In The Shadow Of Site Summit

Alaska Railroad GP40-2 3001 looks good in this simple broadside portrait as a yard crew heads south on the mainline at MP 119.8 crossing the Davis Highway on Joint Base Elmendorf-Richardson. The classic EMD was bought new by the Alaska Railroad in April 1975 and of this writing nearly a dozen years later they remains one of three (along with 3003 and 3006) still dressed in this paint out of a total of 11 similar units originally delivered this way (the first two orders).

Eight miles away providing a dramatic backdrop are the 4000 ft peaks surrounding Arctic Valley in the Chugach Mountains. If you look closely directly above and to the right of the dynamic brake fan you can see some buildings on top of the mountain. This is Nike Site Summit one of the last active and best preserved of over 250 Nike missile batteries scattered around the United States to protect major American cities against incoming Soviet bombers during the pre-ICBM days of the Cold War. This site is now listed on the National Register of Historic Places and offers limited tours which I had the pleasure of attending once. If you're interested to learn more or visit check out these links:

https://www.nikesitesummit.net/
https://www.nps.gov/places/nike-site-summit.htm

Anchorage, Alaska
Tuesday April 19, 2011

Photo courtesy of Dave Blazejewski