- Spring Garden Tunnel
Infobox railfanning location
name=Spring Garden Tunnel
caption=North Portal of Spring Garden Tunnel
city=Spring Garden, California
state=California
railways=BNSF, UP
type=Tunnel The Spring Garden Tunnel is a favoriterailfan spot at located atSpring Garden, California . The tunnel is 7,344 feet long and connects the North Fork of the Feather River drainage (north portal) to the Middle Fork of the Feather River drainage (south portal).History
The
Western Pacific Railroad (now part of theUnion Pacific Railroad ) built the tracks along theFeather River in 1909 to complete aSan Francisco Bay Area -Salt Lake City, Utah , route competing with the Southern Pacific's route overDonner Pass .The Feather River route was preferred over the
Donner Pass route (elevation about 7,000 feet / 2,133.6 m) over theSierra Nevada Mountains because the Feather River route's pass (Beckwourth Pass ) is at a lower elevation (about 5,221 feet / 1,591 m) and most of the route follows a more subtle grade along the Feather River.Railfanning
The Spring Garden Tunnel is part of Plumas County's "7 Wonders of the Railroad World," and access is described in it's travel guide.cite web | url = http://www.plumascounty.org/Tour%20Itineraries%202008/Spec%20Tour%207.pdf | title = Tour 7 - Wonders of the Railroad World | publisher = Plumas County Visitors Bureau | accessdate = 2008-08-26] cite web | url = http://www.plumascounty.org/PDF/7Wonders.pdf | title = 7 Wonders of the Railroad World | publisher = Plumas County Visitors Bureau | accessdate = 2008-08-26] .Access by road to the north portal is 0.15 miles west on Railroad Street, then 0.35 miles SSE along a fair-condition dirt road from
Spring Garden, California .References
External links
north portal:geolinks-US-hoodscale|39.8876|-120.7840south portal:geolinks-US-hoodscale|39.8686|-120.7750
Wikimedia Foundation. 2010.