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 Western Pacific' s logo with “Feather”(magnify）
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| The famous California Zephyr’s advertisement in old magazine (magnify）
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The beautiful ex-Western Pacific’s Feather River Route
It is July 1, 2002, a sunny hot day in California. I had a very wonderful trip to the ex-Western Pacific Railroad’s famous Feather River Route
with my friend PK. This route now is owned by the Union Pacific RR which took over the Western Pacific in 1980s. In history, the Feather River Route is
the western section of the famous “California Zephyr” train from Chicago via Denver, Salt Lake City to San Francisco. Although it is longer than the SP
(now, UP) Donner Pass, the easier climb along the Feather river is a much advantageous route to get west.
My trip to Feather River Route began from Oroville. The ex-Western Pacific’s depot is still existed, but used as a restaurant.。
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ex-Western Pacific’s Oroville depot（click the
pics to magnify） |
We go east along with the State Route 70, and following the Feather River Route. After Poe, a beautiful view of canyon trackage really catches
my eyes. It just looks like model trains running on a beautiful land.
Before Pulga, State Route 70 crosses the railroad and both of them swap sides of the river. Upper bridge (for Highway 70) and lower bridge
(for railroad) make this location a good spot for railfans.
Pulga siding is another good spot for taking pictures. It was the first place we met UP trains on the day we visited. After this spot, we
went along the Highway 70 to the east until another famous location, Keddie Wye. The wye is a landmark for the Feather River Route. Many railfans want to
visit this place and have photos with trains running on it. I waited here for awhile, but no trains came.
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| The Western Pacific box car.（magnify） |
After Keddie Wye, we didn’t stop at Williams Loop, and went directly to the Portola Railroad Museum which dedicated to the Western Pacific
RR. We saw a lot of beautiful collections of the Western Pacific cars. Some SP and UP trains can be seen there, too.
My trip to Feather River Route ended when we left the museum. On the way back, we went along the Donner Pass which was built by Chinese people in 19th century.
This will be another story to tell though.
ACKNOWLEDGMENT:
Special thanks to Mr. Paul Swanson
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text/photo
by Chih-wen Hung
The beautiful canyon view 
