Picture of the Week
Archives Section


Welcome to the Alaska Railroad Picture of the Week archives. A photograph is truly worth a thousand words. The Picture of the Week page began on February 16, 1998 with Jeff Child's photo of the Alaska Railroad's first locomotive, number 1. Since that time, professional photographers, railfans, Alaska Railroad employees, historians and passengers have sent a multitude of prints, slides, scanned images and digital photographs. Unfortunately, I can only post a fraction of what I receive due to lack of time. Sit back, relax and enjoy!
 
 

Picture of the Week Archives: 1998 | 1999 | 2000 | 2001 | 2002 | 2003 | 2004 | 2005 | 2006 | 2007 | 2008 | 2009 | 2010 | 2011 | 2012 | 2013 | 2014 | 2015 | 2016 | 2017


2018 Pictures of the Week
Date
Photographer
Photograph
01/01 Robert Krol December 28th was the grand opening of Brew@602 in Soldotna. The former Alaska Railroad double-decker gallery car was converted into a coffee/waffle house. The rail car is attached to a replica of a depot which will house an art gallery and gift shop. Finally, the passenger car Addie Camp, formerly owned by the Black Hills Central Railroad will serve Alaskan beers and premium wines as well as food such as tapas. Owner Mary Krull has dubbed the entire development “Whistle Hill.” (1, 2, 3, 4, 5)
01/08 Casey Durand Midwest Railcar Corporation insulated boxcar (MWCX) visiting the Anchorage yard from the land of graffiti. These scribblings have existed since ancient times with examples dating back to the Roman Empire. The graffiti on this boxcar is the writer's tag which is his or her personalized signature.
01/15 Frank Keller SD70MAC 4009 heads up 130N near Beach Lake Road on a beautiful sunlit evening. Part of the freight consisted of military equipment bound for Fort Wainwright. 5/13/17
01/22 Dave Blazejewski

Dave Blazejewski says of his photo, "So I got out trackside today for a quick little chase of a 120S from Anchorage to Bear Valley thanks to a tip from Frank Keller. The timing and lightning were perfect and I decided to try a shot I've had my eye on for 10 years. While I've shot here at this iconic Placer Creek location countless times, I've never waded down into the creek. In the summer the willows are too green and thick and it will be much more obscured. In winter the snow can get really deep here and the river will ice over, so the window for open water and no brush is pretty narrow.

"But the really hard part is finding a train at exactly the right time in good light. Well today it all came together. I followed the train all the way south shooting along the arm and then after watching him diverge at Portage Junction I buzzed down the road towards Whittier. For whatever reason he took quite a bit longer to get there than usual. This was good and bad. It was nice that it afforded me plenty of time to wade down there and find my angle, but less than ideal in the 15 degree temps out in the creek. I found a nice dry rock to lay on to get the low angle I wanted and then waited.

"The problem always with this spot is that you have no warning of the train approaching. You can't see it and you can't hear it due to the mile long tunnel he traverses before crossing the creek and the fact that the rolling water and occasional vehicle traffic mask any hint of sound emanating from the tunnel such that by the time you do hear him approach you have two seconds. Hence, in order not to miss your shot (and trust me I have more than once!) you have to have your camera positioned and ready.

"But, one benefit today with the cold dry air was the gentle cloud wafting out of the tunnel from the heaters that keep the portals from icing over. As soon as the train entered the tunnel it began pushing the exhaust and warm air ahead of it so the cloud got progressively larger giving me a nice four minute warning this time!

"I thought these two shots of the two distinct clouds coming from the tunnel were just kind of cool." (1, 2, 3)

01/29 Chris Paulhamus The Coastal Classic is a little more than an hour into its daily southbound trip to Seward on a beautiful spring morning, seen here passing Bird Point. 5/17/14
02/05 Robert Krol Robert Krol was able to snag photos of a work train (despite -2 degree temperatures) parked at Portage (1, 2, 3). Work is being done at a bridge near Spencer. 2/3/18
02/12 Stewart Sterling Stewart says of his photo, "My father took my brother and I down to the yards this day (July 29, 1979) to take photos. While driving around the ARR yards we came upon this group of Alaska Railroad cabooses. I took photos from each end and the middle but this shows what was going on at the time as far as the downturn of business. Caboose's were being phased out soon and Alaska Railroad had a surplus of them. Soon after this several of these cabooses in this line went south to run on lease for railroads in the lower 48....never to return. After they left more were needed in the late 1980's upturn so the ex-CN cabooses arrived to replace them."
02/19 Frank Keller It is 1050 on January 20th, 2018 and the sun has yet to clear the Chugach and Kenai Mountains but is promising to do so in the very near future. As I hear the southbound freight approaching my location, I have staked out the bridge over the 20 Mile River, I contemplate if in the 4 minutes it will take the train to arrive if the sun will also arrive. At 1054 I receive my answer, not quite, but an interesting scene none the less. In another 30 minutes or so this train will arrive at the Port of Whittier and start the task of loading the barge for Seattle.
02/26 Volker Lange Volker Lange says of his photo, "Nenana River Gorge, Alaska Railroad train Fairbanks to Anchorage on September 8th, 2016 in the "tunnel cut off" close to the George Parks Highway Bridge. The two SD70MACs (#4322 and #4320) slowly increase their speed, the timetable should also be kept! As a European railroad fan, with preference Alaska Railroad & U.S. Railroads, you are just thrilled!"
03/05 Terry Douglas Terry Douglas says of his photo, "Today [3/2/18] a couple of ARR MAC's did some switching to place some freight cars on the mainline outside the Historic Depot (where I was on "Great Train Show" duty for 557 Restoration Co). When I left the depot, the two MAC's were resting at the edge of the yard, near the C Street crossing. So attached is a pic of "Spirit of Palmer" (4007) and "Spirit of Cantwell" (4010), on a brilliant March day in Anchorage."
03/12 Amy Mitchell "The photo was taken the summer of 2016 on a trip from Kenai to Eagle River during my son's football season. I love that area, it was taken on the bridge right past the Portage Depot. Ironically, I have never been on a train! I have pulled over and taken dozens of pictures through the Turnagain Arm area over the years."
03/19 Arlene Rhoades Collection

Recently Arlene Rhoades shared these extremely unique photos on Facebook and I asked if I could use them as an upcoming Picture of the Week. Arlene is the Alaska Railroad's Chief Train Dispatcher and began working in May of 2000. Of her photos she says, "Just watched a show on station wagons.... made me sentimental for my dad's wagons.... he drove nothing but at home and the office. Black Mariah in action at Tunnel, 1983."

"Jack Hepworth started working for the ARR in 1958 (not sure exactly). He retired in 1985 when lots of federal employees retired prior to or right after the handoff to the state. When he retired he was Superintendent of Transportation. The car was retired then as well I believe." (1, 2, 3)

03/26 Robert Krol

For twenty one years I have posted a Picture of the Week. If I was going on vacation, having surgery, etc. I would put up photos in advance for the forthcoming weeks. However, this week I was thrown for a loop. On March 23 at 1:00 AM my daughter called and said she was having serious labor pains and our grandson would be popping out soon. So we grabbed our stuff and made the two hour drive to her home. At 5:35 AM our (fourth) grandson "Lincoln" was born. How exciting! He is so wonderful! I realized today (March 25) I didn't have my software tools (Adobe Dreamweaver, Adobe Photoshop and FTP Fetch) with me to create a POTW. What you see for this week's entry is some interesting and recently received photos which I uploaded with a crude set of software tools using my wife's laptop. In my memory I have only missed posting a POTW once and I'm not going to let it happen again!

Robert Krol was passing by Potter and noticed a string of flat cars with the word "Rage"following the road number. What does this mean? Frank Keller was kind enough to solve the riddle. "Those flat cars are to be loaded with ties in Whittier. A work train should pick them up this week and take them to Whittier. These flat cars are retired and can only be used in Maintenance of Way (MOW) service. Rage stands for Retirement AGE." (1, 2 3, 4)

04/02 Frank Keller Yesterday [5/15/17] was truly a beautiful day in the Anchorage, AK area. With such a beautiful evening in store for me I took a drive out to the Knik River and captured this shot of the north freight crossing the Knik River. In the background are the Twin Peaks as well as Pioneer Peak, just out of site to the left of the train was a rainbow.
04/09 Dave Blazejewski The classic look of GP40-2 3006 on the point of 120S near Beluga Point. November 15, 2016
04/16 Ted Smith-Peterson Alaska Railroad's Aurora Winter Train creeps across Hurricane Gulch, stopping mid span to allow the trainload of passengers a view from the top of this impressive structure.
04/23 Sid Vaught Alaska Railroad caboose #1776 was painted in the theme of the American flag in celebration of the country's bicentennial. Chester Mack of Yorba Linda, California, created the art work and design which included two painted decals. On one side was a polar bear and the other of an Eskimo woman and child. Anchorage, 9/3/76.
04/30 Brian LeRoy SD70MAC #4004 Spirit of Whittier at Cantwell. 4/14/18
05/07 Aaron Pedersen

GP40 #3005, built in April of 1975, idles in the Healy Yard, with the rock train behind it. Taken on April 28, 2018

Rick Leggett adds, "Getting that kind of power for a work train, especially for air dumps, was only a dream at one time. Speaking of air dumps, there is an interesting story behind that string of cars in the photo. President Bob Hatfield asked me soon after he started in the early 90's, what we needed in MOW to keep the railroad 'open' in an emergency. I told him that our Ditchers (locomotive cranes w/shovel fronts) and air dumps were the two most important pieces of equipment we owned for taking care of emergencies and that we were in good shape with Ditchers, but our WW2 era air dumps were falling like flies. He said, "I think I can do something about that." Not too long after that, these heavy duty cars were on the property. He knew about them because they had been used by the Southern Pacific to build up the causeway across the Great Salt Lake and the SP had so many of them, they were willing to sell some. Because they were used to dump large rip-rap for the causeway project, they were built by Difco to be heavier duty than their standard side-dump cars. So thanks to Bob Hatfield and Bob Cox (the VP-COO)...we had these beauties on the ARR. Thanks again Bob and Bob!"

05/14 Todd Shechter I snapped these photos (1, 2) yesterday 3 May 2018 of this set moving around the Anchorage yard. Photos were taken from the A Street bridge over the yard.
05/21 Frank Keller Alaska Railroad's unique Hurricane Turn is sitting on its namesake The Hurricane Bridge over Hurricane Gulch. This bridge is 916' long and 296' from the top of the rail to the bottom of the Gulch. A pretty impressive structure built in 1921. 6/20/17
05/28 Chris Nuthall A works train comprising of vacuum-operated side dumps rests in the sun on the the Palmer Branch near Matanuska behind now faded Bicentennial liveried FP7s 1510 and 1512 on August 14, 1985.
06/04 Robert Krol Holland America Princess (HAP) repainted two of their passenger cars and Robert Krol was in Whittier to capture a good comparison/contrast photo essay. Robert says of his photos, "Newly painted Holland coaches on the DEX [Denali EXpress] in Whittier. When there is a lot of passengers to move and they run out of Princess coaches - they add Holland coaches." 6/2/18 (1, 2, 3, 4, 5, 6, 7, 8)
06/11 Sam Latham Alaska Railroad GP40-H #3015 idles at the end of the line in Seward, Alaska as passengers depart for various cruises and day trip options on Thursday, May 24, 2018. The 3015 was second out on this day's Coastal Classic. [Webmaster's note: My favorite locomotive in a big bold photo format! Delicious!]
06/18 Robert Krol Today’s Coastal Classic on the way to Seward at Trail Lake Bridge. 6/3/18
06/18 Stewart Sterling Yesterday (June 2,2018) I had to go to Seward AK to help my brother transport a crate of his partners belongings to Anchorage from Seward that arrived on a fishing tender that came up from Washington on its way to Bristol Bay for the salmon season. I figured since it was a nice day to leave early and get some photos of the Coastal Classic. What a beautiful day it turned out to be! Here is the Coastal Classic at Trail Lake Bridge.
06/25 Frank Keller The Fairbanks coal turn is a mile south of Nenana heading for Usibelli on an absolutely stunning day in the Alaska interior. In the background is the Nenana River. 6/1/18
07/02 Randy Thompson Ever seen an SD70MAC on the Hurricane Turn? GP40 #3009 lost power near Chulitna and the railroad peeled off SD70MAC #4327 from the southbound Denali Star to finish the Hurricane Turn trip. Our friend Randy Thompson had joined us for the trip and he captured the quirky moment as well as my wife photographing the consist on the curve. I gotta tell you this is one of my favorite Alaska Railroad photos of all time. 6/22/18
07/09 Ryan Rodriguez Alaska Railroad conductor Ryan Rodriguez captured a photo of my wife Terry and I on baggage car #100 at Hurricane Gulch. Conductor Rodriguez adequately filled the shoes of Hurricane Turn stalwart Warren Redfearn through his knowledge, humor and professionalism. 6/22/18
07/16 John Combs GP40 #3007 is on the point of freight 125S at Portage bringing 35 cars out of Whittier from the Canadian AquaTrain. The AquaTrain is the longest rail car barge servicing Alaska with a slip 120 feet long, 36 feet wide and 8 tracks each 400 feet long. 6/25/18
07/16 Terry Combs Yes indeed that is an Alaska Railroad gondola being used as a footbridge to cross a stream along the Indian Valley Trail. Since the moment Stefanie Coppock sent me her photos of the bridge I knew I had to see it for myself. As my hiking abilities are limited I am forever grateful to my wife Terry for encouragement and trail reconnaissance. This style of gondola has removable ends of thus lends itself to a variety of new uses. 6/26/18
07/23 John Carrico My favorite bridge along the Alaska Railroad is TwentyMile. It isn't the most spectacular, majestic or graceful, but is very accessible and just a short drive from Anchorage. I've spent a lot of time here capturing photos of different train from various locations and even spent a dark evening here watching the lights of locomotives as they navigated a long freight into Anchorage. John Carrico was there in July 2018 on a cloudless day with a piercing bright blue sky capturing a southbound cruise train.
07/30 Bill Bivins Locomotive engineer Bill Bivins says of his photo, "A beautiful sunset was happening out the back door of the locomotive. It was this beautiful reflection and had to snap a shot (gotta love iPhones). We were working in the Anchorage yard and were out by the coastal trail/inlet at MP114." 3/24/14
08/06 Randy Thompson Randy says of his photos, "I was snooping around the Healy yard yesterday (7-28-18) and saw this string of Difco dump cars (1, 2, 3, 4) on the east siding.   There is some MOW work going on [at the Ferry bridge]."
08/13 Jim Somerville "The southern bridge (of two) over the Matanuska River. Photo taken at 2,000 feet in the direction of west. Thursday, July 19, 2018 at 10 am or so."
08/20 Robert Krol SD70MAC #4321 leads the Denali Express (MEX) as it emerges from Maynard Mountain (1, 2, 3) via the 2.5 mile Anton Anderson Tunnel. This single lane tunnel is the only joint use rail/auto tunnel in the United States and alternates vehicle traffic on the half hour while accommodating the occasional freight or passenger train. 7/23/18
08/27 Frank Keller While this shot isn't exactly what I wanted it is as close as I have gotten after 18 months and 6 different attempts. It is difficult to fly the drone here as it can and usually is windy, hence the name Windy Corner. On this day there was very little wind and I was initially set up more to the right and quite a bit lower looking straight up the canyon. Unfortunately battery life isn't long on these units so I had to return to base only to have the train appear on my way back to my landing area. I was at least able to grab this shot on the return flight. I will need to try again some other day. 6/1/18
09/03 Curt Fortenberry Crossing the Tanana River is the 700-foot Mears Memorial Bridge one of the largest simple truss-type bridges in the world. Prior to bridge construction the railroad provided ferry service across the river. In the winter once the ice was thick enough tracks were actually laid on top of the ice. In Curt Fortenberry's April 8, 1999 photo GP40 #3006 heads up a north bound oil express (OX) across an icy Tanana River.
09/10 Jeff McCrea

All of these photos were taken from the Johansen expressway on 23 August 2018. As luck would have it the overnight northbound freight was running late that day, I knew this because I was at the bridge setting up earlier in the day (around 0700) when an ARR yard employee yelled up to me it was running late; told me it was expected around 1130 - 1200. I thanked him and packed up my stuff, deciding to come back later. I have to say every ARR employee I met was cool as heck, every engineer gave me a friendly wave, and several stopped to chat while I was waiting to give me updates on the trains schedule.

Anyway, I came back later and was able to catch 130N rolling into the yard. I'm only guessing but I believe they prepositioned 2005/2004 in order to expedite breaking down the overnight freight. I mentioned luck since the delay allowed the weather to clear up.... turned into one of the nicer, non-raining, days there.

130 pulled down until the TOFC section was almost even with 2004/2005, uncoupled, then pulled their train ahead to clear space allowing 2004/2005 to pull up, back down and couple onto the TOFC section. 2004/2005 then pulled the TOFC's up into the intermodal unloading siding.

Once clear 130 backed their remaining section back into the south-yard; first setting their string of tank cars lead, then up and back to set out the remaining cars. After 130's engines left for the engine facility 2004/2005 came back and grabbed the string of tank cars 130 had set out. They then proceeded to run to North Pole; I chased them there and grabbed a few shots of them setting out and picking up more tanks at the old refinery.

09/17 Arlene Rhodes Motorcar Operators West members are visiting Alaska September 8-24. In sixteen days they will travel about 1000 miles from Anchorage to Fairbanks, to Seward and back to Anchorage. On September 9th Arlene caught the group as they reached Beach Lake Road at Birchwood (1, 2, 3). As an added bonus she was able to capture some video as well.
09/24 Patrick Phelan SD70MAC Distributed Power Units (DPUs) on front and rear of the Quality Asphalt Paving (QAP) train heading south through Anchorage on July 2018.
10/01 Mike Criss Mike Criss captured number 3006 on the point of a ballast Maintenance of Way (MOW) train at Palmer. September 2018
10/08 Sam Latham

The southbound Hurricane Turn led by Alaska Railroad NPCU 32 (Former Amtrak F40PHR 268) departs the Talkeetna, Alaska house track and makes the half mile trip to the station as it crosses the main road in town. That's Mount Foraker in the background, all 17,400 feet of it. It's the third tallest mountain in North America. 

The Hurricane Turn is the most unique train in North America, in my opinion. For 60 miles, the train travels through unspoiled wilderness not accessible by road. Therefore, the train is a lifeline for the people who choose to live off-grid. Its the only way in and out of this area, unless you fly in. Although you can sit in the dome car and enjoy the scenery, the best place on the train in my opinion is the baggage car. There, you can stand and converse with the off-gridders, the whitewater rafters, and the adventurers that are here to get all that Alaska has to offer. I rode here for most of the trip.

It must have left a large enough impression on mom, since it was her favorite train ride on the trip.

Huge thanks to John Combs for insisting that we take the train! Although it was on our list to do as such, his emphasis on the train definitely made the difference on our plans.

10/15 Frank Keller On a beautiful fall evening a work train goes about the business of keeping the railroad up to snuff. Hard to resist this photo this afternoon. Fall colors, mountains, reflection and a train. (1, 2, 3, 4) ARR 3001, 592W, MP 147, 10/01/18.
10/22 Patrick Durand

This week's Picture of the Week recognizes the dedicated volunteers rebuilding steam locomotive #557.

From the left,  Ken Elmore, Gerry Christiansen, Jerry Peters, Robert Franzen, President of Steam Services of America, Bob Gold, Boiler Maker, Mike Mckervey, Jerry Cunnington, Dean Sawyer, Tom Walker and Lynn Willis.  Pat Durand took the photo in the 557 Engine House October 12, 2018.   On the ninth day of a ten day marathon of boiler work on 557, the crew takes a lunch break.   Silver Salmon, two versions of corn casserole, green salad and apple cake, kept the Volunteer 557 Mechanical Department available for a quick restart.  Over 1000 hours of volunteer effort went into supporting PE, Robert Franzen and boiler maker Bob Gold.   The crew worked 10 hour days under their direction and you can see daily progress at  Engine 557 Facebook.

From the left:  Tom Walker, Gerry Christensen, Jerry Peters, Robert Franzen, Mike McKervey, Bob Gold, Lynn Willis, Paul Dalleska, Ken Elmore, Ron Dudley and Pat Durand took the photo.

The cacophony of air hammers, air motors, and grinders floods the senses and requires lots of hearing protection.   There are men at work on top of the firebox, inside the boiler, inside the firebox and under the throat sheet in this photo.  Sort of reminiscent of an old time boiler shop!

10/29 Karl Hovanitz Here is the group of speeders at the 'new' loop [Spencer Glacier] at mile 48 on September 23, 2018.
11/05 Mike Criss Mike says of his photo, "Transitioning from fall to winter quickly." Fall 2018
11/12 Robert Krol Maintenance of Way rail gang's equipment will soon head to the Anton Anderson Memorial Tunnel to change out rail. Portage, October 2018 (1, 2, 3, 4, 5, 6, 7, 8)
11/19 Dave Blazejewski

For your Alaskan Interlude let's take you to Alaska's own "Sullivan's Curve" named for Michael Sullivan of Hoboken NJT fame whose brush cutting skills earlier in the year opened up this shot. It's rare to catch a GP38-2 on the main, as the classic little 2000 hp units are generally reserved for yard duty. And since they are the only class of loco wearing the 1980's "Alaska Bold" scheme it is an extra special treat, particularly in the short window of golden fall color! Northbound 120N from Whittier swings around the big curve north of Rainbow siding at MP 93.5 on the Kenai Subdivision. September 16, 2016.

11/26 Frank Keller The returning Glacier Discovery rolls past the salt water pond at Girdwood under the brilliant light of the setting sun. Fall 2018
12/03 Roy Foster Roy Foster submitted 348 photos covering a decade beginning in 1973. His collection has everything from locomotives to passenger cars to freight to Maintenance of Way (MOW) equipment. Twenty-six years after it was built Roy captured a photo of FP7-A #1512 in Anchorage, July 1979. In 1986 the unit was purchased by the Wyoming & Colorado Railroad 1512 who sold it to the Verde Canyon Railroad in 1996.
12/10 Mike Gerenday

It is frustrating choosing just one photo for each week's Picture of the Week entry. Therefore, to ease my anxiety (as well as give you an unexpected bonus) I am going to spit out multiple photos taken by one photographer over the next few weeks.

It's a warm May 12, 2014 and the Coastal Classic is being turned on the wye, and I happened to be on it. Number 3015 with the McKinley Express (MEX) is in the yard. Mount Marathon provides the backdrop in this scene.

The Coastal Classic and Mount Marathon. This picture was taken after the train was turned on the wye, about half an hour half the above photo. As you can see it was a beautiful clear day in Seward, not very common. Interestingly, while I took the photo ARR employees, Seward EMTs and police took part in a live training exercise in the event a passenger train derails. 5/12/18

Number 3015 stands tall on the Palmer Branch after bringing happy fairgoers to the Alaska State Fair. Number 3015 had just returned to service after a rebuild. 9/4/18

12/17 Frank Keller

It is frustrating choosing just one photo for each week's Picture of the Week entry. Therefore, to ease my anxiety (as well as give you an unexpected bonus) I am going to spit out multiple photos taken by one photographer over the next few weeks.

A couple of Alaska Cabooses bring up the rear of the company work train on a glorious afternoon for photography. This train has just crossed beneath the Parks Highway a few miles from Cantwell. Really nice of the rainbow to make an appearance as well. September 2016.

Nothing quite like a winter scene in Alaska. And with the railroad currently shut down due to the earthquake I thought I would go to the archives for today's shot. The plow train departs Broad Pass after clearing the line from snow. The sun was out but never rose high enough in the sky to light the valley and train. It wasn't really necessary as this shot turned out great.

The scenery is unparalleled between Anchorage and Seward and I like to spend as much time taking photos anywhere in between. Plenty of chances to see wildlife, I have seen bears, moose, sheep, coyotes, and whales of course those are all chance sightings. You're happy if you spot let alone get a picture but during the summer I often turn my camera to the passenger trains that run south from Anchorage. These trains are the subject of many of my photos and run on a predictable schedule making your chances for success much greater. This shot shows the Coastal Classic rolling through the big curve just prior to their station stop at Girdwood.

Earlier in the year the Alaska Railroad's Denali Star crosses the Mears Memorial Bridge across the Tanana River in Nenana. It was at the north end of this bridge that President Harding drove home the golden spike signifying completion of the Alaska Railroad.

A southbound military train rolls by the University of Fairbanks just a bit after sunrise last Friday. It was a cool 5 degrees and this would be the biggest appearance of the sun for the day.

12/24 Dave Blazejewski

Sadly Frank Keller reports no lights or decorations of any kind on the locos, breaking a long tradition. So I'm going to take you back again two years to a better time. Here is the 3 PM run having reached the end of their southbound trip 25 miles from Anchorage at the siding in Indian. They will reverse direction here for the run back to town. The high peaks of mighty Chugach Mountains at the head of the valley are deep in snow and the ice flows are thick in the tidal waters of Turnagain Arm. But all is warm and cozy in the glowing train down below in this aerial view. Indian, Alaska December 10, 2016.

Let's take you back to December 2, 2018. SD70MAC 4327 is bedecked in Christmas Lights as it adds a splash of color to a gloomy dark cloudy evening as they round Beluga Point alongside Turnagain Arm with a holiday train out of Anchorage that was making a round trip to and from Indian. This was one of the last trains I chased in Alaska before hitting the road for points south and east. Last year the weather was gloomy and snow was light, making the holiday trains decidedly less photogenic.

I thought a photo of a company work train was appropriate given that the hard working engineering and transportation teams worked around the clock to assess and then repair the damage to the railroad after last Friday's 7.0 earthquake that was centered very close the the railroad's headquarters city of Anchorage. This very equipment was what was employed to repair the damage that everyone has seen on the wires. Thanks to their efforts the first freight train departed on the 356 mile journey between Alaska's two largest cities last night, less than 100 hours after the quake hit! This shot was taken in less stressful times back on April 20, 2017 as a train of side dump gondolas and flat cars of heavy equipment curl south along Turnagain Arm behind an SD70MAC, GP40-2, and GP38-2 each sporting a different paint scheme. The men and women of the Alaska Railroad are some of the proudest, most competent, and most professional railroaders I've ever had the pleasure of working with.

What's kind of cool about this shot is that it was taken from the same spot, with the the same camera, and is the same train as this image. Just shows you the trick your lens can play from full 270mm zoom to backing all the way out to 18mm wide. Southbound Denali Star crosses Cantwell Creek in Cantwell, Alaska. September 15, 2017.

Big Country - Tiny Train! For this Alaskan Interlude I offer you a favorite. And ironically, this isn't a little train. This is, in point of fact, the Alaska Railroad's largest passenger train of the year. 16 cars are bracketed by three big SD70MACs with the annual Nordic Ski Association of Anchorage's Curry Ski train. Looking down from the new Parks Highway overpass at MP 206.25 south of Montana, Alaska the southbound train is dwarfed by the enormity that is Alaska. Rising dramatically beyond the train 77 miles away...as the Raven flys....is Denali, The Great One...North America's highest peak at 20,310 feet March 11, 2017.

12/25 Eric Swedberg Eric Swedberg says of his December 21, 2018 photo, "We’ve had over 100 inches of snow in the last ten days. Tie flats loaded with super bundles 33,000 pounds each."
12/25 Robert Krol Two quotes I received for the above bus photo, "John Combs all I can say is that it belongs to Tom. It hauls boat motors to be fixed or something." and "It's actually staying in Whittier. Owned by a railroader." 9/6/18
12/25 Markus Gmür A lot of boats and one train at Whittier in the morning sun: He will pick up passengers from the cruise ship. The photo is taken from the 12th floor of the cruise ship 'Island Princess' at 6am. 7/25/12
12/25 Robert Krol The Whittier barge was tired. ;-)
12/25 Dave Blazejewski Upper Deck View - This is a view from the service walkway on the upper deck of the AML Barge Fairbanks Provider which is tied up in Whittier. This view looks off the stern at the barge slip below as a pair of vintage ARR geeps (seen in the distance) gingerly pull cars off the starboard side of the barge. Once a week an AML (Alaska Marine Lines) barge arrives at the port of Whittier from Seattle. There are three barges in rotation and each was built by Gunderson in 2001 and is 420 feet long by 120 feet wide. They feature 8 tracks with capacity of 45-50 railcars and then overhead racks for stacking containers up to three high. This is truly a fascinating operation to observe and a marvel of logistics innovation. In the background rises the Begich Towers, a 15 story high rise in which nearly all of the town's full time residents reside! Note: the photographer is a railroad employee with permission to be on the property and was wearing all required PPE while taking this photograph. 3/9/11

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