Bryan Saul says of his photo, "A train of Seaway trailers snakes its way through the loop district on its way to Seward in the 1980's." Mike Gerenday adds, " This photo really shows the elevation gain in the loop, awesome!" Frank Keller adds, "Sure wish that business still existed." Bryan Saul replies, " It was unfortunate that it was so short lived. Seward was a busy port in those days. Suneel, reefers of fish, Harbor fuel, ship loads of pipe for the slope, export logs, etc." Pete Mejia asks, "Why did Sealand dock in Seward and not in Anchorage back then?" Bryan Saul replies, " Seaway Express was an entirely different company. They operated a weekly triple decked barge service from Seattle. They were only in business for a few years, ending service around 1986." Steve Drassler adds, "Dynamic brakes were a godsend coming down that hill. Going up the hill was tough. One time, on a work train with 20 loaded air dumps and underpowered with two or three of the old F7 covered wagons, we stalled on that hill. I had RFE Weaver Franklin with me. Weaver said "let's back up and take another run at it." I thought "Oh, No, not a good idea. " The conductor said "I'll be standing on the rear step with my handset, ready to bail off if you get going too fast and I'll wave at you as you go by." We assaulted that hill three times, didn't make it, wound up doubling over to Hunter on the other side. That was a long and interesting day. " |
