The High Line is divided into the following subdivisions:
· BN Gateway Subdivision from Keddie to Klamath Falls
The “high line” was constructed after 1930, prior to which Keddie was just a simple trestle. Initially, the “high line” was operated northward from Keddie Yard. Through services over the north to west leg of the wye date only from the 1960s. Service levels on the “high line” dropped from the heyday of the GN-WP-ATSF “Inside Gateway service of the ‘60s and ‘70s, after the UP takeover of WP in 1982, especially after the tunnel fire in 1990. However, the late September, 1995 merger of BN and ATSF, and the September 11, 1996, merger of UP and SP, led to BNSF taking over the high line north of Keddie, leading to the resumption of single-line service over the Inside Gateway by BNSF in competition with SP’s “I-5” service. The entire line is unsignaled (dark) single track with Track Warrant Control.
North of Keddie Wye (MP 202.8 on the BNSF line), the line runs back to the northwest along Spanish Creek, then northeast along Indian Creek. Tunnel 1 (635 ft. long) is at MP 203.0, southeast of the junction at the north corner of the wye, followed by a trestle over a side valley. The line passes through 588 ft. tunnel 2 (MP 202.0) while running northwest, under a road bridges overhead, and through 621 ft. tunnel 3 (MP 201.4, 470 ft. tunnel 4 (MP 200.6), and 279 ft. tunnel 5 (MP 200.3) after turning generally northeast, passes Indian Creek (MP 199.9) and then the 4,208 ft. west side siding with hand throw switches at Moccasin (MP 196.8). The speed limit is only 12 mph from Keddie to Indian Creek, rising to 40 mph north of there.
North of Moccasin siding, the line turns north-northeast to cross Indian Creek, there is a creek alongside to the east, a detector at MP 195.6, and a grade crossing. At Crescent Mills, a short line once headed off east and then northeast to Engel Mine. The line then (about MP 195) turns almost west to pass a grade crossing, with a creek alongside to the east, and through Cheney (MP 189.1), as it climbs out of the canyon into a broad valley at Greenville (MP 188.3), where there is an angled highway bridge overhead, a grade crossing, a street alongside to the east, and a 4,236 ft. siding. From Greenville, the line climbs a 2.2% grade, running almost due north to Cohala and then west through 1,103 ft. tunnel 6 (MP 182.0) and past a bridge over a highway, with two horseshoe curves (MP 180 on the first one; the “Hollenback Loop” being the second one, counter-clockwise on an embankment) before reaching Almanor (MP 177.3), where there is a 7,942 ft. west side siding. The speed limit is 25 mph from Greenville to Clear Creek Junction.
At Almanor, the line turns from west to north and runs alongside Lake Almanor (on its east shore). There are intermittent views of Mount Lassen across the lake, especially at Lassen View (MP 170.6), where the line leaves the lake behind. At Clear Creek Junction (MP 167.7), the Almanor Railroad trails in from the west; this short line exchanges loaded lumber cars with trains on the “high line”. There is a bridge over a river, a dirt road grade crossing, and a detector at MP 167.2. The line turns east at the junction, as the speed limit rises to 40 mph, past a bridge over a drainage culvert and a reservoir alongside to the south, then north again on reaching Westwood (MP 163.6), where a 1.5% climb to the line’s summit at Norvell begins, past a grade crossing, the 4,338 ft. Westwood siding with two extra tracks to the east, a grade crossing north of the north end of the siding, a bridge over a stream, and two grade crossings.
The line passes through Mason (MP 159.5), where the line to Westwood Junction and the erstwhile ex-SP line thence to Susanville once left to the northeast, Robbers Creek (MP 159.2),pine trees, MP 158, MP 157, a dirt road grade crossing, a grade crossing, and Norvell (MP150.5, altitude 5.736 feet), where the line turns north-northwest. There is a pond to the east, a lake to the east, a grade crossing, a dirt track grade crossing, a sagebrush plateau, a 4,235 ft. east side siding at Lodge Pole (MP 140.2), where the speed limit rises to 49 mph, a dirt road grade crossing, a detector at MP 135.2, a lake to the east, and Poison Lake (MP 132.6) on a short northward section with a highway off to the west, before resuming the north-northwesterly heading.
The line then turns generally north, with a wye on the west side of the line, before, at the 6,758 ft. west side siding at Hall’s Flat (MP 126.5), it begins a 1.8%, 25 mph, curving descent to Little Valley, passing a dirt track grade crossing, MP 124, MP 123, a dirt track grade crossing at National Forest Road 122, a dirt track grade crossing, MP 119, a dirt track grade crossing, and Jellico (MP 118.8), making a clockwise semi-circle to the south-southeast, a turn to the east, northeast, northwest and then northeast again, passing Willow Springs (MP 113.1) and turning southeast and then northeast again before reaching the 4,251 ft. east side siding at Little Valley, where teh speed limit again rises to 49 mph.
There is a local 1.5 % climb to the rim of Pit River Canyon, with a detector at MP107.4, an embankment, a dirt track grade crossing, and horseshoe curves from northeast to southwest and then back northeast again on the canyon rim before the steep descent alongside the canyon through Dixie (MP102.1) to Pit River (MP 93.3). Crossing that river on a high bridge, the line heads due north, past a road bridge overhead, to Bieber (MP 90.0), the original end-on junction of the Western Pacific high-line and the Great Northern “Inside Gateway”, but now just the location of an 8,024 ft. siding and an office. There is a grade crossing, a detector at MP 87.6, a grade crossing, a lake to the east, a lake to teh west, a pond to the east, and a dirt road grade crossing.
The McCloud River Railroad (the easterly segment, now out of service in 2005, is actually owned by BNSF) comes in from the west at Lookout, bringing cars of wood products for interchange with BN until 2003 or 2004. There is also a 6,820 ft. siding at Lookout (MP 78.3). The line continues due north across flat terrain, the forested countryside giving way to open arid countryside. There is a dirt track grade crossing, a detector at MP 68.3, followed by a dirt track grade crossing, a 5,036 ft. west side siding at Scarface (MP 66.5), a dirt track grade crossing, Hollenbeck, a 6,751 ft. west side siding at Kephart (MP 54.2), a spur to the west for an industry, Tionestra (MP 50.7), a detector at MP 50.3, a grade crossing, a 5,073 ft. west side siding at Mammoth (MP 44.7), a bridge over irrigation, two dirt track grade crossings, Kandra (MP 37.0), and rail-served silos to the east at Hartchen (MP 36.3), followed by a dirt road grade crossing, a road to the east, and a bridge over irrigation.
At Stronghold (MP 31.6), where there is a 2,250 ft. siding, silos to the west and two spurs to the west, the line crosses the remnants of the ex-SP Modoc line (MP 31.6 itself), passes a grade crossing just north of the Modoc, a grade crossing, a bridge over irrigation, a dirt road grade crossing, potato mounds to the west, Dalton (MP 29.1), a bridge over irrigation, a grade crossing, a dirt track grade crossing, and a grade crossing, and then crosses the Oregon border where it turns west through Malin (MP 24.5), where there is a siding to the east, and a spur to silos to the east, and past four grade crossings, to Adams Point (MP 20.7).
There is a detector at MP 19.6, two grade crossings, and Stonebridge (MP 16.7). At Merrill (MP 15.4), the line turns northwest into farming country, running roughly parallel to the ex-SP line on the far side of Lost River, past extra track to the northeast serving multiple silos, a grade crossing, a bridge over irrigation, an angled grade crossing, a grade crosisng angled the other way, a bridge over drainage, and a bridge over a ditch, to Dehlinger (MP 7.6), where the line crosses the river, continuing northwest, past a grade crossing, Intermediate Signals (the first signals since Keddie), a bridge over drainage, a bridge over irrigation, a dirt track grade crossing, a bridge over a highway, a bridge over irrigation, Henley (MP 4.2), extra track to the east, two grade crossings, and a bridge over drainage, to South Klamath Yard (MP 3.0), where yard limits begin, a grade crossing at Johns Avenue (MP 2.2), a grade crossing at MP 1.7, extra track to the north, three tracks to the south, a spur curving away north, a road bridge overhead, and BNSF’s Klamath Falls location (MP 1.0), where there are seven tracks to the north and five tracks to the south, a four track locomotive depot to the north, an intermodal yard to the south, and a grade crossing north of the yard tower, before proceeding onto trackage rights on the SP Natron cutoff at Bieber Line Junction (MP 0.0) in Klamath Falls.