Nostalgia & History > The chase down the Inside Gateway - August 1976

This is the last part of my August 1976 trip to Susanville, Westwood and Chester. After leaving Chester, I came down to Crescent Mills and saw an approaching train, and I chased it to Keddie. The train was led by BN SD45 6508, and only one WP U30B in the middle of the consist.

The first photo was taken at the crossing right at the southwest corner of Indian Valley at the grade crossing.

The second photo is from the high trestle coming down into Keddie.

The third photo was crossing the trestle in Keddie.

Lee Hower - Sacramento



Edited 3 time(s). Last edit at 02/02/10 10:55 by mcfflyer.

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Excellent stuff there Lee !!!

It appears that there are very few photos of the "Northern Extension". I can only think of a handful of older photos that I've seen.
The IVRR also seems to have escaped the photographers camera....only a -very- small amount of pictures seem to exist.

DaveL

Great stuff! Looks just like that today! NOT.

Tom Y

Thank's Lee.DaveL is right about not seeing to many pic's of WP's 4th subdivision,northern extension,highline or Inside gateway as it has been called.Funny story I was doing some research of the Highline when I became A TO member,I thought cool name.....Well the material I was researchen was older material and they spelled it "Hiline",After signing up right away I forgot everybody else spell's it highline and I knew that.Oh well,LOL!!!From my yard I can see the end of the Hiline so I felt the name fit.Bill in Big o'll Bieber,AKA Nubieber.

DaveL Wrote:
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> Excellent stuff there Lee !!!
>
> It appears that there are very few photos of the
> "Northern Extension". I can only think of a
> handful of older photos that I've seen.
> The IVRR also seems to have escaped the
> photographers camera....only a -very- small amount
> of pictures seem to exist.
>
> DaveL

Here are a few I took over the years:

1. The first crossing coming from the south in Indian Valley. I kept this picture because the crossing signals were so typical of Western Pacific grade crossings and because the target signal reminds me that part of the High Line was CTC.
2. Same crossing a few years later
3. Above Lake Almanor, about 1975. Lassen Peak is on the skyline across the lake.

Stan Praisewater



Edited 1 time(s). Last edit at 02/02/10 18:56 by sagehen.

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4. A southbound at speed just south of Mason, on the SP portion of WP's High Line.
5. A northbound above the east shore of Lake Almanor about 1975
6. The Hwy 36 crossing a mile north of Westwood. At the time, it was a Southern Pacific crossing even though only the Western Pacific used it and the SP couldn't access it. About 1970.

Enjoy.

Stan Praisewater



Edited 1 time(s). Last edit at 02/02/10 15:59 by sagehen.

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Robbers Creek was the end of CTC on the HighLine

Lee-

I wonder how many of us have stood in the same spot as you overlooking the trestles there at Keddie. I remember that there used to be a lawn chair that was chained and locked to a tree there in 1997. Anybody here laying claim to that chair?

Stan-

Image #2 in the first set and image #3 in the last set of yours are how I remember the WP as a young boy in the 70's on vacation.

Funny thing that later in my adult life I would be working at Butt Lake in 1997 for Kiewit Pacific doing a seismic retrofit to the dam. As the lake level dropped a 'dinky' locomotive emerged upon some rails. I left that project a several weeks later. About a year later I heard that the locomotive that was found at the bottom of the lake made it's way to Chester and was on display near the Collins Pine HQ. Anybody now if that is what happened to it? I was under the impression that the locomotive was used by a contractor during the early days of the dam construction and was simply abondoned when the work was completed.


SV



Edited 2 time(s). Last edit at 02/02/10 23:23 by SandingValve.

WAF Wrote:
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> Robbers Creek was the end of CTC on the HighLine

I realized I was wrong while I was driving home. It bugged me so much that I edited my post.

Did CTC really go as far as Robbers Creek? That's just north of Mason.

Stan

That was it at the end of the WP. Signal masts and equipment came from the shorter sidings in the FRC

The "Dinky" is now on display on the Collins Pine lawn, right on Hwy 36 in Chester. My former boss, County Supervisor Bill Dennison, was instrumental in coming up with some $$$ to get it up there and displayed, after it was unearthed. The Collins folks have also opened a museum on the property, but I have not been there yet to check it out. Would assume that some of the rail operations history is part of the museum display.

Tom Y

I don't remember any signals north of Almanor. I guess I wasn't paying attention. See the picture of Mason I posted last week:
http://www.trainorders.com/discussion/read.php?11,2112954
It faces north at Mason and you can see the beginning of the Robbers Creek siding. I don't see any signals. Could they have cut CTC back in stages?

Stan

IIRC, it was about 1979 when they advanced the CTC from Almanor to Robbers Creek.



Edited 3 time(s). Last edit at 02/02/10 19:42 by WAF.

Wow! A pair of wig wags on the Highway 36 crossing! That I never knew!

Note the street lights over the crossing.

Lee



Edited 1 time(s). Last edit at 02/02/10 22:06 by mcfflyer.