ABOVE: Whittier is an unusual place and only gets about 30 days of sunshine a year so if you get one it is best to maximize it. The Alaska Railroad’s Glacier Discovery is at the depot while one of the cruise ships that appear dur- ing the summer months prepares to discharge its passengers. RIGHT: The overnight freight train from Fairbanks has just arrived and is im- mediately put to task of switching the rail- road's largest customer Flint Hills Refinery. In the background are the sparkling waters of Cook Inlet and Mount Suisitna.
Bird Creek, Brookman, Bird Point and Girdwood. These locations all have plenty of parking and offer plenty of photographic opportunities.
In addition to the previous selections there are many other locations — too many to count — and these also offer great photo opportunities, but with much more limited parking. In most cases you can just pull off the road and take a picture wherever there is suffi- cient parking. Rule of thumb — if you see a parking opportunity, take it; odds are a photo will present itself. The ten miles between Girdwood and Portage also offer ample locations for photos. Some of my favorites are Gla- cier Creek, Kern, Peterson, 20 Mile River Bridge, and the wye at Portage; again, all one must really do is find a parking place and wait for a train. Portage is where the lines diverge, one to Whittier the other to Seward. A mile past Portage is the auto turn off for Whittier. The tracks are to the north of the road and out of sight until Portage Tunnel, where a decent shot can be had entering the tunnel along- side Placer Creek. A better shot howev- er is as the train exits Portage tunnel, crosses a river on a small bridge and enters Bear Valley. The train will then
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enter the Anton Anderson Memorial Tunnel and will exit in the town of Whittier. This the only shared road and rail tunnel in North America. Mo- tor vehicles pay a $12 toll to enter the tunnel eastbound and can do so only on the half hour. Exiting Whittier is only on the hour and no toll is collected. Whittier has a small yard that is used to switch the rail barge when it is at the slip. An interesting shot in Whittier is with the passenger train at the depot with a cruise ship in the background and the arriving barge train in the fore- ground.
From Portage one can also continue south to Seward. The railroad has a di- rect shot to Moose Pass while the road makes a 50 mile detour over Turnagain Pass, but don’t worry — because of
steep railroad grades you will beat any train to Moose Pass. At Moose Pass the railroad will cross Upper Trail Lake on a nice, recently strengthened, wood trestle. In the summer this lake con- tains float planes which make an excel- lent prop for the passing trains. The tracks will wind their way along Upper Trail Lake often in sight of the road. The road will cross the tracks at grade just south of Crown Point disap- pear from view briefly, and when the road and tracks rejoin they and you are along the shores of Kenai Lake. Nu- merous shots can be had along this sec- tion of the railroad.
At the south end of Kenai Lake the road will cross the railroad on a bridge and for the next few miles the railroad will be out of sight until rejoining the
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