Donner Pass

Producer: Pentrex

Locations: Roseville – Truckee

Timeframe: 1951- 1988

Length: 1 hour

Donner Pass – Southern Pacific’s Sierra Crossing. Coverage of this line from Roseville to Truckee. Original film by Video Rails. This challenging route is 138 miles long. Heavy Winter weather can be tough going.  History from original construction as the Central Pacific mainline.

A single DVD-R. Fullscreen 4×3 aspect ratio. Stereo soundtrack with excellent quality.

Main Menu by locations. On-screen graphics denote locations. Narrated by Jim Knight.

To the Trains… 👉

A snowstorm is cooking as the train enters a snowshed. The bulk of the show is in clear weather.

A Rotary Snowplow raises a ruckus as it clears underneath a signal bridge. Back to the Steam Era. Cab Forward pushes a Rotary along. The snow can be thrown 150 feet away from the track. An efficient but informative segment covers snow fighting with 1950s films.

The worst snow season was 1951- 1952. A grand total of 790 inches! An elevation map profiles the monthly totals. At Yuba Pass, a Passenger Train was buried by a snowslide for days, until it was dug out. The City of San Francisco train.

The show transitions to about 1988. Roseville Yard is the standard West End of the Donner Pass route. Engine 8334 (Tunnel Motor) creeps within the yard on it’s departure towards Donner.

Six unit helper lash-ups are pretty common at this time. The four locomotives at the front with six helpers are known as a 4×6.

Amtrak California Zephyr is schedule stopped at Colfax. The Eastbound Southern Pacific freight stands fast, until the Zephyr has departed.

Empty Coal Train with Donner Pass in the background.   A wealth of beautiful scenes on the route.

Canyon Butte with Mid- train helpers about to enter a concrete snowshed. 40

Norden is at an elevation of 6891 feet. An Eastbound enters the snowshed.

Norden snowshed East Portal. A common spot to cut off helpers and return them to Roseville.

A heavy coal train hauls 10,000 tons uphill through Cold Stream Canyon. There is over 30,000 horsepower on this move. Lead unit is SP 7355.

Amtrak train #5, California Zephyr makes a stop at Truckee. Engines 403 and 402 shall enter the memorable terrain on its journey towards Roseville.

Donner Pass

A quality show that was an original Video Rails release. Pentrex has a fine program here. Fans of the Donner Pass route have a solid tour of this famous line. Some Amtrak California Zephyr trains add some spice.

Expert videography. A balanced soundtrack. The narrative is informative. Viewers shall have some history, 1988 operations and see the majestic Sierra scenery.

Both seasoned Railfans and newbies can find plenty of enjoyment. The one hour is tightly edited and it has so much packed in, that it seems longer. Southern Pacific fans may consider this as a must have.

Rating: 5 Stars