Siskiyou County Route A28

[Max Rockatansky]

Siskiyou County Route A28 is one of the newer County Sign Routes.  A28 is so new in fact that there doesn't appear to be any State data to show when it was designated (other than it was after 1983).  That being the case the approximately 23.5 mile A28 nonetheless is an old corridor which contains roads that were built to service the Southern Pacific Railroad Sidings of Shasta Valley constructed in 1886-87.  Notably A28 contains a rare State Highway/County Sign Route multiplex on 11th Street in the City of Montague.  I've never found any official documentation to support this (which is why it isn't in the blog) but rumor has it that early Legislative Route 3 was once proposed to run through the present corridor of A28 given the favorable terrain of Shasta Valley to the Shasta River Canyon.  The rumor expounds that the City of Yreka muscled Legislative Route 3 into the Shasta River Canyon given it is the Siskiyou County Seat. 

https://www.gribblenation.org/2020/12/siskiyou-county-route-a28-connecting.html

[sparker]

Siskiyou County Route A28 is one of the newer County Sign Routes.  A28 is so new in fact that there doesn't appear to be any State data to show when it was designated (other than it was after 1983).  That being the case the approximately 23.5 mile A28 nonetheless is an old corridor which contains roads that were built to service the Southern Pacific Railroad Sidings of Shasta Valley constructed in 1886-87.  Notably A28 contains a rare State Highway/County Sign Route multiplex on 11th Street in the City of Montague.  I've never found any official documentation to support this (which is why it isn't in the blog) but rumor has it that early Legislative Route 3 was once proposed to run through the present corridor of A28 given the favorable terrain of Shasta Valley to the Shasta River Canyon.  The rumor expounds that the City of Yreka muscled Legislative Route 3 into the Shasta River Canyon given it is the Siskiyou County Seat. 

https://www.gribblenation.org/2020/12/siskiyou-county-route-a28-connecting.html

Great pix as usual, Max.  Noticed you got the Yreka Western grade crossing (crossbucks only; no devices) in Montague -- that was the short line connecting the former SP line with Yreka itself, now functionally mothballed (but a steam-powered recreational line in the 1970's and 1980's).  Perhaps I'll take a detour over A28 the next time I'm heading up to Oregon.  But one slight correction -- the Siskiyou Line, which diverges from the UP main just south of Weed, is no longer a UP property but owned & operated by the Central Oregon and Pacific Railroad (CORP), which extends from Weed (with trackage rights down to the Dunsmuir yard) to Eugene, with another branch heading west and south from there to Coos Bay.  Last time I heard, they're running manifest trains over Siskiyou Summit about 3 times/week, so it's not surprising you didn't come across a CORP train somewhere along A28.  Coming out of Hornbrook, they're on about a 2.5% grade NB, so those trains are moving very slowly through Hilts and up to the summit tunnel -- pretty easy to follow when they are there.  Downhill (on both sides of the summit) is equally slow; because of the heavy gradient (up to 3.3% on the north side) the dynamic brakes are engaged all the way down the grades.  It's no wonder that builder SP started looking for a better path after operating Siskiyou for a little over 10 years!     

[Max Rockatansky]

^^^

Yeah you're right, I have the CORP on my list of corrections/additions to make this weekend.  It didn't even occur to me that the Spur was sold until I did the blog about OR 273.  The Map Scans Facebook page provided some interesting older road maps that suggest a lot of general traffic from Yreka used Montague-Hornbrook to get north towards Siskiyou Pass instead of Anderson Grade Road before Legislative Route 3/Pacific Highway came to be.