The Alaska Railroad: Railfanning The Last Frontier
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- Опубликовано: 6 окт 2016
- Where in the world can you ride along a jointed rail mainline at speeds of 40mph, without passing a single control point or signal tower for over 100 miles, on a nationally recognized premier passenger trains pulled by none other than SD70MACs and GP40-2s, soaring over cascading rivers, dwarfed by mountainous vistas effortlessly stretching into the sky, and past some of the most beautiful, untouched and breathtaking pieces of planet earth? The Alaska Railroad of course! This regional railroad operates from just east of Fairbanks, Alaska all the way down to Seward on 470 miles on mainline track, through some of the most intense terrain railroaders could ever dream of coming across.
The railroad is unattached to the rest of the railroading world, relying on barges from Seattle and Vancouver as the primary connection t0 the continental US. The Alaska Railroad is state owned, dating back to 1914. Being one of the last all EMD railroads, they roster 28 SD70MAC’s, being 4001-4016, and 4317-4328, the 4300 series being equipped with head end power, and 4317 being tagged as an Operation Lifesaver locomotive. The ARR has two ex-F40PH’s, now NPCU’s for some of the local passenger trains, and then finally the railroad has GP38’s, GP38u’s, and GP40-2’s, seven of which are also equipped with head end power for the passenger service. Most of the railroad’s passenger rolling stock is ex-UP and ex-C&NW, which felt kind of surreal riding in a dome car that was once part of a crack passenger train on the C&NW to Chicago.
Hauling intermodal, gravel, export coal, jet fuel, and any other manifest freight, along with first class passenger service, and DPU’s if you’re lucky, this railroad really has it all. We were able to experience this railroad phenomena first hand over a 9 day period of time from late June to early August. Arriving in Anchorage, Alaska we didn’t have to catch our train until the next morning, so we hung around the downtown, watching the Blue Angels, visiting the huge farmers market, and of course, watching the trains. It never really got dark in Alaska, some of the videos were filmed close to 10 at night, and its perfectly light out. The next morning, we took the Coastal Classic down to Seward, where we would stay for the next week, finding all sorts of cool little spots to watch the trains travers the Alaskan wilderness. But alas, the railroad sent us the same consist every single day, so we relied on locational variations to keep us on our toes, even making our way to Portage Pass to film the Glacier Discovery towards the end of our trip. We were expecting the famed coal trains to come to Seward, but unfortunately the coal mine apparently lost a huge part of their contract with Seoul, the railroads main customer of coal. So not many coal trains to Seward. Although I did get news of one arriving the day after we left Alaska…funny how that works…
I’ve always wanted to film the Alaska Railroad, and now that I’ve done so, I can’t wait to go back for more. Thanks for watching and don’t forget to subscribe! 
Развлечения
OMFG THAT BIRD!!!!!!! RIIIIP!
Holy seagullcakes at 2:00.
the obliterated sea duck starting out the video was noticed. great video however, so many great views. The sound of GM EMD!, lovin' it. i love the sound of SD-70Mac's
Great video!
I live in Alaska it’s pretty cool
I don't watch the trains, I ride them. Much more fun and lots to see.
Lmao the poor bird got hit by the first train. Rest in piece my friend.
I didn't even notice until watching the videos again back home
"Look out for the train." 🚂
The dead bird still there in the rest of the video
You can see his dead body
Excellent video. The scenery is incredible. Would love to go see this railroad for myself one day. Great work!
Awesome!
King of the Creeps thanks a lot
1:59 RIP Pigeon
Nice
Great job! Looked like a fun trip.
It definitely was, now I cant wait to go back haha
Florida Railfan if you look closely starting at 1:48. you notice a bird getting totally obliterated by the first train! not sure if you noticed that.
I noticed once I watched the videos, and now I can never not see it...
LOL. I went to alaska in 2006 when I was 13. did a vacation package through the ARR, it was awesome. tell me some of your locations where you went. Next time I go I'd love to do some train spotting too. Also next time you go to Alaska, I'd heavily recommend going to Skagway, AK and checking out the Narrow Gauge White Pass and Yukon Route RR. That is also amazing and totally worth it! :)
We stayed in Seward, at the end of the railroad, MP 0. Also a night in Anchorage on MP 114, and we went over to Whittier and Railfanning the tunnel for an afternoon
I was at JBER watching Arctic Thunder on Saturday.
When was the actual date of this trip? My kids live near Anchorage and I'm thinking about visiting, but I live on the Gulf Coast and want to be comfortable if I go.
Poor bird, at 2:00 - i imagined hearing the Thomas the tank engine "Look out for the train" voice. I'm going to hell 😭
There about to have the last steam locomotive running again
If Thomas the tank engine were to pull the train he wont go fast because the train is too heavy for him. Gordon might go a little faster but might not make it and he can get stuck. Great that they got those SD70MACS and GP40-2s!
Okay?
Awesome video! We’re the first 4 trains all in one afternoon?
Yessir. In fact, they were all within about an hour and a half time frame
0:23 Are those the Blue Angels?
Yessir!
Are they still running service
Year-round, although service varies throughout the year. Service to Seward only operates May-September
Great video. Lots of good action. I used to work on the cruise train up there. The Alaska railroad SD70's are one of the few locomotives that use their main generator for HEP for the passenger cars. That is why they sound weird at 16:18. This does of course take away a lot of power for the traction motors leaving the locomotive with only one powered truck. Sorry you missed the coal trains. Last time I talked to the dispatcher for the railroad, he told me they were stopping the coal trains in September of 2015. Since you missed the coal trains here is some action I filmed shortly before the trains stopped ruclips.net/video/dJmYFgXEd1M/видео.html
Yeah, it was certainly odd hearing an SD70 idling with HEP turned on at the same time. Maybe next time I'm up there (whenever that may be) I'll try and get a load of the AS&G ballast trains and the Whittier freights...both of which interest me greatly. Then again, the entire ARR does
😊😅😂обичам ви
So how did you enjoy my home state?
Amazing...I think about it every day and wish I was back haha
Poor bird got hit by an Alaska SD70MAC
Yeah, not the best way to go out
Dumb bird.