Here are some current photos of the Suntrana Branch and the unloading facility taken on 04/13/2021. I've heard there are a couple different types of commodities that are unloaded here, one is a chemical substance to keep scale from forming in the GEVA power plant, and the other is used for blasting in the mines. Of course I'm sure someone can indeed provide the proper terms of what's used.

On this day there were three hoppers on the branch, no one was present so I can't say if they were completely unloaded or not, but judging by what I saw I believe they were not. The Suntrana Branch ran just over 4 miles along the Healy River to Suntrana where a tipple once stood. Today no traffic goes past the facility pictured here, the tracks are still in place to old Suntrana but are overgrown and in some places buried under slides. In the future I will document the Suntrana Branch since it's short and can be done in a day. I've only seen pictures of action on the Suntrana Branch, cars are brought in by the Healy coal turn and spotted in their appropriate place. If you look you can see a large winch of sorts with a heavy strap that is wrapped around the coupler of a hopper, this is used to move a car a short distance. The runaround is pretty short, and looks like it's still used sometimes as you can see wheels have gone over it sometime in the not so distant past. Off the runaround there looks to be a dead spur that has long since been removed from service.

With these images you have a good idea on what's on the Suntrana Branch today, not much. But it gives you an idea on what a quiet industry along the ARR looks like and for those who model the ARR, this gives you ideas for an industry to build. - Mike Gerenday