The Dunsmuir station is an

Amtrak The National Railroad Passenger Corporation, Trade name, doing business as Amtrak () , is the national Passenger train, passenger railroad company of the United States. It operates inter-city rail service in 46 of the 48 contiguous United Stat ...

train station A train station, railway station, railroad station or depot is a railway facility where trains stop to load or unload passengers, freight or both. It generally consists of at least one platform, one track and a station building providing suc ...

Dunsmuir, California Dunsmuir is a city in Siskiyou County, northern California. It is on the upper Sacramento River in the Trinity Mountains. Its population is 1,707 as of the 2020 census, up from 1,650 from the 2010 census. Dunsmuir is currently a hub for tourism ...

. It is used by

Union Pacific Railroad The Union Pacific Railroad , legally Union Pacific Railroad Company and often called simply Union Pacific, is a freight-hauling railroad that operates 8,300 locomotives over routes in 23 U.S. states west of Chicago and New Orleans. Union Paci ...

as a crew change point, but is not staffed by Amtrak. Dunsmuir station is the northernmost passenger rail station in the state of California. The modern station has telephones and restrooms and is maintained by city residents and local rail enthusiasts. In addition to the passenger waiting room, the building houses the Dunsmuir Museum of the Dunsmuir Railroad Depot Historical Society, which has exhibits on local railroad history.Great American Stations
Accessed February 2, 2013. In 2012, the society became home to the Southern Pacific (SP) Shasta Division archives.

History

The

Central Pacific Railroad The Central Pacific Railroad (CPRR) was a rail company chartered by Pacific Railroad Acts, U.S. Congress in 1862 to build a railroad eastwards from Sacramento, California, to complete the western part of the "First transcontinental railroad" in N ...

had constructed their rail line up the

Siskiyou Trail The Siskiyou Trail stretched from California's Central Valley to Oregon's Willamette Valley; modern-day Interstate 5 follows this pioneer path. Originally based on existing Native American foot trails winding their way through river valleys, t ...

by 1886, and the settlement of Pusher was founded near Upper Soda Springs as a town to support rail operations in the area. The first Dunsmuir stop was simply a boxcar located lower on the line further to the south than the current town. In January 1887, the Dunsmuir station was moved to the railroad's engine house while retaining the name, whereupon the town also adopted the moniker. When Amtrak was formed in 1971 and Southern Pacific Shasta Route services were discontinued, Dunsmuir retained rail service as a stop on the ''Coast Starlight''. Due to the way schedules are aligned, both the northbound and southbound trains pass through in the middle of the night.

References

External links

*Trainweb USArail
Dunsmuir, CA

Dunsmuir Museum – Dunsmuir Railroad Depot Historical Society
Amtrak stations in California Former Southern Pacific Railroad stations in California Railway stations in Siskiyou County, California Museums in Siskiyou County, California Railroad museums in California Railway stations in the United States opened in 1887 {{California-railstation-stub