Here in beautiful downtown Clayton, Ohio the weather jockeys are predicting eight inches of fluffy white powder over the next eighteen hours followed by a week of frigid temperatures. It will be the biggest snowfall we've had in a bunch of years, so the grocery stores are packed, the snow crews are working like they're on steroids and home owners are fueling up their snowblowers. The typical Alaskan would gasp with a certain degree of mock shock. "Really?" <yawn> Still, it gives me a chance to regress to knuckle dragging primate times of barricading myself in the house, sitting by the home fires, eating campfire pies and snuggling with my sweetheart. All that is missing is a blue and gold train rumbling along a frosty snow scape. So to scratch my itch, here is the winter AuRoRa heading to Fairbanks, shown here on a beautiful winter morning. The more astute observer will question the need for two locomotives on such a short passenger train. Mike Gerenday shares, "One for pulling, one to provide power to the train set. Plus, you don't want to risk just one locomotive when it's -40 to -50 in winter."

Just under 2 inches of new snow fell the entire month in Anchorage, making it one of the least snowy on record. Therefore, I thought I'd share a big snow story so at least any residents who might be reading this could feel a little more "at home." Or perhaps they could come visit me in little ol' Clayton, Ohio where we currently have 11 inches of the white stuff and temperatures never popping above the freezing mark.

Back in 2004 I was invited to join the snowfleet crew who were assigned to clear the tracks all the way from Anchorage to Grandview to facilitate a north bound freight hauling Spenard Builder Supply commodities from a barge in Seward. The snowfleet was comprised of Spreader 9, GP40 3007, GP40 3012 and Spreader 8 (with ice teeth), and a very lively crew of Frank Armstrong, Duane Frank, Derek Winchester, Daryl Kollander (engineer) and John Combs. Lively, you might ask? They were indeed experienced and professional, but laughed and joked and poked fun at each other, until I had tears streaming down my cheeks.

In Spreader 9, Frank Armstrong used a joystick, the same as found on an F-16 fighter jet, to control the spreader wings to efficiently push the snow away from the tracks. Slow speeds were maintained while plowing snow so as to not encourage the wheels to pop off the rail or even roll the rail itself. One crew member sadly stated, "Been there, done that."

At Portage we picked up Rocky Merle and Ed Rivera to assist in cleaning the snow. In the close up photo of spreader 9, Ed is happily looking out the window at me. Urban legend said Ed was a gruff, no nonsense guy as well as the railroad's tough union representative, but he turned out to be a bundle of fun. Eventually, we switched to spreader 8 to use its ice teeth to clean buildup around the rails.

Of all the jokers in the crew, Duane Frank was the most energetic and creative. You might see him standing behind the switch stand, his arms extended outward and upward from the elbows, the red target blocking his face imitating AOL's Yellow Running Man. Or perhaps he might press his face against the front door window, his lips looking like two suction cups.

One of the crew members spilled his coffee which ran across the counter and down my back. Although it was not very hot, I jumped up and glared angrily at the crew. "You owe me!", I yelled. What did I want? To be dropped off at Spencer to photograph and videotape the crew clearing the siding. The crew agreed, but sent the foreman out with me to provide oversight and protection. Oh, I got some very cool video plus multiple photos of the clearing work performed at Spencer. The day provided incredible memories of a lifetime.

Standing next to the track (yes, the prerequisite 150 feet) you can feel that deep, powerful roar pounding in your chest and ears, from those six, yes six!, 4,000+ horsepower jackhammers, pulling a mile long freight train along beautiful Turnagain Arm. On April 14, 2013, Steve Neel was in the right place at the right time to capture nearly 21,000 hp of blue and gold proudly displaying the state flag's eight gold stars, forming the Big Dipper. These SD70MACs are the backbone of the railroad's freight operations plus powering their long-distance passenger trains.

EMD’s SD70MAC was the first production alternating-current traction locomotive to be delivered and it ushered in a decade of change for the rail industry. EMD would produce more than 1,000 SD70MACs before regular production ended in late 2004 with an additional four built for Alaska Railroad in 2007.