Railroading at more than 30 below!

I've not been posting much lately while away from New England and haven't had much new to share while back up here in Alaska. Days are short and the ARR hasn't been running any freights in daylight to Whittier and the passenger trains depart and arrive in darkness in the mornings and evenings respectively.

But today came together spectacularly thanks to Frank Keller. The ARR had dispatched a "Snow Fleet" north on Wednesday to spend four days winging out bad spots on the railroad north from Talkeetna all the way to Cantwell and beyond.

Knowing they'd tied up at Cantwell and were on duty at 0600, thanks to Intel from Vern Gillis and Daniel Keim who were working the train we struck out early. Frank picked me up at 0330 and we drove the long lonely 215 miles north up the Parks Highway. When we arrived at 0730 it was still pitch black and the sky was wild with stars while low level green Aurora Borealis danced on the northern horizon silhouetting the Alaska Range.

The temp was -27 when we got there and watched them wing out the main and siding beside the section house. Then they departed north with plans to plow to MP 330 (Cantwell is just shy of 220) before continuing on from there all the way to Healy (MP 360) to turn on the wye and then come back south. The slow speed while plowing bought us an hour for the morning blue hour to start giving us some usable light account sunrise was not until 1040 AM.

As we drove north from Cantwell into Denali Park it got colder and colder hitting 38 degrees below zero at the lowest! Then with the wind whipping through the confines of the Nenana Canyon it was downright brutal....and worth every minute!!! A lot of shots were captured today, but here a four quick ones I just worked up here on my phone to share.

All images Friday January 4, 2019

ARR Spreader 9 is in the lead with GP40-2s 3004, 3010 and Spreader 7 trailing as they blast toward the Parks Hwy grade crossing at MP 345 inside Denali National Park.

ARR Spreader 9 is in the lead with GP40-2s 3004, 3010 and Spreader 7 trailing as they roll north up the Nenana Canyon crossing the Sheep Creek Bridge at MP 352.7 inside Denali National Park.

ARR Spreader 9 is in the lead with GP40-2s 3004, 3010 and Spreader 7 trailing as they blast toward the Denali Park Road grade crossing at MP 348.15 inside Denali National Park.

ARR Spreader 9 is in the lead with GP40-2s 3004, 3010 and Spreader 7 trailing as they roll north up the Nenana River Canyon at MP 353 inside Denali National Park.

Number 3006 GP40-2, #3006 and #3002 were in the Diesel Shop during the tour.  Once servicing was complete, the #3006 was started up and both units were taken outside and readied for another day of work.

SD-70MAC, #4001  was in the Electrical Shop, all tied up during the tour.  It appears that the shop forces use stacks of new railroad ties to support the engine while they go about refurbishing the wheels sets and accompanying traction motors during the winter time frame when there is less demand for the engines.

All pictures were taken by Matt Leistico, at ASME (American Society of Mechanical Engineers) Tour of Alaska Railroad, Anchorage shop facilities, 1/15/19 Event was hosted by AKRR Personnel, and all tour participants were wearing required PPE gear.  

Stefanie says of her photos, "You have had some great photos of the week lately so I thought I would send you a couple of crummy ones of mine. The first shot 4323 and 3013 pull the Coastal Classic over the bridge at Bird Creek. A spot where I have always wanted to get a shot of the train. The second is the Coastal Classic as it makes its way south just past Bird Creek. The sky is very obscured with smoke from the Swan Lake Fire. June 27, 2019"

[Webmaster's note: First, I don't believe the photos are crummy. I love them! Second, the Kenai Peninsula is suffering from the smoke of a large fire which has charred more than 70,000 acres since being ignited by lightning on June 5. Anchorage is suffering as well. The city's airport registered its second longest duration of smoke observation since 1960 with visibility at or below six miles. Combine this with near record high temperatures of 90 degrees and we have some very unhappy Alaskans.]

The Healy Canyon is one of my favorite places to go. It’s just south of town. I drove part way, forded a small stream, and walked to the spot. All totaled it was about 15 minutes from the Totem Inn, in downtown Healy. It’s either this location or the bridge at Nenana, it’s not possible to catch up with the train northbound from this location.

This series of photos shows ARR 4328 working north from MP 357 toward Healy. Unfortunately, this train has no passengers, as they’ve disembarked at the Park, and this train ties up at Healy for servicing overnight. (1, 2, 3) 8/12/19

Winter ridership on the Alaska Railroad has increased every year since 2015 due to hopeful trips to see the aurora borealis. During the winter of 2016-2017 ridership grew 33 percent as well as the following winter. Typically the railroad only ran weekend winter trains between Anchorage and Fairbanks, but added midweek trains to meet the demand. Marketing efforts resulted in sharp increases in visitors from Australia, China, Taiwan and Canada.

Casey Durand and his girl friend took the train out of Talkeetna with hopes of an overnight view of aurora from the warm comfort of the windows of the Denali Overlook Inn. His photo of the train consist also shows the variety of passengers on the Aurora Winter Train. Weekenders heading for their remote cabins, tourists including two taking a "selfie" and one bold woman who has emerged wearing boots and a short sleeve T-shirt. The train consist was baggage, diner, 452 cafe lounge, 3 coaches and baggage.

I have of course seen the picture of the week and I wanted to add a caption for it. The gentleman with the orange Hi-Vis is my direct supervisor, John Simmons. He is the manager of Guest Services, so he oversees all depot operations and Baggage Handlers on the ARR. He rode the train to Fairbanks to solve a few small problems in Healy and Denali. There are two On Board Supervisors standing by the door, Mia Vajdos on the left, and Alana Nerup on the right.  11/23/19

Part of the fun of serving as creator and webmaster of this mega-popular website is getting to meet interesting people from all over the world. Most of them I know through the Internet such as email and social media. A pretty fair number I've meet while traveling this fascinating world of ours, not only in Alaska, but in other states and countries. The final category of encounters are those friends who actually stop by our home for a visit.

Jeff McCrea first contacted me in 2003, saying "I've been a railroad freak my entire life so you can imagine my feeling for the Alaska Railroad." Over the years we've shared train tales and photos, both prototypical and models. Yesterday, Jeff stopped for a visit as part of a multi-state driving marathon to return home. One of his agenda items was to check out my HO scale ARR layout and I was only to happy to give him a tour. I liked Jeff instantly and wished he was my next door neighbor as we would've had a lot of fun foaming and modeling together.

Here is one of the first photos Jeff sent to my way. Those of you who treasure the heritage freight scheme will love this one! Jeff and his godfather caught this Maintenance of Way (MoW) train headed up by GP40 numbers 3003 and 3008 near the Portage/Whittier wye on April 25, 2005.

P.S. to Jeff - Thanks again for the Alaska Railroad HO scale train gifts! They will make an awesome addition to my new layout.