Photographs courtesy of Dave Blazejewski

Frank Keller provided a great commentary for these photos. "Out With a Bang, in more ways then one is about the best way I can describe this post. First off my best friend David Blazejewski has accepted a position outside. So perhaps it was fitting that on the second shortest day for actual daylight hours that he and I found ourselves driving north some two hundred miles for what, at this time of year, amounts to finding a needle in a haystack. We were in search of a daylight plow extra plowing between Colorado and Cantwell, roughly 40 miles in what amounts to dusk conditions. Although the official sunrise was 10:38 and sunset was 15:10 the sun never cleared the peaks in the area so the train was in continuous shadow for the whole 4.5 hours the sun was officially up. Success seem unlikely at best as a tiny plow train could be lost anywhere in the vastness that is Alaska. Our drive north in what started in near total darkness soon began to lighten and provided us with a beautiful sunrise and plenty of moose along the roadside to be ever watchful for. Road conditions were good and we arrived at Colorado around 10:45, however the road had yet to be plowed. We decided rather than hike the half mile in and wait it out in the minus 5 temps a better option was to stay warm and wait at 4th of July Creek. The end result was success and we pulled off a number of shots between there and Cantwell before turning around for the 4 hour drive home. It was a great day to be track side for the last time before Dave goes back east to railroad again." Snowfleet crew consisted of locomotive engineer Bill Bivins, conductor Patti Crawford and brakeman Rob Hintlitner. 12/23/17