The Rarest Local This was one of the rarest and coolest little moves I ever photographed in my decade in Alaska. This was as close to a local freight as one will ever see on the south end of the Alaska Railroad. Outside of the two ports and the greater Anchorage and Fairbanks areas the ARRC is entirely bereft of customers so there is no need for a local freight train. The only exception to this rule is a couple customer sidings at Crown Point a bit south of Moose Pass on the mainline to Seward. Between the two spurs the number of cars received can normally be counted on one or two hands in the typical year. On this day the Whittier extra board crew was called to run light with their two geeps out to Portage and hang a left at the wye and head to Seward to pick up a lone empty flat from the yard there and then lift a lone empty tank from the Suburban Propane spur in Crown Point and return to Whittier. Having completed the nearly 150 mile round trip for two empties the crew is arriving back where they started as the light quickly fades on a typically rainy and overcast evening in the strange little town on Prince William Sound. Bought new GP40-2s 3009 and 3006 have just emerged out of the 13,338 foot long tunnel and into the town of Whittier. The train is at MP F2.6 and in less than two miles will enter the Whittier yard where the train will be cut up and the flats spotted for stripping of empty containers and back loading of loads that have arrived on the weekly AML barge from Seattle. Whittier is the ARR's main port for shipment of containers which arrive via barge stacked in racks above the main deck which contains 8 tracks for interchange of railcars to the BNSF & UP in Seattle. The Tunnel itself is a marvel of engineering. Having been converted to dual use a decade ago, it is the longest shard highway/rail tunnel in North America and is essentially a 2.5 mile long grade crossing. To the right can be seen the traffic signals and highway lanes where traffic waits to be cleared through the tunnel. For those of you interested in learning more about this fascinating tunnel click here to visit the Alaska state DOT's official web site on the tunnel. Whittier, Alaska
Crown Point, Alaska |
