From John Eilers.

The smoke in the valley Yesterday was due to the Dixie fire which is burning through the Feather River Canyon. It has caused significant damage to the UP’s former Western Pacific mainline as well as BNSF’s Inside Gateway line. Damage is extensive. The railroad has been helping battle the fire.

Here’s a video from Facebook of the Fire train sitting on the Keddie wye watching the fire approach. You can see sprinklers running to keep the ties wet to reduce the chances of them burning and destroying the wye which is a registered Engineering landmark I believe. https://www.facebook.com/100009288782788/videos/pcb.1918214558341338/966339427496645

In addition, because the FRC is closed, AND the Lava Fire shut down the Cascade line to Oregon, UP has been diverting more traffic over Donner Pass. AND, I’ve learned that 2 trains are leaving Roseville tomorrow to run up to the Central Oregon and Pacific(CORP) which is the former SP Sisikyous pass line. The original route into Oregon.

The train symbols are MRVEU which stands for Manifest, Roseville-Eugene and MRVCOX which stands for Manifest Roseville-CORP-Extra.

I’m not sure anyone has time to take the day to chase a train up to Oregon, but it will be some interesting shots.

Last time this happened was a few years back when a tunnel collapsed on the Cascade line. It’s a slow run for the big power.