Looking to spend time in northern California in the fall of 2018 (from the UK) where can i see some Hard working freight in the mountains in that area.Staying in the Redding/Sacremento area but don’t mind travelling ? Thanks .daveman.
Donner Pass - Former Southern Pacific east of Sacramento- Union Pacific
Feather River Canyon and Inside Gateway- Former Western Pacific north of Sacramento- Union Pacifc, Burlington Northern Santa Fe
Union Pacific - Former Southern Pacific north of Redding
I was going to say…where CAN’T you see Rugged mountain Railroading in NorCal? UP’s Shasta sub north of Redding to Weed is some rugged railroading as it climbs out of the Sacramento River Valley up to the High country run around the volcano. This includes the Cantera Loop. At Weed, Central Oregon and Pacific operates the Old Siskyous Line to Medford which is a little further afield, but also mountain railroading. UP heads North East to Klamath Falls. This part of the line isn’t quite as photogenic until north of K-falls (In my opinion) but sees a lot of trains. To the east of course as mentioned, Donner Pass which I-80 roughly follows is easy to railfan. And the Canyon sub (aka Feather River) including BNSF’s Inside gateway starting at the Keddie Wye. And of course the museum at Portola. Both have tons of Famous locations to view trains. And of course, you can go to the Coast and see the Skunk train for a taste of old coastal railroading. South to the lower passes into the bay area. Assorted regionals/shortlines in the valley.
Not many trains run east up the Feather River, so you won’t see much hard work there. Trains east out of Roseville are climbing 1.5% maximum to Colfax, then the steepest part of the grade is above Gold Run-- you can drive to Alta 39.2068N 120.8114W to see them on the 2.3%.
One hard-work place on Donner is the summit tunnel-- about 1.95 miles of 1.47% climbing westward. You can drive to the west end.
You are not gonna see much on the California Western (Skunk train) unless you are on it. Wasting your time trying to find anything on NWP (beyond how not to run a railroad)… timz’s answer makes sense for what you want to do.
YoHo: Where not to? Answer: Willits to Eureka
Well sure, unless you want to see railroads built in the worst possible geology for a railroad. 
Plus, Willits has some rusting equipment. AAAAND, some of the Trackage to the north is interesting to see as it rusts away even if there are no trains on it. Why can’t the OP ride the Skunk train though? I’m not sure why that distinction is made.
Did the OP say he only wanted to see assents? I know he said hard working, but…
If that’s the case,
BNSF runs trains up to the Keddie Wye.
I’ll be honest, I live in Roseville, and chat every week with Roseville shop personell. I’d not heard that they were only sending westbounds over the Canyon sub. Is there a source for that? I do know that in general they prefer Donner.
Sounds like the guy in the OP has limited time and he probably does not want to spend his time on a very limited-access, infrequently running operation just to see nothing. The skunk railbus is off in the woods in the hollers away from most roads (esp CA-20) most of the time and is hardly heavy haul freight.
(My better half grew up in Willits and I was there the night of the FRA “death sentence” caused by NWP/NCRA’s lack of compliance and aloof attitude.)
Well, he said he was willing to drive and would be between Redding and Sac. a Quick Jaunt around clear lake doesn’t sound like much of a burden (not an unpleasant drive on it’s own.) Anyway, I clearly suggested it as an additional feature should time permit. Answering my own question since you did not, This UP Roseville Service Unit train symbols list pretty much shows the East/West nature of the Donner/Canyon sub. http://railroadfan.com/wiki/index.php/UP_Roseville_Service_Unit_Symbols I wonder when they made this change. I just recently started seeing more DPU trains coming down from the Canyon through Roseville. The monster train to/from Bailey according to that are directional, but I THOUGHT those ran both directions on Donner. Symbol: MRVNP and MNPRV. The monster to from Roper is totally on Donner Symbols MRVRO and MRORV. Alas, the Canyon Crawler is no more (Roseville to Portola and back), but It looks like that job is held now by a local out of Oroville. So that’s at least 1 eastbound UP train up that Canyon.
Thanks everyone, lot to think about but a combination of Donner and Canyon with a visit to the Portola museum looks to fit the bill.daveman
If you do visit Donner Pass, best check the maps beforehand. East from Rocklin to Colfax the two tracks are separate-- sometimes together but usually not. So if you’re driving, and you get off I-80 at Applegate, you’ll want to know which track is which.
At Rocklin 38.7997N 121.2314W the traditional eastward track crosses above the westward, so trains often run left hand east to Tunnel 26, 38.9891N 120.9446W where the traditional-westward track crosses above the eastward.
Additional complication: full-height doublestack container trains aren’t allowed thru the eastward-track tunnels 22 to 32, so they use the westward track, which has no tunnels. An eastward stack train on the eastward track thru Auburn will cross over at 38.9434N 121.0443W to the other main, then probably back again at 39.0790N 120.96676W.
Thanks to everyone for all your suggestions. Looking like to spend the last two days of my trip leaving Redding on us44 /89 down to Portrola to visit the museum and on to Truckee , stay the night and over Donner to Scaremento and home to the UK via S/Francisco. Looking forward to it although it’s not 'till the fall you have all made it so much easier to plan .Mandave24
Outside of freight trains, other rail places.
The California State Railroad Museum in Sacramento. It is well worth the visit.
The Western Railway Museum between Rio Vista and Fairfield on CA 12.
San Francisco Muni. Both the E and F routes historical equipment. And of course the cable cars.
Enjoy.
Also the WP Railroad Museum in Portola. The museum has a program were you can run a train yourself.