What Others Are Saying About John's Alaska Railroad Page

On behalf of our Alaska Railroad Board of Directors and employees, I want to recognize the great role you have played as our honorary webmaster and number one rail fan.
We have been blessed over the years to have a comrade like you outside our state - a friend who truly loves the Alaska Railroad and has captured our images, spirit, rail assets and services in a way that lures other people to Alaska to experience our railroad.

You have not only been a valued extension of our World Wide Web SWAT team, but you have augmented our marketing and historical preservation efforts. Even our high school tour guides know how to use your alaskarails.org website if they need a tidbit of information otherwise not available.

In the early days, Jim Blasingame and many others on our property were smart to trust in your positive intent to help promote the Alaska Railroad. We are glad for the amazing relationships you have formed with so many on our team. Thank you for sharing your energy and passion for the Alaska Railroad with the world.

In appreciation for your honorary service to the Alaska Railroad, we are delighted to present you with our gold nugget switch key. This special key is reserved for our employees who have dedicated 30 years of service to the Alaska Railroad. We know you have been working on our team for even longer than that.

Thanks again for being our friend.
Bill O'Leary
President and Chief Executive Officer

The Windfall Films crew would like to thank you for your contribution, support and kindness in the making of the Railroad Alaska TV Series. Without your dedication and patience we would not have been able to make the shows. It was a huge undertaking and we hope you enjoy watching the series as much as we have enjoyed making it. Craig Blackhurst, Executive television producer, London, England

For over 25 years John has organized the contributions of hundreds of rail fan historians who share interest in the Alaska Railroad.  In my opinion, as a result of his work, the Alaska Railroad enjoys the best documentation of history, personalities, operations, rosters and employee lore, of any railroad in the world. - P/D/, Wasilla, AK

In my opinion, John, with lots of contributors, has organized the most complete historical record of any operational railroad.  From inception to engineering, mobilization, construction, staffing, operational ups and downs, personalities, rosters and dreams of expansion, it is all covered. - P.D., Wasilla, AK

John labeled alaskarails.org as an organization because it is truly a collaboration of hundreds of Alaska Railroad fanatics.  You can spend endless hours chasing ARR trains, revisiting rail history, equipment rosters, personalities and contemporary news.  In my opinion, no other modern railroad enjoys this depth of coverage with nearly daily updates.  Thats why he is the "Number 1 Alaska Railroad Fan. - P.D., Anchorage, AK

John's Alaska Railroad Web Page is THE source on what is happening with the Alaska Railroad, as well as the history of railroads in the state. This website is updated almost daily with news items and as historical information is unearthed. Any research on Alaska's railroads should start here. NRHS 2013 Convention Guidebook - The Alaska Railroad Route

Your passion for the ARR is an inspiration...I'm grateful for all the time and effort you put in to your website as it's an invaluable resource on so many levels.  It's a true gem!  Don't know what I'd do without it.. C.P., Anchorage, AK

I hope you know I am blaming you for my interest in the Alaska Railroad :) I can usually be found on your site everyday at work as I eat my lunch., D.A., Sitka, AK

Your dedication to chronicling the Alaska Railroad from afar is amazing! Its great when we can find something we invest time and effort in just for the simple joy of it. R. H. H., Assistant Attorney General with the Alaska Department of Law

Many thanks for all your help - without your webpage we could not have made the series [Railroad Alaska].  Craig Blackhurst Series Producer, Windfall Films, London 

You have been absolutely amazing! C.B, Windfall Films, London

The railroad fascinates me, and this site has a lifetime of reading. Every time I get on this site to check something, I end up spending hours pouring over the material. Very well done! J.O., Glendive, MT

Great web site. It is complete for a railfan in search of information on ARR. P.R., Vespasiano MG Brazil

"John's Alaska Railroad web page, an Internet clearinghouse of historic Alaska Railroad photos and information at www.alaskarails.org." Anchorage Daily News

I've been getting deep into your website and reading all that I can. There is a lot of material here and I find it absolutely fascinating. I've ignored my wife all evening. It will take me a few evenings to read it all and I'm grateful for that. The history and people of the ARR is terrific and brings to light the great Americans that moved the country forward by building and operating rail systems in harsh environments and terrain. The history of the ARR is an important piece of American history. Your website preserves that history in great, descriptive detail. It's a documentary of the finest order. G.T., Nanning, Guangxi, China

Thank you for creating this beautiful site. I never been in Alaska but I hope we (me and my wife) will visit this beautiful land some day. Your site helped me find many interesting facts about great American railroad. V.K., Ukraine

Great page, John. I've been visiting off and on for just shy of two years and am very impressed by the quality and amount of offerings here. Your site is officially an addiction for me! :) I hope you are able to keep this site up and running for many a year. J.H., Naches, WA

I just wanted to say thank you for the outstanding resource you are providing to the railfan community with the AlaskaRails.Org website. Having fanned a few times over the past years in Alaska, your site is an invaluable resource. It's perfectly laid out, easy to navigate, and crammed full of useful information. Thank you for your hard work and effort! Chris Kilroy, Editor, RailPictures.Net

John, I have appreciated your web site, and am amazed at all the effort you have put into it. Through you, I have gained a lot of information that I had not known about my Great Grand father, O.F. Jordan...Thank you, once again. You’ve done amazing work on you site!! J.T.

I want to say thanks to you for maintaining this site and also to all those who have contributed to it. It's awesome and I'm sure the ARR agrees. You have something here called "great content" - and well worth any traveler's time. F.P., Chicago, IL

This is a wonderful web, with lots of useful information. I will recommend it to my railway-fools friends. J.A.C.C., Gijón (Spain)

I've lived in Fairbanks for over 40 years but only in the last year have become a real ARR railfan, and an N-scale collector of ARR. In all this your website has been the absolute encyclopedia for me, and I much enjoy reading different sections of it at different times, etc. I see ARR prototypes every day of the year, of course, but your great photos of prototypes, especially for me the non-ARR prototypes that show up from Whittier to here, have provided excellent avenues for me to pursue in my collection. So, thank you for the grand website you have created and that you maintain and update! Don't know what I might have done without it--but it would have taken me an endlessly longer amount of time to learn the little bit I've absorbed so far. D.G., Fairbanks, AK

Thanks so much for all your effort on your web site. It is THE BEST railroad site on the web - for ANY railroad. A. W., Tracy, CA

Just a quick email to thank you for your fantastic website!! I'm just about to begin an N scale winter layout based on the McKinley Explorer set, here in New Zealand. Your website has all the information that I need to get it as accurate as possible! You are a hero!! D. G., New Zealand

Just wanted to tell you what a nice ARR website you have created. I wish we had one that nice. J.C., D&SNGRR, Dispatcher

It is an amazing website! S. S. W., Taiwan

When I first started checking out this web site I was blown away! YOU ARE THE MAN John. R. S., Independence KY

Let me tip my hat to you in a grateful thanks for the modeling ability that was afforded to me simply by your website. The wealth of information was incredible in enabling me to amass the collection that I did in such a short time. S.H.,

You have a fantastic website - and I really appreciate your enthusiasm! ...Your photos were exactly what I was looking for. RLM, Holland America, Seattle, WA

Great site, I got lots of ideas for my own layout I am building.....I certainly got the inspiration on your site. P.P, Aberdeenshire, Scotland

WOW !!! What an incredible website you've created..... Again, great website. Many thanks for creating it and sharing it. S.P., Colorado Railcar Manufacturing

If I had to rate it 1-10 I'd give it an 11! Great Job!!!! John M. Combs, Dayton, OH [Note from webmaster: What a great son he is!]

Nice Job! [name withheld upon request], ARR Vice President, Anchorage, AK

I am very impressed by your ARR website! J.C.S., Luxembourg-City, Europe

Thank you for creating one of the best Railfan site I have ever seen! J.S., Michigan

When I started my website many years ago, I envisioned it to be a way to find more HO scale models. As it turns out, I have found something much more important...friendship. J.C. Dayton, OH

Great web page you`ve got going here! One of the best, if not THE best I`ve seen. Actually, a contributing reason for why I`m now modeling Alaska Railroad! S.S., Norway

I was searching for information on modeling HO Alaskan model railroads. And I found this site. I am impressed. What an awesome railroad with beautiful scenery. I'll be keeping my eyes on this. S.C., Taumarunui, New Zealand

I made my first trip to Alaska in the summer of 2001. As soon as I laid eyes on the ARR, I knew my purpose in life: to model the passenger service from Seward to Fairbanks. I began my research online and stumbled across your website. After lifting my jaw off the ground, I hit "CTRL+D" and began browsing. The mountain of knowledge you have have archived here is amazing. Thank you for all the time and effort you have put into your site. It is going to prove to be a powerful tool as I begin the research stage of my project. D.P., Maine

Wonderful website on a great railroad... Thanks!!! C.O., Bordeaux, France

Nice site! Thanks! W.R., ARR Trainmaster, Anchorage, AK

Each one of your trips seems to do the impossible--top the one before it. You have even topped yourself in the photo department. Your latest journal made me feel as though I was there again. P.B., Southbury, CT

Keep up the great work with this site! B.B., ARR engineer, Fairbanks, AK

Met you last September while taking pictures at the Portage Glazier station. You were getting ready to move a group of three cars (flat with payloader, caboose and snow plow unit). You did show us a few of your pictures at that time, also where I got your website location. Great site! Keep it up. Was a pleasure meeting you, hope to cross paths again sometime in the future. Take care. J.B., Oxford, Connecticut [Note from webmaster: Cross paths again? We haven't even crossed paths the first time! He thinks I was an ARR employee he met. What a compliment!]

I am the new McKinley Explorer Rail Division Manager for Holland America Line. I wanted to let you know that I just love your site and appreciate very much the time you have invested in it. I regularly email the link to your site to prospective employees, friends/family whomever. M.A., Anchorage AK

Great Job...will send some more photo's to you. ARR District #1 Roadmaster, B.G., Anchorage, AK

I live in Alaska (although most of it has been in the bush) and I learned more about the ARR from your site, and journal then I have in the rest of my years in Alaska combined. I have loved trains since I was old enough to know what they were, and found your site and obvious enthusiasm for the subject very invigorating. Keep up the good work! C. H., Delta Junction, AK

I am [an Alaska Railroad employee] and have spent more time than I can count looking at your web site...I just wanted to say that this is a very cool site and I am always looking forward to seeing the new pictures and the new stories and adventures. S.A., Fairbanks, AK

I ask [my son who works for the Alaska Railroad] if he was familiar with your site and he say he goes there all the time to see the latest photo's. He says he gets more information from your site than he gets from the railroad. A.G., NH

First class, best on the Internet. J.G., Colorado Springs, CO

Best Site about ARR I've seen so far. I check back here at least six times a week for new stuff and you never disappoint me! I've learned a lot from this site. Keep up the great work! A.S., Anchorage, AK

[In response to the question, "What sites have you found of interest to the railroad?"]  A site by John Combs, who might be the Alaska Railroad's biggest fan.  He does a really good job of chronicling the Alaska Railroad and providing resources to railfans.  Willow Peyton, Alaska Railroad webmaster

I am Japanese and live in japan. Last year I could search your homepage. I am surprised to wonderful your homepage. Meisougetupo from Japan.

John, This is one of the best web sites I have ever seen. You can tell the love you have for the ARR and the people associated with it. Keep up the good work. J.E., Austin, TX

Really nice sight. I work at the ARR heavy equipment shop in Anchorage as HE Mechanic, and really enjoyed your work. T.M., Wasilla, AK

I am a contractor that has tested the Alaska RR for compliance concerning CFR part 213. I am the Director for the Federal Railroad's geometry car (www.atipsafety.com). I too, love the ARR and stumbled upon your site. M.D., Springfield, VA

Nice page!!!! I am the ARR reservations systems administrator and thought I'd take a peek at what you have done. Great work! C.H., Anchorage, AK

I've included a link to your website since it is a source of inspiration for many of us. R.E.

John Combs has put together an excellent website on Alaska Railroad history.  Kato Precision Railroad Models web site

I check your site regularly.  My browser is set up so your "What's New" page is the page it opens at!  J.B.,  Canberra, Australia

I really appreciate the hard work you do on this site.  Keep it up.  Few other railroads have such a good repository of information for the fan or as a reference for industry professionals.  J.K., Littleton, CO

I used some of the information from your website in an outline for my Alaska History class.  Your website really helped me a lot because it cut down on my time spent researching the Alaska Railroad(s) by a couple of hours. A.F., Alaska

I've been asked many questions about the Alaska Railroad.  I thought I knew something about it since I ride the train to my home.  I don't know nothin'.  Compared to this guy, even the Alaska Railroad doesn't know nothin' about the Alaska Railroad.  I think maybe this guy is a bona-fide railroad nut.   Anything you want to know about technical railroad operations - from snow removal to moose legends - it's here. J.K., Anchorage, AK

I had a chance to go through more pages today, and (whew!) there are a lot of photos of the MACs there!  Normally, we don't like to use digital photos, but you have enough posted that are close ups that I think we can produce the decals from what's there.  I was particularly pleased to see close ups of the engine numbers and the names, as they just don't show up well in the typical roster shots (particularly in a digital format, where the detail just isn't there). As I said in last night's e-mail...  you have produced a very nice and complete website.  I wish more sites had the amount of detail photos that yours has.  Craig Walker, New Product Development, Microscale Industries

I am a railfan and model railroader from Berlin, Germany, and I want to thank you very much for your great and huge ARR web site.  It is an amazing and impressive portal to the world of Alaska RR, and it took me more than two weeks to work through all the information and see all the pictures.  I try to model ARR in HO and there were two major problems to overcome: information and availability of models. When I found your address in the Internet, my problems were solved within a minute. A. H., Berlin, Germany

Greetings from Russian railfans. I enjoyed to get into the snowy world of "Russian America" railways. Your site is interesting and has a lot of excellent photos and interesting info. A.D., Moscow, Russia

Wow!  Every time I view this awesome web site I get goose bumps!  Alaska Size!  Thanks for all your efforts in making this site one of my favorites! S.A., Reno, NV

John, terrific web page! Enjoyed the layout tour. PS: When do you sleep?  B.P., Clayton, Ohio

Your site is great for information for a person that knows nothing about the Alaska Railroad!  D., Melbourne, Australia

John has done an awesome job putting together a GREAT page on the Alaska Railroad!  Jeff Childs, Anchorage, AK

Was just checking out some railroad sites and came across yours. Its one of the nicest that I have looked at. C.K., Waterloo, IA

Congratulations John, great your ARR page!  S.W., Switzerland

He knows more about the Alaska Railroad than most Alaskans!  relayed via D.F., ARR Conductor, Anchorage, AK

Through your work putting together information about the Alaska RR, I was able to make a few contacts and at least get some stuff assembled to assess the (daunting) task of modeling it. Without you as the catalyst, I'd still be in the deep dark places. You are indeed a person of value, not only to me but also to those many others who you might not even know about, but who need some source of information about this.  D.H., Flat Rock, NC

[Note from webmaster: "Aw, shucks folks..."]