Mixed Train 2009! The very first mixed train to run on the ARR in over three decades is highballing north at track speed rolling through the junction at NSS Matanuska (MP 151.4 on the ARR mainline). Three SD70MACs lead a 2,300 foot train consisting of 13 coaches (with 120 paying passengers), 7 COFC flats, and 10 loaded tank cars of diesel fuel operating as train 230N, the regular weekly Saturday northbound Aurora passenger train. This definitely isn't the kind of train out of Mixed Train daily that Beebe and Clegg would recognize! The ARR is exercising an FRA waiver that I spearheaded along with General Road Foreman Bruce Pryke to run mixed trains allowing us to consolidate some traffic and operate as efficiently and cost effectively as possible. The ARR was always an innovator and not afraid to look to the past for solutions to problems in the present....it was a special place to work and I'm honored to have had the chance to lead there for a half dozen years. Matanuska, Alaska |
