Monday, June 18, 2018
Our stay at the Rudd estate was simply amazing! It definitely made for an easier 5:30 AM wake up. After cleaning my old carcass in the almost brand-spanking new squeaky clean shower Terry and I grabbed a quick bite in the fully equipped/stocked kitchen. Vibrating with sheer anticipation of riding the Alaskan rails we buckled ourselves into Mr. Somerville's Pilot and sped toward the Anchorage train depot.
There was a fairly long line at the ticket window and Terry volunteered to do the standing. Two of my photos were selected for the Alaska Railroad calendar so I had two sets of free train tickets to use this trip. We'd use this first freebie for today's Coastal Classic and pay for a side cruise from Seward to Fox Island for an all-you-can-eat prime rib and salmon buffet dinner.
Our seats were in #501 an ex-Union Pacific dome built in 1955. I really love these older passenger cars. They have reclining seats with nice foot rests and shoulder room that would put every airline to shame. There are overhead storage racks and spacious bathrooms. As an added bonus our railcar came with a ghost who loved to open and close the entry door at will. Staff members worked on it several times to no avail.
I am certain everyone knew I had set foot in Alaska as it was raining. Well not just raining, but an absolute downpour. This made it nearly impossible to get scenery photos from the train vestibules as our cameras didn't reveal much more than curtains of rain. Frank Keller, Dave Blazejewski, Michael Sullivan, Chris Paulhamus, Mike Criss.....Mother Nature smiles on them and provided nice happy blue skies and radiant sunshine. Me? A deluge. Okay, just call me a whiner. At least I had bragging rights for my photo of the Denali Star crossing Hurricane Gulch as it made the cover (both front and back) of the onboard magazine Panoramas. This came as a complete surprise to me! Yet there it was. "I want to see my picture on the cover, want to buy five copies for my mother, want to see my smilin' train on the cover of the.....", well you get the idea. I figured some of the folks wouldn't bother to take their magazines home with them so I was prepared to scarf up!
Did I mention the rain made it challenging to get good scenery photos? My best shot is at left. To add to insult an announcement came over the PA that the waters were too rough to accommodate a boat ride to Fox Island. No mist-covered pebble beaches, no all-you-can-eat buffet, no views of sea lions and humpback whales. This was disheartening to say the least. And still the rain continued to come down in buckets.
At 9:12 AM the train came to a sudden and abrupt stop. I wouldn't have thought too much of it until conductor Harry Ross came rushing up the isle way with a loud, "Excuse me!" and disappeared into the next car presumably heading to the front of the train. All of us passenger began speculating what had happened. "Did we run out of fuel? Did we hit a puffin? Did the train run out of track?" We waited for quite some time before it was announced the tracks had washed out in front of us. The track maintenance folks were on their way and would attempt track repairs. Our train backed into a siding. A friend had given me a scanner and I listened to the radio traffic for updates from Roadmaster Bruce Gough.
I headed to the nearest vestibule and was able to get photos of two passing MOW hy-rails plus ARR DG2, a flat car with backhoe crane (CAT 320 excavator). The wait was long, but courteous staff members checked on us constantly. They passed out yellow wrist bands to the children. I asked if my wife could have one and they happily complied. She was thrilled!
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Ford MOW hy-rail on the main heading to the wash-out. |
ARR DG2, a flat car with backhoe crane (CAT 320 excavator) |
Norwegian Cruise Lines train headed up by SD70MAC #4323 |
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| Water rolling down the hill pushes debris onto the track and erodes the grade. | The grade washes away and begin to undercut the track. | Water, trees, mountains and train.....what's not to love! Thank goodness for a brief break in the rain. |
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| A cruise ship can be seen in the distance of the Seward harbor. | Delicious halibut fish and chips (and coleslaw) from Ray's Waterfront. | Roadside moose having a vegetarian dinner. |
At 11:08 AM the staff announced a fix was in place. A northbound train bearing passengers from Norwegian Cruise Line's "Jewel" would cross the repaired washout first and then we would resume our journey south. The NCL train passed at 11:40 AM and we resumed our journey at 12:02 PM. However, our train stopped again at 1:26 PM as we encountered another washout. Apparently, debris had clogged a culvert and a work crew was attempting to clear it out to keep water from coming over the track. An announcement came over the speaker stating the tracks had numerous issues on the route ahead and we would disembark at Moose Pass to catch buses into Seward. Our train resumed at 1:33 PM and arrived at Moose Pass at 2:01 PM.
Before we disembarked the luggage was unloaded and then the train re-spotted. A total of 514 people emerged from the train into an empty lot at Moose Pass. I counted 10 buses (which meant 52 people per bus) and asked the conductor which one we should get on. "You can get on any bus." So I started to get on the first bus. The driver said, "This bus is for cruise ship passengers. Are you a cruise ship passenger?" By talking to each bus driver we eventually figured out which one was our bus.
We rolled to a stop at the Seward depot at 3:20 PM. "Please return here by 5:30 PM to catch the bus back to Anchorage" the driver said with a smile. "Don't be late!' Having missed our all-you-can-eat buffet we began searching for restaurants. The closest open restaurant was Ray's Waterfront. Although the Halibut fish and chips was pricey I must admit it was the best I have ever had. On the way to the depot we grabbed a geocache and arrived at 5:15 PM. No bus ride could match the thrill of rail travel and I felt bad for those first time visitors to the state. We finally arrived at the Anchorage depot by 8:00 PM.
Near the top of a visitor's list of things they want to see in Alaska is moose. A lot of them will leave disappointed. Therefore, it always makes me smile when Terry and I run into them unexpectedly within the city limits of Anchorage. As we neared the Rudd's home we spotted one about 25 feet off the road. She seemed unconcerned when we pulled off the road next to her and snapped several photos.
As we pulled into the Rudd's house we realized we'd just put to rest an 18-hour day.