Alaska Railroad Giveaway program
Facts:
Lengths of Alaska Railroad mainline track (based off mileposts from Alaska
Railroad timetable #131)
Seward to Fairbanks = 470.3 miles
Eielson =28 miles
Airport = 2.45 miles
Whittier = 12.0 miles
Palmer = 6.2 miles
Healy = 1.7 miles
Total mainline trackage = 520.65
From the 2002 standard trackwork plans:
Drawing 1.2 gives tie spacing for four different track types, main line, branch
line, etc.
The case for primary mainline track is: Ties at 19" centers, or 3250 ties/mile
(others have, 2979, 3200, 2880 ties/mile) – will assume worst case.
520.65 miles * 3250 ties/mile = 1,692,112.5 railroad ties on mainline track
(no idea where that 0.5 railroad tie is)
Alaska 2004 population is:
600,760 people, based off of the PFD statistics for that year
(based off the assumption that if your not "Alaskan" then you don’t
get the PFD)
From the above information then:
Because the Alaska Railroad is a state owned corporation, and the population is what makes up the state, that means that we Alaskans technically own the railroad. Therefore each Alaskan can lay claim to 2.81 railroad ties. (this can possibly be rounded up to 3 each because of double track, yards, sidings and spurs.) How to proceed?
A) Leave the ties in the use of the Alaska Railroad.
B) Allow each citizen the option of coming to the railroad tracks and hauling away there 3 ties.
C) Allow each citizen the option of "personally customizing" their own railroad ties while they remain in place - florescent yellow paint, decals, carving initials, commemorative plaque, etc.
D) Break up the Alaska Railroad into 600,760 shortline railroads, each with
a length of 57” or 4 feet 9 inches. This option may result in differing
standards of trackwork, and "complex" rate negotiations.
And because there are 24 SD70MACs, that means each person gets 0.00003995 or
0.004% of an engine to operate on there new ultra shortlines. – so I OWN
the left front handrail of unit #4322 so HANDS OFF.
Matt Leistico