You know this Railroad?

[micaelcorleone]

Look, what I've just discovered:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=EtemYDv_pq4&feature=related
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=I1sEX-UpyD8&feature=related

The Alaska Railroad
Never knew that such a RR is in Alalska exists. It runs both passenger and freight and is owned by the State of Alaska.
Did somebody here already travel on this RR?

Wouldn't that be a nice route for Railworks?

[thecanadianrail]

all we have for the ARR is a caboose so far, i recall that somebody was asking to make a route of it but nothing has been done?

[buzz456]

I was on it from Whittier up to Anchorage and few years ago. Very interesting trip. The ranger that was supposed to narrate our trip was home sick so one of the guys that had worked for the railroad for twenty eight years gave us a bunch of history as well as telling us about the area. Going to go back one of these days and take it farther up North. One of the rather unique things is a shared highway train tunnel, about two and a half miles with trains and cars, buses etc. taking turns through the route.
Buzz

[Chessie8638]

The Alaska Railroad is interesting. First it's a state owned railroad, the state of Alaska owns it out right. Next it is completely isolated from the rest of the North American rail system. All the freight cars or locomotives have to be placed on car floats or barges and floated up from places like Seattle, WA or Vancouver, BC. It's also one of the last (if not the last) that still runs mixed trains. Freight cars on the head end and a single passenger car or two on the back. The train goes about doing it's freight work while still providing passenger service. Plus their paint scheme stands out against this modern era of simple conservative "dip" paint schemes. And finally the terrain and the scenery it passes through is absolutely stunning.

http://www.railpictures.net/viewphoto.p ... 09&nseq=95
http://www.railpictures.net/viewphoto.p ... 06&nseq=97
http://www.railpictures.net/viewphoto.p ... 5&nseq=131

[Hawk]

One of the rather unique things is a shared highway train tunnel, about two and a half miles with trains and cars, buses etc. taking turns through the route.
Buzz

I've got a picture of that somewhere that a friend of mine took when he was up there. I'll see if I can dig it up.
Some of you may remember him from back in the MSTS days. Bill Burnett? The creator of Sea View.

[micaelcorleone]

Some interesting info and good pics.

Yes, the Macs with their paint are amazing, also the domecars they use. Domes as long as a whole railcar.

I've read about this "Anton Anderson Memorial Tunnel":
Eastbound, westbound and train traffic share the same one-lane tunnel.
It's "North America's longest railroad-highway tunnel".

[Hawk]

It's "North America's longest railroad-highway tunnel".

Probably the only one.

[Hawk]

I couldn't find the pictures of the tunnel so I got Bill to send them to me again.

Here's Bill and his dog waiting to go through the tunnel.

5-30-Waiting.jpg

Coming up on the tunnel.

5-30-Entering-1.jpg

Here's inside the tunnel.

5-30-Entering-2.jpg

[micaelcorleone]

Nice pics. Thank you Hawk for your effort.

This dog is really cute, hehe.
A funny concept for a tunnel. I've read that sometimes you need to wait up to two hours in your car to get through.

EDIT: In Germany all safety boards would go crazy. "You can't do this, blablabla."
The Americans just do it. Love this country.

[Hawk]

Here's some more of the Alaska Railroad.

A train coming across a bridge in Talkeetna

2-09-Train_River.jpg

The railway lined with dandelions

2-15-Dandy_RR.jpg

The curvy mainline between the highway on the left and the Turnagain Arm on the right

5-28-Railway_Curve.jpg

A rotary snowplow south of Anchorage

5-28-Rotary_Snowplow.jpg

[bpetit]

What the heck? Car and Train Tunnel? Now that's a Dual Gauge

[Hawk]

A funny concept for a tunnel. I've read that sometimes you need to wait up to two hours in your car to get through.

According to Bill, cars go one way on the hour and then the other way on the half hour.
Trains get priority.

Interesting thing about that tunnel, it costs millions to build and when you go through it, the road and rail (it's a stub line) only goes about another 2 miles and dead-ends in a town called Whittier.

Edit 1: Here's a couple of links about it.

http://www.dot.state.ak.us/creg/whittie ... ndex.shtml

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Anton_Ande ... ial_Tunnel

[Hawk]

Here's another picture I found of the Alaska Railroad.

This one was taken only a few miles north of the entrance to Denali National Park.
Both the railroad and the highway are paralleling the fairly large river way down below.

2-02-Railroad_Below.jpg

Edit 1: And one more.

5-26-Rail_Bus.jpg