Keddie Wye Explained
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, the BNSF Gateway Subdivision—which runs north to Bieber.
A notable feat of railroad engineering, it is the world's only wye with two legs on bridges that meet in a tunnel.[1] The west and north legs of the wye are on bridges over Spanish Creek, and the southeast leg runs through a tunnel (Tunnel No. 32).[2] Just to the northwest, where the two bridged legs join, is Tunnel No. 31.
The wye and the town are named for Arthur W. Keddie, who purchased the survey rights and the right to build a railroad through the Feather River Canyon from George Jay Gould, the son of Jay Gould.
History
The Western Pacific Railroad (now part of the Union Pacific) built the tracks along the Feather River in 1909 to complete a route from the San Francisco Bay Area to Salt Lake City, Utah, providing an alternate to the Southern Pacific's route over Donner Pass. Keddie was the site of the "last spike" ceremony held on November 1, 1909.[3]
The Feather River route was preferred by some over the Donner Pass route through the Sierra Nevada because the high point of the former (the Chilcoot Tunnel under Beckwourth Pass) is at a lower elevation — about 5000feet as opposed to 7000feet — and most of the route is at a gentler grade than the line over Donner Pass.[4]
Construction started on the branch running north to Bieber in 1930[5] and was completed in 1931, along with the north and southeast legs of the wye. This allowed the Western Pacific to diverge from its east-west route (along the west leg of the wye) and go north to an interchange with the Great Northern Railway (now BNSF Railway) and its traffic from the Pacific Northwest.[6]
Railfanning
The Keddie Wye is a favorite railfan spot and is part of Plumas County's 7 Wonders of the Railroad World.[7] [8] [9] Access to the site is described in the county travel guide.[10]
External links
40.0184°N -120.9576°W
Notes and References
- Web site: Keddie Wye . 2022-07-27 . Atlas Obscura . en.
- Web site: USGS Topographic Map of Keddie Wye and vicinity. https://web.archive.org/web/20120331233158/http://msrmaps.com/map.aspx?t=2&s=12&lon=-120.9576&lat=40.01844&w=800&h=800. dead. March 31, 2012. 22 January 2010.
- Web site: Western Pacific in Utah . Utah Rails . 1 May 2017.
- News: Westward Ho over the Western Pacific . Carrere, J.F. . 28 August 1910 . Sacramento Union . 1 May 2017 . From Salt Lake to San Francisco is over the Western Pacific, and as the distance from Sacramento to San Francisco over the same route is, it follows that from the capital of California to the capital of Utah is . While that is longer than the route of the Southern Pacific the lower grade over the new road enables it to more than make up in speed what it loses in distance.
[...]Salt Lake City is above sea level. The highest point on the Western Pacific is at Silver Zone, one hundred and fifty miles west of that city. So there is quite a rapid ascent going east, but from Silver Zone until California is reached the altitude is never less than 3800 feet, so that the natural grade is not heavy compared with some of the other roads. For in one place the road is perfectly straight and perfectly level, for other long distances it does not exceed two-fifths of 1 per cent, and it never passes 1 per cent. . 14 May 2021 . https://web.archive.org/web/20210514174143/https://cdnc.ucr.edu/cgi-bin/cdnc?a=d&d=SU19100828.2.168 . dead .
- News: Bang! And a New Rail System Started . 19 August 1930 . Healdsburg Tribune . 1 May 2017.
- News: Ceremony Joins Railroads . 10 November 1931 . Healdsburg Tribune . 1 May 2017.
- News: Bartell . John . The Seven Railroad Wonders of the Feather River Canyon . 19 February 2024 . KXTV ABC10 . January 13, 2023.
- Web site: 7 Wonders of the Railroad World . Plumas county Visitors Bureau . 1 May 2017 . https://web.archive.org/web/20110718231502/http://www.plumascounty.org/PDF/7Wonders.pdf . 18 July 2011 . dead .
- Web site: Tour 7 - Wonders of the Railroad World . Plumas County Visitors Bureau . 2012-04-16 . https://web.archive.org/web/20151123142337/http://plumascounty.org/documents/Spec%20Tour%207.pdf . 2015-11-23 . dead .
- Sonrisa Publications. Nevada, Utah & Southern Idaho Railroad Maps. 2004. David J. Cooley. December 26, 2010. https://web.archive.org/web/20100612142352/http://www.djcooley.com/store/maps/nvutsi/nu04p20.htm. June 12, 2010.
