Historic Train Trip thru Feather River Canyon & Mt. Shasta Country 

I live in Magalia, a sleepy mountain town not far from Feather River Canyon & Highway 70. I’ve driven up Highway 70 many times and prior to the fires in 2008 & 2018, that canyon was hands down the prettiest place I’ve ever seen. I heard about these Amtrak sky dome passenger train tours and wished I could go on one but I couldn’t afford the tickets...not even for the short version that went from Oroville to Portola. Thank you for posting this so I can enjoy it vicariously! I love seeing familiar landmarks like the Fish Hatchery, Table Mountain Lake Oroville & the double trestles up the canyon, as well as Cresta Dam. I have never been to Oregon either so it was an eye opener to see what that was like. Not gonna lie, I expected more pine trees than I saw! Seemed more like Nevada than Northern California! Fun fact: 2017 was a high rain year & the Oroville Dam overflowed its spillway, necessitating the evacuations of towns downriver! A big change from the historic low of Oroville Lake levels! There’s also this link for the Feather River round trip: ru-vid.com/video/%D0%B2%D0%B8%D0%B4%D0%B5%D0%BE-l5uB0IsuSQ4.html

My dad rented a house boat on Lake Shasta in the 70's. My sister and I both got to bring a friend. Still remember that vacation to this day. Thanks for posting, that train was cool.

Thank you for posting this. It was a wonderful adventure. 😊

Beautiful railcars, beautiful scenery, beautiful video. I traveled from Los Angeles to Tacoma Washington last summer,,, it's a gorgeous trip

What a wonderful excursion this must have been! Definitely showing the BEST part of California, the northern half! Taking a train trip can be fun, but you add some Vista Dome cars where you can look ahead as well as around you and you have just DOUBLED your enjoyment!! How fortunate you are to take a trip like this! Thank you so very much for sharing this video. And a great video it is!!😁👍

I have done the same trip ( almost ) in semi truck many times. I'm lucky to say I've seen all the beautiful places in this country and there are a lot. Looks like you had a gr reat trip though. I'll have to look into this trip since I'm now retired on the Oregon coast. Thanks for sharing

Beautifully done Worked for so until bought by up Made this trip as conductor many times canyon is scenic Almost moved to poor top but went to Klamath falls Remember all the bridges and scenes Thanks

Well crafted video. I loved the combination of still and video photography of an area I've traveled many times by car and Amtrak.

Photos are excellent.

Thank you for taking all of us along with you on your trip. it was beautiful.. Sadly in the feather river canyon at grizzly bear the fire has already gone thru some of it. actually they are trying to put it out now..I don't know how long it's going to take to fix the tracks and also make sure the bridges are sill safe..it's jtust heart breaking. i lost everything in '18 do to a fire starting in that canyon.

Thanks for all the kind comments!

I love the viewing cars. You'd never get me out of one if I got the chance to get a seat in one.!🤣!

This was just a few months after I took the California Zephyr from Emeryville, CA to Chicago, IL. While the current route over the Sierra Nevada through Truckee is beautiful, how wonderful would it be to have the CZ return to the old route through the Feather River Canyon. Thank you for a fabulous video. What a wonderful trip.

I watched the whole video and enjoyed every part of it! Fantastic scenery and even something learnfull. I didn’t know about rock fall detectors untill now ☺️ thank you very much ☺️

The summer of '88, just before moving from SoCal to Utah, I worked for Amtrak. Almost all of the runs I worked (I was a car attendant) went from LA to Chicago. But once or twice, I went to Seattle via the stretch you showed along the Shasta River. Going south, it was dark and very late. I was in what was called "the 10 car". It was half crew quarters, half coach. It was an older car from the '50's and rode smoother with bigger, leather seats. NOT an Amtrak built car at all! The Conductor and I were standing in the middle where the doors were, and it was the only car on the train that had those half doors, that opened up the upper half. It was a big no-no to open those normally (although ppl did so anyway). It is a pretty steep grade and we were south-bound. The moon was full, Shasta was so huge, and the river made a wonderful sound. The Conductor opened the upper door and we drank in the fresh cold, fragrant air, heard the water of the river and since the train was traveling so very slowly, you would hear clack- clack... clack-clack... clack-clack... If I could have stood there forever, it would have been Heaven enough for me!! It was magical! I've since become a trucker and have trucked all 48 contiguous states and most of lower Canada. I've seen some beautiful country in all kinds of weather and encountered all sorts of people all over this great land of ours. But if I could go back and relive that moment in the 10 car, coming down slowly along the Shasta River that night with the door open, I'd do it in a heart beat. I'll never forget it as long as I live!

Thanks very well done!

Thank you for posting this! I really want to take this trip

Very cool Historical Train ride... Thanks for sharing, take care.

Another great video, thanks again.

Cliff, I love the selections of music that accompany your videos. Keep those videos coming.

This would be so fun it sucks the canyon will never be the same

Loved everything about it, I Subscribed 😎👍

That was totally incredible I enjoyed that so much a credible lot a fun unbelievable thank you so much I don't know if you'll get this but I like you said you might fare

Peaceful. Beautiful. Missing something however. What was it? Oh, well. Enjoy the peace before getting back to the city.

Excellent video!!! Enjoyed the trip.

Delightful trip! Love old trains - used to take my kids on the Skunk out of Willits, CA when they were young... You must have gone through before the Fires started... Very little smoke drift... Sad to see the water so low and a delight to see Snow still on Shasta. I don't travel much of late, have hope of hitting the road again... By train sounds nice, but I'm afraid it's the end of an era if we can't turn politics away from the Corporate Greed.

Great video.. LOL at woman on the train pointing out the "FOAMers".

I wonder if this trip still exists I would like to go

Oh my. Wow I’d die to ride the Feather River. So lucky. How did you find this specific special route?

Wow. I think I would have sold multiple body parts to ride a dome on this route.

The weather has been dry the last two years resulting in low water in the lakes and rivers and many range and forest fires. The smoke was in Utah murking up the sky all summer.

Is this a reoccurring train ride or was it a special historic ride?

Nice video I've been up and down I-5 there many times but didn't get to see as much as you have here. I could do without those rotating transitions between scenes though and distracting.

Wait. I thought this kind of chartered train wasn't possible anymore with Amtrak. Have things changed?

Does this train run often??

What are the details on this trip? I would like to go.

What’s the name of the train?

Coast starlight goes through all this at night so you dont see anything :(

Sadly, I couldn't watch past 5 minutes. The flipping of the video made it hard for me to focus my eyes. The narration and video content was good too. At least 5 minutes of it. I'm hoping there is another video of the same trip on RU-vid.

I'm getting old. 50's. Amtrack ride would be cheaper than gas.

Unfortunately, I think part of the Feather River segment shown was devastated by the Camp Fire in November

Those beautiful scenery is probably burned now. It's a shame that 99 percent of forest fire is caused by humans.