Gateway Subdivision

The Gateway Subdivision is a railroad line owned by the BNSF Railway. It runs from Klamath Falls, Oregon in the north to Keddie, California at the south end.[1]

Gateway Subdivision
UP Cascade Subdivision
UP Black Butte Subdivision
Klamath Yard
Oregon
California
Modoc Northern Railroad
Keddie Wye
UP Canyon Subdivision

History

The earliest traces of railroad activity on the Gateway Subdivision traces to two major (now fallen flag) railroads, the Great Northern Railway (U.S.) and the Western Pacific Railroad. Historically, the Great Northern laid track from Klamath Falls, Oregon to Bieber, California and the Western Pacific laid track from the famed Keddie Wye near Keddie, California to Bieber (Actual town is known as Nubieber, today. Bieber is the RR name for the location). In March 1931, both railroads met in the town of Bieber. Within no time, trains began to travel the newly completed railroad line. The railroads offered interchange service, where Great Northern trains handed over their trains to the Western Pacific and the Western Pacific transferred their trains to the Great Northern.

This trend, continued until 1970, when the Great Northern Railway merged with the Northern Pacific Railway, Chicago, Burlington and Quincy Railroad and the Spokane, Portland and Seattle Railway to form the Burlington Northern Railroad. Western Pacific operations however, remained until 1983 when the Union Pacific Railroad took over the Western Pacific and it became under the control of the Burlington Northern and the Union Pacific Railroads. In the 1990s, the Burlington Northern Railroad merged with the Atchison, Topeka and Santa Fe Railway to form the BNSF Railway. And the trackage became wholly owned by the Burlington Northern Santa Fe Railway.

Traffic

The traffic on the Gateway Subdivision are general merchandise freights. There is one local (as of October 2011) that runs out of Klamath Falls and uses the Gateway Subdivision — there are two trains a week usually. (South to Crescent Mills on Monday and north to Klamath Falls on Tuesday and south on Thursday and back north on Friday.) Bare-table (empty well car) trains uses the Gateway Subdivision in a somewhat regular manner (as many as 3 per day). There is no passenger service on the line. The closest Amtrak intercity train is the Coast Starlight, which serves Klamath Falls at the city's Amtrak station.

References
  1. "More rain whipsaws BNSF with outages in NorCal, PNW". Railway Age. 16 February 2017. Retrieved 13 November 2020.
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