The Gateway Subdivision is a railroad line owned by the BNSF Railway. It runs from

Klamath Falls Klamath Falls ( ) is a city in and the county seat of Klamath County, Oregon, United States. The city was originally called ''Linkville'' when George Nurse founded the town in 1867. It was named after the Link River, on whose falls the city was ...

Oregon Oregon () is a state in the Pacific Northwest region of the Western United States. The Columbia River delineates much of Oregon's northern boundary with Washington, while the Snake River delineates much of its eastern boundary with Idaho. T ...

in the north to Keddie,

California California is a state in the Western United States, located along the Pacific Coast. With nearly 39.2million residents across a total area of approximately , it is the most populous U.S. state and the 3rd largest by area. It is also the m ...

at the south end.

History

The earliest traces of railroad activity on the Gateway Subdivision traces to two major (now fallen flag) railroads, the Great Northern Railway (U.S.) and the

Western Pacific Railroad The Western Pacific Railroad was a Class I railroad in the United States. It was formed in 1903 as an attempt to break the near-monopoly the Southern Pacific Railroad had on rail service into northern California. WP's Feather River Route dire ...

. Historically, the Great Northern laid track from

Klamath Falls, Oregon Klamath Falls ( ) is a city in and the county seat of Klamath County, Oregon, United States. The city was originally called ''Linkville'' when George Nurse founded the town in 1867. It was named after the Link River, on whose falls the city was ...

Bieber, California Bieber (formerly Chalk Ford) is a census-designated place (CDP) in Lassen County, California. It is located on the Pit River The Pit River is a major river draining from northeastern California into the state's Central Valley. The Pit, the ...

and the Western Pacific laid track from the famed

Keddie Wye The Keddie Wye is a railroad junction in the form of a wye on the Union Pacific Railroad in Plumas County, California, United States. Located at the town of Keddie, it joins the east-west Feather River Route and the "Inside Gateway"—formally, ...

near

Keddie, California Keddie is a census-designated place in Plumas County, California, United States. The population was 66 at the 2010 census. Geography According to the United States Census Bureau, the CDP has a total area of , all of it land. Keddie is the locati ...

to Bieber (Actual town is known as Nubieber, today. Bieber is the RR name for the location). In March 1931, both railroads met in the town of Bieber. Within no time, trains began to travel the newly completed railroad line. The railroads offered interchange service, where Great Northern trains handed over their trains to the Western Pacific and the Western Pacific transferred their trains to the Great Northern. This trend, continued until 1970, when the Great Northern Railway merged with the Northern Pacific Railway, Chicago, Burlington and Quincy Railroad and the

Spokane, Portland and Seattle Railway The Spokane, Portland & Seattle Railway (SP&S) was a railroad in the northwest United States. Incorporated in 1905, it was a joint venture by the Great Northern Railway and the Northern Pacific Railway to build a railroad along the north bank of ...

to form the Burlington Northern Railroad. Western Pacific operations however, remained until 1983 when the

Union Pacific Railroad The Union Pacific Railroad , legally Union Pacific Railroad Company and often called simply Union Pacific, is a freight-hauling railroad that operates 8,300 locomotives over routes in 23 U.S. states west of Chicago and New Orleans. Union Paci ...

took over the Western Pacific and it became under the control of the Burlington Northern and the Union Pacific Railroads. In the 1990s, the Burlington Northern Railroad merged with the

Atchison, Topeka and Santa Fe Railway The Atchison, Topeka and Santa Fe Railway , often referred to as the Santa Fe or AT&SF, was one of the larger railroads in the United States. The railroad was chartered in February 1859 to serve the cities of Atchison, Kansas, Atchison and Top ...

to form the BNSF Railway. Currently, the trackage is wholly owned by the Burlington Northern Santa Fe Railway.

Traffic

Traffic on the Gateway Subdivision consists of general merchandise freights and empty

well car A well car, also known as a double-stack car (or also intermodal car/container car), is a type of railroad car specially designed to carry intermodal containers (shipping containers) used in intermodal freight transport. The "well" is a depresse ...

trains—as many as three of the latter each day. , there is one local freight that runs out of Klamath Falls twice weekly—south to Clear Creek Jct. on Monday and north to Klamath Falls on Tuesday, and south on Thursday and back north on Friday.

Amtrak The National Railroad Passenger Corporation, doing business as Amtrak () , is the national passenger railroad company of the United States. It operates inter-city rail service in 46 of the 48 contiguous U.S. States and nine cities in Canada ...

's Seattle–Los Angeles ''

Coast Starlight The ''Coast Starlight'' is a passenger train operated by Amtrak on the West Coast of the United States between Seattle and Los Angeles via Portland and the San Francisco Bay Area. The train, which has operated continuously since Amtrak's format ...

'' stops at

, but there is no passenger service on the Gateway Subdivision itself.

References

{{reflist

External links

BNSF Subdivisions
Rail infrastructure in Oregon Rail lines in California Western Pacific Railroad Great Northern Railway (U.S.) BNSF Railway lines