10 Responses

  1. Tyler says:

    Absolutely stunning photos, Emily. I’ve always been fascinated by these trains that run through such isolated areas and the relationship they have with the local residents who depend on them. It looks like you got some decent weather and the light is pretty neat up there!

  2. Walter says:

    The aurora is on my bucket list. Wonder if I could convince my wife that she needs a train trip in Alaska — in the winter? Hmmmm

    • Emily says:

      Actually, tell her that you’ll go to the hot springs… that might be enticing enough. Apparently going to the Chena Hot Springs (about an hour and fifteen minutes outside Fairbanks) is a popular winter trip, and a good handful of the people I met on the train were heading there. Super relaxing! For the five seconds it takes you to walk from the indoor pool area to the outdoor spring you wonder what the hell you are doing in a bathing suit in subzero temperatures, but after that it is quite glorious. The Alaska RR has packages that include Chena, but you usually can get a better deal on rooms there if you book yourself on their horrid website.

  3. James says:

    Wow Emily, your photos are awesome! I’ve always wanted to go to Alaska and see the Iditarod, ever since I raised my two Siberian Huskies form pups!

  4. Heather says:

    Wasilla, home of the Iditarod? Is it bad that I thought of someone/something else? ;)

  5. Steve Dunham says:

    Great photos, and I agree with you in wishing for those railroads that never were built. But I think that the Exxon Valdez disaster could have happened even if the Alaska Railroad, rather than the pipeline, had hauled the oil: via either method, the oil would have been transferred to a ship, right?

    • Emily says:

      If the Alaska Railroad was extended, yeah, it would have been transferred to a ship (although at Whittier instead of Valdez), but the Trans-Canadian plan had the oil running down through Canada to Montana and connecting with Amtrak. THAT would have been a very interesting ride, IF it were available for passengers. Alas, no railroad :(

  6. Wayde Gutman says:

    Hey kiddo, next time you are in Alaska, head down to Skagway and check out the White Pass & Yukon Route, a narrow gauge railway. While you are there, check out the GE 90 class “Shovelnose”, those are my favorite class of diesel.

  7. Josue Bernardo Rodriguez(Balto) says:

    I doubt Alaska Railroad will ever extend the tracks to the bay up north most of the terrain up there is not traversable since its almost wet most of them time. Canadian Pacific could do it but it would have to freight not passenger and even that trying to make the range traversable would be real costly to do so.

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