July 7, 2023
Unloaded barge Unloaded barge Unloaded barge

We took off two weeks from train night for trips to Alaska. Rick and Jackie did a land tour which included a paddle boat ride, Kenai Fjords boat trip, visits to Jeff King's dog ranch, reindeer and muskox farm and several museums. They also took two legs on the Alaska Railroad.

John and Terry took an Alaska inside passage cruise with their entire family in celebration of their wedding anniversary. Excursions included whale watching, lumberjack show, White Pass and Yukon Railway, and visits to Juneau, Ketchikan and Skagway. They also took the Alaska Railroad from Whittier to Anchorage.

 After sharing their trips at the dinner table, the train crew didn't have much time left over to run trains and tweak problems. One problem was a pull-apart between a hopper and flat car.
Unloaded barge Unloaded barge  

As it turned out the hopper car had a small knuckle which caused a pull-apart on counter clockwise curves such as the one at the southern end of TwentyMile bridge. Rick spent some time replacing the coupler.

This video shows the modification fixed the problem as the train goes through the curve without separation.

  

 

July 12, 2023
Running trains Running trains Running trains

We spent the entire evening just running trains. This video shows Rick's locomotive pulling an 8 car freight train at TwentyMile.

This video shows Rick's locomotive pulling a 7 car Ultradome train from Eppley's curve past the Whittier depot.

 This video captures using the double crossover to reverse direction for 2 GP40s pulling a 14 car freight . Rick did this maneuver 3 three times this evening thus demonstrating the RaiPro system handled the reverse loop polarity switch perfectly.

 

July 26, 2023
Nick Knowles Unloaded barge Long train run

Terry asked for us to meet about 45 minutes early so we could watch Nick Knowles Amazing Railway Adventures, episode Alaska Railroad. The show was fabulous and also had an interview with "Alaska Railroad Royalty" John Combs.

Rick took home three freight cars as their couplers were too low. He added custom made washers to bring the coupler height up to NMRA standards. Amazing work!

 Of course, our evenings are all about running trains now. This video shows a pair of locomotives pulling a 17 car consist through TwentyMile.
Load balancing Running two trains simultaneously Running two trains simultaneously

A pair of pesky flatcars with Volvo A40D Articulated Dump Trucks kept derailing at the west end of the swing gate. Rick used his digital camera to film the derailment up close and through a bit of trail and error determined that if the dump truck was shifted slightly to one side the derailments stopped.

Video: Rick's confidence in his abilities lead him to run two trains simultaneously.

With a handheld controller in each hand, Rick ensures no collisions occur between the two trains.
Running two trains simultaneously Coupler height mismatch  

Video: It is almost mesmerizing watching two trains pass at the double crossover.

A pull-apart near Eppley's Curve revealed two other hoppers have low couplers. Trucker washers will be added to these hoppers at the Eppley Shops.

  

 

 

 

Feel free to contact me at john@alaskarails.org
Page created 9/4/17 and last updated 8/3/23