Feather River Express Cab Ride

Ride in the cab of the Feather River Express on June 26, 1999, from Oroville to Keddie in this remarkable video. See the entire trip through the windshield of UP 9326 C40-8 as it pulled the Sacramento 99 NRHS and R&LHS passenger special over the route of the former Western Pacifics California Zephyr. There is no passenger service through the Feather River Canyon, making this video an extraordinary opportunity to view the whole trip, right from the cab! Includes all of the famous spots such as the James Loop, West Fork Bridge, North Fork Bridge, Poe, Pulga, Merlin, Rock Creek Trestle, Tobin, the Honeymoon Tunnels, Virgilia, Paxton, and the famed Keddie Wye. All bridges and tunnels are shown in their entirety. Digitally mastered with Hi-Fi sound. Rock steady picture with no shaking or vibration. No narration for the true cab ride experience. Includes handy printed location guide so you can follow along using the counter on your VCR. A really outstanding cab ride.

Producers Notes : On June 26, 1999, the NRHS and R&LHS ran an excursion through the Feather River Canyon, pulled by Union Pacific C40-8 No. 9326. U.P. Challenger No. 3985 had been scheduled to pull the train, but due to a tube failure in the U.P. 844 earlier in the week while at Railfair 99, and the fact the same metal was used in the 3985's tubes, U.P. management decided to substitute diesel power on the trip. This enabled us to mount our XtremeSteamCamTM on the windshield of the diesel cab, resulting in this exceptional video of the entire cab ride from Oroville to Keddie. The picture is extremely stable, with no shaking or vibration.
The cab ride is presented in its pure and uncut form, with no titles or narration. You see and hear the trip exactly as it was, with the only interruptions being for tape and/or battery changes for the camera and digital recorder. All bridges and tunnels are shown in their entirety, and you hear all of the cab and radio chatter. We also enclose a location guide with the tapes so you can identify the famous spots and tunnels using the time counter on your VCR.
This is the fourth and final title in our Sacramento 99 series, documenting all of the activities in and around Sacramento during Railfair 99, and the joint convention of the NRHS and R&LHS. We were fortunate to obtain an exceptionally nice photograph of the train on the Keddie Wye, taken by Haruo Aoki, which is on the cover of the video. This is a two tape set, running almost 4 hours, and it is packaged in a double plastic library case, which will fit on your library shelf along with all of your other "normal size" videos.
You'll feel like you're the engineer on the old California Zephyr when you sit back and watch this video. Turn up the volume on your home theater to fully enjoy the digitally recorded audio!

Bob McMillan.