The Gateway Subdivision is a railroad line owned by the

BNSF Railway BNSF Railway is the largest freight railroad in the United States. One of six North American Class I railroads, BNSF has 36,000 employees, of track in 28 states, and over 8,000 locomotives. It has three Transcontinental railroad, transcontine ...

. 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 wa ...

Oregon Oregon ( , ) is a U.S. state, state in the Pacific Northwest region of the United States. It is a part of the Western U.S., with the Columbia River delineating much of Oregon's northern boundary with Washington (state), Washington, while t ...

in the north to Keddie,

California California () is a U.S. state, state in the Western United States that lies on the West Coast of the United States, Pacific Coast. It borders Oregon to the north, Nevada and Arizona to the east, and shares Mexico–United States border, an ...

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.) The Great Northern Railway was an American Class I railroad. Running from Saint Paul, Minnesota, to Seattle, Washington (state), Washington, it was the creation of 19th-century Canadian-American railroad entrepreneur James Jerome Hill, James ...

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 ...

Bieber, California Bieber (formerly Chalk Ford) is an unincorporated community in Lassen County, California. It is located on the Pit River, north-northwest of Susanville, at an elevation of Its population is 266 as of the 2020 census, down from 312 from the 201 ...

and the Western Pacific laid track from the famed Keddie Wye near

Keddie, California Keddie is a census-designated place in Plumas County, California, United States. The population was 51 at the 2020 census. Geography According to the United States Census Bureau, the CDP has a total area of , all of it land. Keddie is the loca ...

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 The Northern Pacific Railway was an important American transcontinental railroad that operated across the northern tier of the Western United States, from Minnesota to the Pacific Northwest between 1864 and 1970. It was approved and chartered b ...

Chicago, Burlington and Quincy Railroad The Chicago, Burlington and Quincy Railroad was a railroad that operated in the Midwest, Midwestern United States. Commonly referred to as the Burlington Route, the Burlington, CB&Q, or as the Q, it operated extensive trackage in the states of ...

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 ...

to form the

Burlington Northern Railroad The Burlington Northern Railroad was a United States–based railroad company formed from a merger of four major U.S. railroads. Burlington Northern operated between 1970 and 1995. Its historical lineage begins in the earliest days of railroad ...

. Western Pacific operations however, remained until 1983 when the

Union Pacific Railroad The Union Pacific Railroad is a Railroad classes, Class I freight-hauling railroad that operates 8,300 locomotives over routes in 23 U.S. states west of Chicago and New Orleans. Union Pacific is the second largest railroad in the United Stat ...

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

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 largest Class 1 railroads in the United States between 1859 and 1996. The Santa Fe was a pioneer in intermodal freight transport; at vario ...

to form the

. 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 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, Trade name, doing business as Amtrak (; ), is the national Passenger train, passenger railroad company of the United States. It operates intercity rail service in 46 of the 48 contiguous United Stat ...

's Seattle–Los Angeles ''

Coast Starlight The ''Coast Starlight'' is a Amtrak Long Distance, long-distance passenger train operated by Amtrak on the West Coast of the United States between Seattle and Los Angeles via Portland, Oregon, Portland and the San Francisco Bay Area. The train, ...

'' 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