the BNSF trackage rights trains over
> Donner Pass.

zorz Wrote:
-------------------------------------------------------
> Wow, that is way down indeed. PSR consolidated a
> lot of trains indeed.
>
> I remember when I lived near the Donner Pass line
> we would see 24+ trains per day. FRC had even more
> sometimes back in the post-merger days (when they
> ran stack trains in the canyon instead of Donner).
> Amazing that the FRC is down to 4-5 UP
> trains/day.
>
> Any idea of the BNSF trains in the FRC? Those seem
> much more numerous.

BNSF runs the following manifests pretty much daily:

H BARPAS1 Barstow, WA - Pasco, WA
H FRSPAS1 Fresno, CA - Pasco, WA
H PASFRS1 Pasco, WA - Fresno, CA
H VAWBAR1 Vancouver, WA - Barstow, CA
Note:  The UP symbols for these are QKDBCJ / 2QKDBCJ for the southbounds and QBCKDJ / 2QBCKDJ for the northbounds.  

BNSF also runs occasional extras via the Inside Gateway.  Overall, 4-6 per 24-hours is a normal count.

Andrew


 

No manifest or intermodal trains from OAKLAND to/from OGDEN / NORTH PLATTE???  I see them departing all the time down here.  Are they stopped in Roseville and re-classified???

And what about auto trains to / from BENECIA, CA?



Edited 1 time(s). Last edit at 01/22/20 13:14 by coach.

coach Wrote:
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> No manifest or intermodal trains from OAKLAND
> to/from OGDEN / NORTH PLATTE???  I see them
> departing all the time down here.  Are they
> stopped in Roseville and re-classified???
>
> And what about auto trains to / from BENECIA, CA?

Oakland and Ogden trains are indeed running and are included on the list.  The IOANP, ZG2OAB, MOGRV, and MRVOG are via Donner and IG2OA runs via Feather River.  Westbound autos for Benecia run on ANPMI which runs via Feather River.  Eastbound Benecia autos are picked up by AMIWC which runs via Tehachapi to West Colton.

Andrew

coach Wrote:
-------------------------------------------------------
> No manifest or intermodal trains from OAKLAND
> to/from OGDEN / NORTH PLATTE???  I see them
> departing all the time down here.  Are they
> stopped in Roseville and re-classified???
>
> And what about auto trains to / from BENECIA, CA?

PSR

Last Saturday I saw an W/B non-Z Intermodel at New Castle (Donner)  with a block on Manifest Traffic on the Rear mostly ARM Reefers, tanks,  

I've also seen what looks like the I-G2OA roll through Sacramento with Manifest Traffic on the rear. 


 



Edited 1 time(s). Last edit at 01/22/20 19:52 by donner_dude1.

The IOANP and MFRNP have a permanent 15,000' Train Length Exemption (TLE) east of Sparks. To pick up traffic from the now daily MRVSP.

florida581 Wrote
>
> BNSF runs the following manifests pretty much
> daily:
>
> H BARPAS1 Barstow, WA - Pasco, WA
> H FRSPAS1 Fresno, CA - Pasco, WA
> H PASFRS1 Pasco, WA - Fresno, CA
> H VAWBAR1 Vancouver, WA - Barstow, CA
> Note:  The UP symbols for these are QKDBCJ /
> 2QKDBCJ for the southbounds and QBCKDJ / 2QBCKDJ
> for the northbounds.  

>
> BNSF also runs occasional extras via the Inside
> Gateway.  Overall, 4-6 per 24-hours is a normal
> count.
>
> Andrew
>
>As much as I'd like to say that BNSF number is bigger, these averages are pretty true. Maybe a grain or grain empty several days per week.

TJY
>  

We spend time at a cabin at Donner Lake.  My observation is as you stated, trains are much longer thus fewer trains.  150 cars is not uncommon.

Gerry

Are they making track speed?

And to think UPRR “grossly” exaggerated traffic projections over Donner ( 40- 50 trains a day !!) so they could “boilerplate” the Reno trench project along w/ cooperation from city officials and the Reno Gazette which greatly influenced public opinion at the time. What a boondoggle that whole thing was, and is, today!



Edited 1 time(s). Last edit at 01/22/20 22:52 by IC_2024.

tomstp Wrote:
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> Are they making track speed?
Have you ever been on the Hill? It’s the longest continuous grade in the US — 80 miles from Rocklin to Norden!
Freights all grind up the hill —regardless of tonnage— and some get down to a crawl and stall. They’re in run-8 and hoping they’ll make it most of the time !

More like 10-15 a day lol not 40-50 

Do any of these Union Pacific trains normally take the Shafter Sub east of Alazon rather than the Lakeside Sub across the Salt Lake?

Dick

2ebright Wrote:
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> Do any of these Union Pacific trains normally take
> the Shafter Sub east of Alazon rather than the
> Lakeside Sub across the Salt Lake?

IOANP and IG2OA run the Shafter Sub as they both work the Salt Lake City ramp.  Maybe some grain and the "dirty dirt" trains run that way as well.

Andrew

When did UP start operating IG2OA via the FRC?  Is this a recent revision to normal operating practices?  Prior to today, the normal regular scheduled trains operating via the Canyon Subdivision (Feather River Canyon/FRC) were only the MNPFR and the ANPMI along with all westbound grain and coal loads and the occasional gypsum trains, both loaded and empty.

Thanks.

Pete
Clio, California

rantoul Wrote:
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> Reno Trench project came from City of Reno on
> behalf of casinos nearby the railroad.  To
> eliminate pedestrian - auto interuptions when
> trains passed.

didn't they trench the creek too?