at 12:00 p.m. After a brief station stop this train will depart Whittier at 12:45 p.m. and return to Portage. It will then reverse direction and head south to Grandview, and then back to Whittier before departing for Anchorage at 6:45 p.m. This train is part of the Forest Ser- vice’s “Whistle Stop” service — a series of shelters is being constructed in the Chugach Mountains south of Portage and this train provides the service to ac- cess these shelters as road access is im- possible. The Glacier Discovery arrives in An- chorage approximately 9:15 p.m. The Coastal will depart Seward at 6:00 p.m. and arrive in Anchorage at 10:15 p.m. In addition to the daily passenger trains the railroad also operates a num- ber of extra trains for various cruise lines. Most days will find a cruise train operating between Seward and Ted Stevens International Airport, and re- turn. These trains operate at the con-
venience of the cruise line during the summer months between May 15 and September 15. Every Saturday and al- ternating Mondays and Wednesdays the Seward cruise train will continue north to McKinley before returning to Seward. Two additional cruise trains will operate on the same days. One will depart Anchorage early in the morning to Whittier where they will load cruise passengers and return north to Fair- banks. The second is a cruise train that
departed Fairbanks in the early morn- ing that will continue through Anchor- age around late afternoon and dis- charge passengers in Whittier before returning north to Anchorage. These additional trains can make the south end of the system very busy indeed, at least during the summer months.
Work Trains and Extras
The railroad operates two work trains and these trains can operate
RIGHT: A southbound coal train crosses the 20 Mile River just a bit north of Portage. With numerous blue sky days, winter can be a great season to photograph the Alaska Railroad. BELOW: Alaska Railroad 3001, a GP40 still in its original paint, hugs the shoreline with a lengthy freight. Fall colors along Turnagain Arm can be quite spectacular.
32 JULY 2013 •
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