Today we'll show why many of the communities in California's Central Valley exist.
This man made feature dominates even more than the freeway because at times it can bring everyone nearby to a complete standstill.
Looking North toward Redding and the mountains
Looking south toward the valley.
In these pictures the original north-south highway, formerly known as US Highway 99, parallels the tracks.
This is the Union Pacific Railroad. Way back in the old days it was the Central Pacific, which became Southern Pacific. Later SP tried to merge with the Santa Fe Railroad, but the courts didn't like that so UP absorbed SP and Santa Fe went on to Merge with Burlington Northern and become BNSF, which looks like an acronym for something you don't want to open on your work computer.
Only one track (I'm not sure if 'track' is the right name, but you know what I mean)? I thought they did everything bigger and better in the USA. Even in our tiny country most railway lines have double tracks. I'm slightly disappointed by your Union Pacific Railroad ;-)
ReplyDeleteYes Maam, that's pretty much how she rolls in the U.S.
ReplyDeleteExcept in areas where there's a lot of passenger traffic, most of this country is served by only one set of tracks... and ginormously long trains that block crossings forever.