Union Pacific Trains Battle Donner Pass Snow

Donner Pass is famous for winter railroading. Every year, the Union Pacific Railroad has to fight Mother Nature in order to keep the rail line open, and trains moving. In this video, you will see a few Union Pacific trains as they work through winter conditions. The first train you'll see is an empty grain shuttle heading east through Floriston. After that it is the ZNPOA at the Norden Snowshed and KLTG2 at Soda Springs. Enjoy.
jakemiillephotography.com

[@railfan220]

Awesome! I love train action in the snow, and Donner Pass is a special place. Thanks for sharing! -Cam

[@tedcartwright3183]

Loved it. I could almost feel the snow on my face. Hope you weren't too cold.

[@airailimages]

Good to see some winter operations. Thumbs up!

[@MrEd-qg8td]

I commend you for braving the cold and capturing these videos.

[@jre617]

Great effort in that environment. Cool doublestacks. Next time use a wind sock and ask your buddies to stand further away with their clicking cameras.

[@daleburrer1546]

Great video here. This is the longest railroad in the U.S. at 80 miles in length and that is a long ways to deal with snow.

[@susanspring6313]

I love this

[@heinzbreuer2674]

Ein wunderschönes Video toll gemacht 📽📽📽📽📽🏅

[@carl6956]

I travel I-80 often and at the rest area on Donner Summit it gets appx 380" of snow in a normal winter,the snow drifts are so high state road crews when plowing have orange markers real tall so they can tell how far they are at roadway from the berm.

[@worldfilmclips1]

Excellent video :). I like how you used a tripod or similar to keep the video still and not shaking all over the place like others on youtube.

[@UnionPacificBNSF]

I seen a show a few years back where railroad workers, truck drivers, and other transport workers had to do to keep the roads and rails through this area open in the winter.

[@napili5470]

That Z train is a good catch. I always liked them especially going to Sparks. Now I go down to Bakersfield Ca. from Roseville Ca and sometimes Fresno. Still Z trains are the best, We can go seventy where track speed permits where as most freight trains are fifty.

[@markcarey8426]

Beautiful. Thanks very much. Strange looking wagons, seems like the bogies/trucks are shared between the wagons rather than being part of each one.

[@coryhoover01]

mark carey intermodal/piggybacks/well cars some of them are sets of 3 or 5 that cant be broke except at the ends this is more efficient and cheaper as less axles to maintain so middle sets are split between 2 "cars"

[@markcarey8426]

I see. OK. Thanks for that.

[@megatwingo]

Amazing scenes in the snow. Formidable locations and a very cool diesel sound. Thumbs up! :) Greetings Mega

[@Herbert04]

When I hear about snow and Donner Pass I figure on seeing something. I bet the Donner Party wished they had to fight their way through this snow instead of the one they did. Anyway it was a nice film though.

[@dfk4500]

I love this video!!!! those locomotives​ are kicking some ass!!!!!💪💪💪

[@ricomon35]

Nice footage. Not sure how light snow, a little fog and clear rails is "battling" LOL.

[@Susulyka1]

thank you

[@legaciesontherails3878]

Nice Work! Shared on Union Pacific Flag Units on Facebook!

[@SooLineHogger]

Nicely done, JT.

[@shnimmuc]

Fantastic man.

[@UPDetector]

Nice catches Davis

[@ramyg5037]

I was afraid that the top container box might topple...when then train was making those turns

[@maxshelltrack9720]

They're locked together.

[@ivanmckinney1881]

UP.......EPIC!!!!!!!

[@UnionPacificBNSF]

You got to have brass balls to cross Donner Pass

[@darylljackson1968]

Been over Donner Pass numerous times in a tractor-trailer, even in the snow! Train or truck you got to have nerve of steel to cross that!!!

[@duxberry1958]

It looks like it must of been very cold Amtrakdavis

[@infledermaus]

Great video. What causes the wailing, screeching sounds? I've heard that up in feather river canyon at belden. Eerie sound.

[@jakemiillephotography]

Trains using dynamic braking tend to make that sound. In the FRC, trains often utilize dynamics in order to smoothly descend the 1% grade.

[@michaeldougfir9807]

Nice visit very near my area. Thanks for using a tripod, like the man said. Always enjoy Donner Pass material. If you wanted to, you could tell (repeat?) some facts and figures. How long is this crossing of the Sierras? From what elevation in Sacramento, California does an eastbound train begin its' climb? At what elevation is Reno, where the tracks level out? What is the highest point on the pass, on the rails? What is the grade that these locomotives can handle, going up or down? I have been told that a real part of having so many units is for braking power. Is that true? Thanks.

[@jakemiillephotography]

Hi Michael, trains begin their ascent in Roseville (milepost 106) and are in Reno by Milepost 240. That would make it roughly 134 miles through the Sierra. I'm not exactly sure the elevation of the tracks in Sacramento (I'm sure they vary with different lines), but Sacramento's elevation is 30' and Reno is approx 4,500'. The highest point of the line is at Norden which is at just about 7,000'. Some of this video was shot at Norden. The highest grade on the route is near Dutch Flat, which is over 2%. Heavy westbound trains will certainly need a lot of power on this route. Same goes for eastbounds as underpowered trains routinely stall. Feel free to send me a message at jakemiillephotography.com.

[@charlesinglin]

On these trains where they have several locomotives in front, a couple pushers behind and one placed in the middle, how do control them as far as speed? Are the controls linked together and handled by one engineer?

[@jakemiillephotography]

Yeah so for trains on Donner Pass, all the head end units and DPUs (distributed power units) are controlled by one engineer. There are only a few places left in the US where they use manned helpers. The system is computerized and uses radio frequencies.

[@normangilbert1236]

Great videos, thanks for sharing

[@SantaFe19484]

Awesome video!

[@michaelpass2176]

They could have longer train with few units pushing.

[@DerredmaxTRIAX]

There are a lot of broken wheels on that train!

[@michaelpass2176]

Time to pick up some speed.

[@cats0182]

Are those helper engines on the rear manned, or are they radio-controlled from the head end?

[@9carcottrell246]

Cats01 we don't man them they are pushers

[@gringo4x4do]

Don't see much of a Battle going on here, just Normal operations . If there were a Battle , the Flangers and Jordan Spreaders would be out, Hell, not enough snow for the front plows to even blow some snow out of the way

[@sonnydean1617]

Is this the original road?

[@amtraksouthernpacificrailf5172]

No, southern pacific had this line until the 1996 merger with up

[@johnrobertfox7775]

@@amtraksouthernpacificrailf5172 THANKS FOR SAYING THAT ! SORRY UP WE AIN'T DEAD YET ! SP DIRT TEST DO NOT REMOVE ! SP LIVES

[@lorengoll2423]

u.p. is #1

[@ALSomthin]

I always wanted to work for the Union Pacific.€(:¬)=

[@JThom-yh3ef]

I said the same about United Airlines and that’s where I’m at thanks to good ole me in not giving up...

[@ALSomthin]

@@JThom-yh3ef I just got too old.

[@billbutler5754]

Model railroad vidoes

[@michaelpass2176]

Not much traction

[@user-dz6rd9yv8m]

Tiny

[@francinelamanna2386]

Bye Bye America. This is Over. It's not coming back...

[@Thegooderstuffs]

Don't you have a Hillary rally to go to.

[@hugosantana2247]

o

[@hugosantana2247]

m

[@hugosantana2247]

j

[@charlessmileyvideos]

More SP Snow fighting at www.trainmovies.com see "Extreme Southern Pacific"

[@paulward6287]

😎 🎥 work!