A Week in Alaska

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mkstarks

New Member
Myself and several friends just returned yesterday from a week in Alaska where we were the guests of the Alaska Railroad and their fantastic employees. I'll be slowly working through all the photos and videos over the next few weeks, but wanted to take the time to start the thread.

*All photos from company property were taken under the supervision of ARR employees and all PPE was worn accordingly.*

ARR 3013 leads the Glacier Discovery train as it departs Portage, AK.

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Old glory watches over the shop forces in the car repair shop.

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The sights and smell of diesel smoke fills the air as ARR shop forces work to load test on of the SD70MAC's in the diesel shop.

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Great shots. Looking forward to more photos from your trip. I once visited the headquarters of the Alaska Railroad, located in an unassuming commercial area in Seattle. I thought it odd that the Alaska Railroad was headquartered in Seattle, but at one time Seattle was the gateway to the Alaska Territory.
 
Myself and several friends just returned yesterday from a week in Alaska where we were the guests of the Alaska Railroad and their fantastic employees. I'll be slowly working through all the photos and videos over the next few weeks, but wanted to take the time to start the thread.

*All photos from company property were taken under the supervision of ARR employees and all PPE was worn accordingly.*


cool - looking forward to more pics
 
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That double decker car looks like the DMU they have made. (The world's tallest RDC). How did that one work out for them? Do they ever use it as power in regular service? I don't recall, do they have more than one of those?
 
Frist off Marshall, great shots. Looks like you had an awesome trip.

That double decker car looks like the DMU they have made. (The world's tallest RDC). How did that one work out for them? Do they ever use it as power in regular service? I don't recall, do they have more than one of those?

Bob, the Alaska Railroad, Holland America, and Princes Cruise lines all have the Colorado Railcar double decker cars. They each have several of those cars, and yes they are the same shell as the DMU, but these are just passenger cars. And they are very nice inside and they have open observation decks. If you ride Alaska Railroad's trains, the Gold Star service uses these cars. Holland America's private train is the McKinley Explorer.

I took an Alaskan trip this summer as well and it was awesome as well. I didn't get the behind the scene tours like Marshall, but the train rides were great (along with the other tours).
 
Bob, the Alaska Railroad, Holland America, and Princes Cruise lines all have the Colorado Railcar double decker cars. They each have several of those cars, and yes they are the same shell as the DMU, but these are just passenger cars. And they are very nice inside and they have open observation decks.

I rode the Princess Tours ones back in 1989. I think they were brand new back then. We used them on a 4449 trip from Seattle to Wenatchee for the Washington State Centennial games. The train had more dome cars than just about any train I've ridden, with 4 superdomes and two of the Princess Tours double deckers, which I consider honorary dome cars, due to the massive windows. I spent much of the trip in the front dome car, as the forward view was better and we were running MRSR #5 over the line the next day, so I wanted to get a feel for the territory. (We had a pilot crew of course, but it was handy to get some idea of where we were and what was coming.) I did make sure to spend some time in the Princess cars as well, and got a good look at them. They're massive, some of the tallest passenger cars around, maybe even the tallest? They are incredible cars, and the open observation area makes them even better.

Here's a video of the trip I found on YouTube. The quality isn't HD, but you have to remember, this was 1989...

Video by Thoma Feisher
 




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