Railfanning the Alaska Railroad

by Richard Rafalski

I just graduated college and I wanted to take a graduation trip to one of my longtime bucket list railroads. And being from Florida, it was a perfect time to escape the early summer heat. I visited from May 10th to a May 15th and the trip was a whirlwind of activity from the moment I arrived.

I caught just about every train that ran during the 5 day period I was there, including a Whittier freight with one of the black and gold GP40’s leading, the first Glacier Discovery and Gravel trains of the season, and multiple editions of the Fairbanks freight runs with as many as 5 MAC’s on one train.

Some of my favorite spots included the section of the Anchorage to Seward mainline between Bird Point and Beluga Point, Beach Lake and the section of Anchorage to Fairbanks mainline between Eklutna and Wasilla.

 

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Northbound Whittier freight Video: Roll by at MP 103 Southbound Fairbanks- freight at Wasilla
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Video: Roll by Southbound Denali Star at Eklutna Video: Northbound Denali Star at Birchwood
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Video: Southbound Denali Star at Beach Lake Geeps idling at the Anchorage shops Southbound Denali Star at Beach Lake
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Video: Northbound Fairbanks freight Northbound Star at Beach Lake Video: Roll by
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Video: Southbound Fairbanks freight Video: Northbound McKinley Explorer Northbound Denali Star at Wasilla
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Video: Roll by Northbound Glacier Discovery at Portage Near Beluga Point
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Video: Roll by at Indian Video: Roll by at MP 103 Northbound Fairbanks freight at Knik River
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At Trunk Road in Wasilla At Trunk Road in Wasilla Video: Near Huston
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Video: Screaming DPs Southbound Fairbanks freight at Beach Lake Video: Roll by
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Northbound QAP Gravel at Eklutna Video: At Wasilla Northbound Work train at Beach Lake
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Video: Roll by Southbound QAP Gravel at Eklutna Video: Roll by
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Video: Screaming DPs At Anchorage Video: Roll by

© 2023 Richard Rafalski