As part of my railfanning trip to the northern most parts of California, I continued northward to Dunsmuir after railfanning at Redding earlier on this Friday. Dunsmuir in particular has been of great interest to me for quite some time mainly because Dunsmuir serves as the northern most Amtrak station in California prior to crossing into Oregon. Although the station only sees two Amtrak trains a day, which are the two daily Coast Starlight trains, the station however has got to be one of the most tranquil and nicest stations I’ve personally visited thus far. The town and people of Dunsmuir have done a phenomenal job in preserving and upholding its train station; whether it is the railroad artifacts around the station, the station canopy, or the very welcoming waiting room/area, it is certainly a pleasant sight to visit and see. Not only that, but Dunsmuir also serves as a Union Pacific hub for Maintenance of Way crews and a vital crew change point for train crews where the Black Butte Subdivision begins going north and the Valley Subdivision begins going south. UP has their office just across the station where crews can be seen showing up and getting ready or being relieved after operating their train for the day. Trains can be heard coming into town, especially from the north, where the horns resonate amazingly off the mountainsides, whereas trains from the south are rather sneaky and won’t be detectable until they blow the horn just two crossings south of the station. Railfanning here however can be somewhat slow, mainly since the Black Butte and Valley Subs already sees a lighter amount of rail traffic compared to lines elsewhere. During my visit here, only three trains would end up passing through here over the course of seven hours, thus illustrating the light traffic quantity. Regardless, whether it is the peaceful station and small mountain town feel, or the very ideal railfanning features that are present here, it is without a doubt that Dunsmuir is personally a great place to sit back, relax, listen to the river, and watch the clouds and trains roll by !
Note :
Although the length of this video is rather extensive, it is specifically to illustrate how long/or short the crew change process happens here at Dunsmuir, as it is rather rare, especially in California, to see a mid-route UP crew change location. Please note that due to the scheduling of the Amtrak Coast Starlight that serves these stations, I was not able to see any due to the scheduled times of the station stops either late at night or in the early morning.
Train 1 : Union Pacific QPDRV-18 with C44AC #7209, C44ACCTE #5675, C45ACCTE #7427(DPU), & SD70M #5155(DPU). This train definitely hinted its arrival into Dunsmuir with some amazing K3LA horn reverberations off of the surrounding mountains ! Friendly crew on QPDRV-18 upon departure !
Train 2 : Union Pacific ZLCBR-17 with C45ACCTE #7978, SD70M #4330, #4054, & #5094. Friendly crews running ZLCBR-17 !
Train 3 : Union Pacific MRVHK-18 with SD70ACe #8368, #8546, & SD60M #2275. Amazing horn reverberation off the surrounding mountains from #8368’s K5LLA !!! I was rather surprised to catch this train again at Dunsmuir, although it is most likely due in part to the train holding out for southbound freights and the length of this particular train as well.
Thanks for Watching !