About 10 times a day, the giant freight train passes along a narrow section along the Sacramento River in Northern California, causing locomotive engineers to regularly get stressed and tense.
“Every time, that’s a close mistake,” says Ryan Snow, California’s Senator for the Locomotive Engineer and Train Brotherhood, “Every time, that’s a close mistake,” the train that hits people. “Multiple near misses, all the runs. My nightmare is that families who aren’t paying attention will be hit.”
Heading north from the town of Dancemuir, this particular track is a rebellion route to Moss Bray Falls, one of Northern California’s most attractive natural sights for hikers. Feeded from the glaciers on Mount Shasta, water flows out of lava tubes and mossy cliffs, forming lush, etheric cascades in gentle shaded swimming holes.
It looks magical. Also, it is not accessible. Unless visitors enter or cross the river for more than a mile of a truck. An accident happened. In May, two people were attacked by the train in recent years (although both survived). A Southern California woman owns after trying to reach the waterfall via the river. However, tourists continue to come. Drawn by Instagram and Tiktok, the number of visitors to the waterfall is increasing. City research shows that nearly 30,000 people have broken into train tracks, making it the majority nearly 30,000.
For years, outdoor enthusiasts in and around Dancemuir have been working with the city to push the truck-owned Union Pacific Railway to create safe, accessible, legal paths. However, the efforts are baffled by delays.
This week, the Train Labour Union decided to join the fight, issued a press release to slowly stifle progress and called for more to make the Union Pacific trail’s long-standing dreams come true.
“Life is at risk every month that passes without a real construction timeline,” Snow said in a statement. The statement also accused Union Pacific of “slow walking” the project, and said that although rail officials called for a meeting after the meeting, they have never produced a commitment for the road or a clear construction timeline.
Snow said many engineers are irritated and feel the delay “puts the delay in an unfair danger to both railroad staff and the public.”
In a statement, Union Pacific said the railway “approved the concept of trails to Mossbrey Falls a few years ago and worked with the City of Dancemuir and the Shasta Trail Mountain Association to find a solution that addresses everyone’s safety concerns.”
Earlier this summer, Dancemere city officials held a “summit” with Union Pacific officials to tour the waterfalls and talk about the proposed trail connections.
City officials said the summit, which includes representatives from the office of local elected officials and railway staff in Omaha and Denver, was marked “a new milestone in a slow and stable process.” “The first time, major Union Pacific officials have had the opportunity to see the waterfalls, realizing the importance of building public access to this beautiful natural resource,” according to a city press release.
However, some longtime trail advocates say they are not convinced that their dreams are approaching. John Harch, retired surgeon at Mount Shasta Trail Assun. And he said he has worked with others to make public access over the years, and that he has not yet seen any evidence of concrete progress.
“We’re sitting here like before, but people risk their lives to see the waterfall,” he wrote in an email.
Snow said he hopes to put pressure on the parties to make concrete progress.
“We were fortunate that no deaths were caused by the trespassing strike,” he said. “The worst thing an engineer can do is hit someone. That’s stressful.”
Meanwhile, he said that route is only becoming more popular. “It hikes magazines and is everywhere on the internet. It’s attracting more and more people.”
He added: “I can’t blame them. It’s beautiful.”
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