Shuttle Reborn A massive rock slide that came down near Portage Lake buried the highway road access, and the residents of the coastal town of Whittier on Prince William were cut off from the rest of the world. The Alaska Railroad came to the rescue by re-instituting the Whittier Shuttle from days of yore (pre opening of the Anton Anderson Memorial Tunnel in 2000) and offered twice daily round trip passenger trains from Anchorage to Whittier to serve residents who were trapped. On this day the evening train can be seen returning to town with two coaches bracketed between ex-F40 cab car and SD70MAC. The slide occurred on April 13th and the road was not opened again until May 15th! The ARR ran these shuttles the entire time though from about April 21st until the last one on May 14th they ran only between Portage and Whittier. In addition to these specials the ARR also shuttled garbage trucks weekly using Ro-Ro flat cars loading and unloading at end ramps in Anchorage and Whittier in order to meet the sanitation needs of the cut off community. The Chugach Mountains rise beyond the skyline of Alaska's largest city in this view looking across frozen Turnagain Arm from the Coastal Trail. Above the MAC rises the 22 story Conoco Phillips building that at 296 feet is the tallest building the city and the entire state. Built in 1983 by ARCO (Atlantic Richfield Company) it symbolizes the continuing dominant role that oil plays in the Alaskan economy. Few companies have had a bigger influence on the state as it was ARCO that set off the North Slope boom when in 1966 after almost giving up on their leases after drilling a number of dry holes they decided to try one last time. On this final effort, at Prudhoe Bay State No. 1 well, they struck oil and gas in April 1967. The completion of a second well in March 1968 confirmed the discovery of the super-giant Prudhoe Bay Field, the largest oil field in North America...and the rest as they say is history. When ARCO was purchased by BP in 2000 they were required to divest their Alaskan holdings which were purchased by Phillips Petroleum which itself merged with Conoco two years later. Today Conoco-Phillips Alaska employs some 1,000 people and is the largest producer of oil in the state and holds about 1.2 million acres in state and federal exploration leases. Anchorage, Alaska |
