The Wreck of Engine No 5.

On display next to one of four original train stations sits an icon of Palmer, a 1910 Baldwin narrow gauge saddle tank engine known as Number 5, or the Palmer Train. Since it was put on display in the late 1950s a roof was built over the little engine to keep it out of the elements. Over the New Year's weekend of 2022, the strongest windstorm in over 40 years whipped through the Matanuska and Susitna Valleys causing severe damage to buildings and the power grid. Many trees were blown over, small aircraft destroyed, roofs blown clean off, and some buildings were obliterated. Unfortunately the roof covering the little engine in Palmer did not survive and fell victim to the storm. The roof is seen on the engineers side of the engine and the stack was knocked off, oddly enough holding part of the shed up. By the looks of it, the wind picked up the roof at the same time it was falling over possibly saving the wooden cab. From my survey the only damage to the engine is the broken smoke stack. The posts of the shed were rotten due to age of the structure. It's unknown at this time what will happen to the engine, its owned by the City of Palmer and I'm sure they have more pressing matters currently with the aftermath of the storm. Winds were clocked over 90 miles an hour in places. Engine No 5 was originally used in the construction of the Alaska Railroad and after completion it was used in the Moose Creek mines between Palmer and Sutton where narrow gauge lines were used to haul coal to the standard gauge track. To my knowledge it is the only narrow gauge saddle tank engine used in the construction of the Alaska Railroad that survives. The honorary 1 on display next to the Anchorage Depot was a construction engine but was converted to standard gauge. I hope something will be done to the little engine of Palmer, its as iconic as the water tower and the train depot. 01/07/2022

See more photos here (1, 2, 3, 4, 5, 6, 7)

Two of the last three GP40-2s to wear their 1975 as delivered black and yellow paint trundle back north through the yard after yarding the first third of their 6015 foot train 120S that they brought down from Anchorage. The empty yard squeezed hard between the icy glacier waters of Prince William Sound and the Kenai Peninsula Coast Ranges will soon be full of container laden railcars shuttling traffic to and from the Alaska Marine Lines barge which has just arrived after a week long journey from Seattle.

Whittier is the ARR's main port for shipment of containers which arrive via barge stacked in racks above the main deck which contains 8 tracks for interchange of railcars to the BNSF & UP in Seattle. The concrete structure rising beyond is the long abandoned Buckner Building, once the largest building in Alaska.

Whittier, Alaska Wednesday
March 9, 2011

Out of the Mountains

A short 120N is surround by mountains and open water on this early Spring day in the Last Frontier. In a mile or so this train will enter the mainland head north 50 miles to Anchorage where the crew will end their day. Taken on April 5, 2019

Alaskan Glory

This shot is in the top five of all that I took in the decade I lived in the Last Frontier. I shared this long ago on RailPictures.net but it deserves to be here too. This is also special to me as it graced the cover of Railroads Illustrated 2017 Annual that featured a lengthy piece on snow fighting in Alaska that I penned. If interested I see that White River Productions still offers them for sale.

Anyway, this is the caption I wrote at the time:

It was a splendid cold Sunday with bluebird skies and crisp white snow abounding. An empty intermodal (bare table) train 110S was called for a date with the Northland Services barge at the Alaska Railroad's southernmost terminal in Seward. So, a quick call to my friend Frank Keller and we decided to go for it. What a chase...114 miles from Anchorage to the end of the line with not a cloud in sight. Two clean SD70MACs led the train which was unfortunately not very photogenic consisting of one tank car and 60 flats (most of which were empty) for a total of 2660 tons and 4852 feet. Here the train is seen plowing snow as it hustles south across the frozen waters of Trail Lake at MP 29.5. Until last summer this bridge was a 10 MPH bottleneck on the mainline to Seward. But with new steel bents and stringers courtesy of the Alaska Railroad's bridges and buildings (B&B) crew, trains now cruise at 25 MPH.

Moose Pass, Alaska
Sunday March 11, 2012

On Golden Pond

In the golden rays of the setting sun the Coastal Classic is running out the final miles of a round trip to Seward. Some of the best light of the day comes in the late evening along Turnagain Arm.

Taken on July 26, 2020

Death of a Repeater

As travelers enter the magical mountainous realms of Turnagain Arm they are greeted by a mysterious relic of the past - a microwave repeater station used for state radio communications system. These repeater stations were based on line of sight technology and varied in location from this sea level site to tops of mountains. This technology was used longer in Alaska then elsewhere due to the fact that most satellites are either over our horizon or blocked by geography (i.e. mountains and valleys). This technology was eventually replaced by the deployment of more satellites over time and the advancement of other radio technologies and network of land cables to the current system of local tower to fiber optic systems and back to local tower. Built around 1971 during the initial phase of the Seward highway it was utilized until 1991 and then became a familiar landmark as well as a curiosity.

During my March 2022 visit I was shocked to see an excavator laying waste to this site. New visitors to the area will never miss it and will benefit from unobstructed viewing. However, for me it will feel like someone cut down that old friendly tree in my front yard - a hole that could never be filled.

Many thanks to Casey Durand for providing the history for the repeater.

Turnagain Arm, Alaska
Monday, March 7, 2022

GoldStar Glory

Staying stunningly beautiful takes hard work so these GoldStar railcars made a stop at Alaska Industrial Paint for some paint touch up and vestibule upgrades. These Ultradomes were purchased from Colorado Railcar manufacturing in 2007 and after 14 years of use some freshening up is needed to dazzle future voyagers.

Anchorage, Alaska
Friday February 25, 2022

Railroading Under The Midnight Sun

It's just after 10 PM as northbound freight train 120N with 67 cars and well over a mile of freight wends its way north along Turnagain Arm about 16 miles from the end of it's journey in downtown Anchorage. All this freight has arrived off the Alaska Railbelt Marine barge in Whittier which carries both railcars and containerized freight for its owner Lynden as well as Northland Services and the Alaska Railroad.

South of Anchorage, Alaska
Thursday July 24, 2008

Here is the first installment of Pictures of the Week celebrating the 25th anniversary of this website:

In early 1986 the Budd's were new to the ARR, and they were tons of fun to go out and tool around in. Here's an example, an unannounced special run to Whittier. First seen on the north leg of the wye, northbound, I spotted the train all the way to C Street. Of particular note is the last image which is just north of Girdwood and is on the old alignment.  (1, 2, 3, 4, 5, 6, 7)

Here is the second installment of Pictures of the Week celebrating the 25th anniversary of this website:

These Maintenance of Way (MOW) photos were taken February 19, 2022 just north of Portage, Highway MP 81. (1, 2, 3, 4)

Here is the third installment of Pictures of the Week celebrating the 25th anniversary of this website:

On April 16, 2022 Robert Krol caught a pair of GP40s (nos. 3004 and 3012) near Potter plus the old locomotive crane at Bear Valley and the new locomotive crane (1, 2) at Portage.

Here is the fourth installment of Pictures of the Week celebrating the 25th anniversary of this website:

Well you asked for unusual things along the railroad... Today while stopped along Turnagain Arm where the wind was coming out of the south with such strength that opening the car door was difficult.  Anyway the tracks are just below this. And the railroad erected the fence a couple of years ago, to protect the tracks and erected the sign to protect the fence. It appears very effective,  and the well worn path at the fence edges must be for maintenance.  1/24/22

Here is the fifth installment of Pictures of the Week celebrating the 25th anniversary of this website:

N-scale modeler Tom Koole has been visiting my Alaska Railroad page from almost the beginning. My son and I visited his N-scale Alaska Railroad layout in his home in Springboro, Ohio and we've been friends ever since. You'll find his custom N-scale work in my creations page and his personal assistance on my HO scale Alaska Railroad layout in my modeling page. In honor on my website's 25th anniversary he created this beautiful N-scale railcar reminiscent of the Alaska Railroad's advertising boxcar.

Here is the sixth installment of Pictures of the Week celebrating the 25th anniversary of this website:

May 7, 2022 the first Northbound Denali Star passed the 557 Engine house to kick of the summer season a week early.  Word is that summer bookings are way up.

Here is the seventh installment of Pictures of the Week celebrating the 25th anniversary of this website:

Here is a photo from our 2020 trip to Fairbanks on the Denali Star as we cross the Nenana River bridge. July 26, 2020

Here is the eighth installment of Pictures of the Week celebrating the 25th anniversary of this website:

February 19, 2022 - The mixed passenger/freight (1, 2) leaves Anchorage heading towards Fairbanks on a beautiful winter morning. 

Here is the ninth installment of Pictures of the Week celebrating the 25th anniversary of this website:

This was taken September 13th, 2021 in the Fairbanks yard. I have asked around and these are targets, possibly simulating the SA-3 or other surface-to-air missile.

Here is the tenth installment of Pictures of the Week celebrating the 25th anniversary of this website:

Maintenance of Way consist (1, 2) in Indian siding, May 28, 2022.

Here is the eleventh installment of Pictures of the Week celebrating the 25th anniversary of this website:

The Budd car approaches C Street northbound. May 1986

Here is the twelfth installment of Pictures of the Week celebrating the 25th anniversary of this website:

Seward Cruise train at Ted Steven's International Airport. June 21, 2022

Here is the thirteenth installment of Pictures of the Week celebrating the 25th anniversary of this website:

I took these photos (1, 2, 3) of ARR 4004 and 4009 with the air dump cars along the Seward Highway headed north towards Anchorage. 28 April 2022.

GOB - Alaska Railroad's General Office Building (GOB) is the structure directly behind ARR 4326 which is the Coastal Classic sitting at the depot after having returned from Seward. To the right of the GOB is just a glimpse of the Glacier Discovery being backed into the car shops for the evening. Behind the GOB is the port of Anchorage. Last behind the Port of Anchorage is the silhouette of Denali some 150 miles to the north. 7/28/11 11:20 PM

WASILLA, ALASKA: WHERE THAT LONESOME WHISTLE BLOWS

The Alaska Railroad pulling the northbound gravel train toward the western most reaches of Greater Wasilla. The empty hopper cars will be full when it returns. I never know quite exactly when that will happen but, if not this afternoon, I will try to get the shot sooner or later.

The Sleeping Lady (Mount Susitna) is hidden by the clouds. 7/11/22

Webmaster's note: I really really love infinity photos. Tank car infinity, freight car infinity or in this case, gravel hopper infinity. Yum!

One Of Each Flavor Please

Three EMD GP40-2s rest on the roundhouse lead south of the Alaska Railroad's system diesel shop. While all three are the same model and all were built new for the ARR they all wear different schemes.

3003 in the middle is the oldest of the group having been built in 1975 as part of ARR's first order for seven units. She continues to wear her as delivered black and gold freight scheme from that era.

3011 dates from the ARR's second order in 1976 for five more and she originally wore black and gold as well. Rebuilt in 2000 in Livingston, MT she was outfitted with a 300kw HEP generator and a new paint scheme.

And on the point here is 3012 which dates from the third and final 1978 order for four more GP40-2s. She was delivered in the Alaska Bold scheme but with a US Department of Transportation nose medallion originally. In 2011 she was repainted right here in Anchorage by a local contractor into the current scheme but kept her giant oversized front plow.

Note the iconic Purina Chow style water tank atop government hill which is owned by the railroad and now serves as an antenna base station. My home was almost exactly 500 feet to the left and up the hill and across the road from the 3012.

Anchorage, Alaska
Saturday October 30, 2010

WASILLA, ALASKA: WHERE THAT LONESOME WHISTLE BLOWS

Somewhere around 7:30 PM on the evening of July 28, I returned home from an unsuccessful Denali Star shoot just beyond the overpass on the way to Three Bears at Pittman. I had got a picture all right and technically it was fine, but it wasn’t what I wanted and so I came home, determined to try another evening.

After I parked in the driveway and grabbed Sancho’s bag, I realized I had left my launch pad behind. True, it is only a pizza box and is easily replaced, but I don’t want to leave pizza boxes to litter up the Alaska countryside, so I headed back to retrieve it. As I drove over the overpass, I was startled to see a train I knew nothing about passing under -a gravel train - and it pulled a caboose! I thought only the work train pulled a caboose. I continued on, retrieved my launch pad and got back on the highway, southbound. I hoped to catch up to the unknown gravel train but it beat me through the main part of Wasilla. Beyond there, the tracks wind through the valley below Was-Mart.

I figured if I stayed on the highway I could beat it to Valley Block and Concrete - just the right place to photograph it. I did beat it - just barely. I heard the whistle and rumble bearing down even as I extended Sancho’s prop arms in preparation to launch. It rolled into the scene just as I launched Sancho.

The lead locomotive was the legendary ARR 3001, a GP40-2 engine still wearing the original black paint it was delivered in.

So here it is, this gravel train I did not know about, passing by the Valley Block and Concrete gravel mine. I shot frames one and two and then had Sancho give pursuit in the hope he might swoop in for a closer view of the caboose but the train rolled faster than Sancho’s top speed of somewhere between 40 and 45. Plus I knew wires crossed the tracks a short distance ahead. They are hard to see and invisible to Sancho’s collision avoidance system. I shot another and gave up the chase. 8/6/22

WASILLA, ALASKA: WHERE THAT LONESOME WHISTLE BLOWS

After I shot the photo of yesterdays northbound Aurora Winter Train that appeared in my post this morn, I headed over to the signal light by the Engine 557 Restoration Company to see if any other trains might be coming soon. Indeed, there was a green light for a southbound train. I couldn’t be sure, but figured it was likely the southbound freight, running a few hours late, so I waited. I was a little big excited for the volunteers working inside to come out and wave as they usually do as it is very rare to have a southbound locomotive by at this time, headed toward the sun. Usually, the morning trains are all northbound passenger trains with the locomotives rolling away from the sun and that makes a huge difference in the quality of light falling on the front of the lead locomotive.

After I heard the whistle in the distance, I carefully positioned Sancho just high enough to catch the full arch of the train unblocked by the building but still low enough to read the sign. Sometimes two or three people come out, sometimes a big group does. I hoped for the big group.

Soon, the trail rolled into sight - but nobody came out to wave! Once the lead locomotive had passed, a volunteer did open and peek through the door as armored military vehicles began to roll past. Whether he waved at the passing armor or not, I do not know as I sent Sancho flying down to Dog Wash overpass to catch the procession of military vehicles as it passed through.

The military vehicles kept rolling by and rolling by and rolling by. After what seemed to me to be a mile or more (logic tells me it must have been less) a long line of regular civilian freight cars came rolling by. And then, even more military vehicles.

I figured they must have been coming from Fort Wainwright near Fairbanks. Where were they going? Joint Base Elmendorf-Richardson adjacent to Anchorage seemed most likely but for all I know they could have been headed for ships to be sent off to other parts of the nation and/or world.

I suspect someone who sees this will know. Maybe they will tell us. (1, 2, 3, 4)

Popping Out Of Tunnel 5

At first it seems a bit ungainly and dare I say ugly, but after a bit it really does kind of grow on you. I imagine this is how fans felt in 1949 when they gazed at the first Budd RDC polishing the high iron.

I probably should have titled this photo "Can you believe I get paid to do this!?" On Thursday the 29th the US Forest Service needed to take a dozen people in to inspect their construction sites at Spencer and Grandview where they are building a series of "whistle stops" and trails only accessible by rail. Since I hadn't been in there in a while I was real interested to see the progress as this is a real exciting project that should draw a lot more people to the railroad. Also, I talked to the ARR's head of passenger marketing about doing some promotional shots of the DMU for future railroad PR use since we weren't on a schedule and there were no conflicting train movements. All in all a great day out on the railroad visiting with employees, our Forest Service partners, and enjoying the stunning fall scenery.

For those interested in a bit more detail, this particular spot is the southernmost of five tunnels that come in quick succession between MP 52.7 and 51.8. After exiting this last and final tunnel on the southward climb the train immediately crosses the gorge over the Placer River on a 133 foot deck truss bridge all while climbing a steady 2.1% grade.

Addendum: alas the propulsion system just wasn't up to the task and the Glacier Discovery became much more popular and outgrew the seat capacity of 751 alone so while it remains in daily service today it is only used as a cab control car on the expanded locomotive hauled train that makes this run all summer long.

Near Tunnel Station
Chugach National Forest, Alaska
Thursday September 29 , 2011

South America Bound

On a gray and somber day much like the event depicted in the photo a pair of Alaska Railroad Geeps lead a quasi-hospital train for Seward. The RDC is bound for a South America Railroad and the ex-BCOL covered hoppers are going to be scrapped. The RDC is ex-New Haven originally. Two others went to Portland in 2011 and were refurbished and can still be ridden on Tri-Met I believe. There is a nice article on these cars in the December Railfan & Railroad. The spreader and the two Geeps will remain in Seward for the winter to protect the southern end of the railroad and perform snow fleet service should it be needed.

Taken on November 5, 2019 Thursday September 29 , 2011

[Webmaster note: The RDC South America deal fell through and #702 was subsequently purchased by Mary Krol at Whistle Hill in Soldotna.]

Portage Curve Multimodal Connector - "The Alaska Department of Transportation, in cooperation with Mass Excavation, Inc., is working to replace the bridges at 20 Mile River, Portage Creek #1, Portage Creek #2, Placer River, and Placer River Overflow, as well as realign sections of roadway within the Portage Curve to improve safety within the corridor. The pathway project will create segments of multi-modal pathway between MP 75, near Ingram Creek, and MP 82, near 20 Mile River. The pathway will include pedestrian under crossings at Placer River, Portage Glacier Highway, Portage Creek #2 and 20 Mile River. Crews will also work on installing grading, drainage, paving, illumination, signage and striping improvements" - alaskanavigator.org

As most of you know, in Alaska, heavy construction requires gravel. The Alaska Railroad is supporting this requirement by running four 2,000 ton gravel trains per day, six days per week between MP 131 and Portage.

On November 12, 2022 my wife Terry and I were train chasing along Turnagain Arm when we spotted this Mass Excavation consist and decided to follow it to Portage. SD70MAC numbers 4012 and 4007 were bookends for a fully loaded set of 25 Difco dump cars. Although the chase began in sunshine, we hit a huge fog bank at Bird which provided for some very eerie photos and video. Proof positive you've gotta play the cards you've been dealt.

You just never know what you'll see coming off the barge in Whittier. The astute observer would say this is a Russian T-6 Tigr tank. The combination of a powerful main gun, thick armor, and a powerful engine made it a deadly predator., stalking the battlefields. Although this is quite the museum piece chances are it will be shipped north and used in practice maneuvers with the army. The first time spot this one on the ground it should pop the eyes and quicken the pulse.

The railroad unloaded the tank off the barge, removed it from the yellow trailer and loaded it onto a railroad flat car. Several other military items were loaded on flat cars as well. When railfans along the line spot this it should pop the eyes and quicken the pulse. Tanks a lot! 11/30/22