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Alaska vacation 2003

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  • Bbags
    replied
    Hi again

    Well these are the last pictures from my vacation.

    I hope if you have had the chance to view them that you have enjoyed the pictures.

    Next year I hope to return to Alaska and travel north of Anchorage to at least Nenana.

    I would urge any of you who have the chance to travel to Alaska for it was a wonderful trip.

    Alaska is definitely "The Last Frontier"








    This is a final family photograph before my son and I take the red eye back to Connecticut.



    That's all folks!!!!

    Leave a comment:

  • Bbags
    replied
    Hi again

    Well I am almost done.

    As we were taking pictures of the Dall sheep a train appeared and we were able to take pictures.










    The final post later.

    Leave a comment:

  • Bbags
    replied
    Hi again

    A few more pictures before I am done.

    First more pictures of the Dall sheep






    A family picture (my daughter Kathy, my grandson Connor, and my son Andrew).

    Kathy's husband Paul works for the Alaska Marine Highway which is a ferry service.

    He was on a week long trip when this picture was taken.



    This sign was located on a resteraunt in Whittier.



    A few more later

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  • Bbags
    replied
    Hi again

    While in Alaska we had the chance to ride a miniature RR that was located next to the museum we visited.

    There was a ride of over 1/2 mile through the woods.

    The first picture is of my grandson Connor sitting on the locomotive that pulled our train.



    These are his latest additions to the locomotive fleet.

    They are SD70 Macs



    Next is a rotary snow plow from the days of steam which is on display at a museum.




    Last we have a close up of an ore car to show the well aged wood.



    More later.

    Leave a comment:

  • Bbags
    replied
    Hi again

    Here are some scenic views of Alaska

    One includes a train.












    More later

    Leave a comment:

  • Bbags
    replied
    Hi again

    These are pictures of old Portage, Alaska.

    Portage was destroyed in the 1964 earthquake, when the ground subsided as much as 12 feet. There are still remains of the old buildings untouched except by nature since 1964.

    There are dead trees out in the flats that are the result of the influx of salt water as the land settled.

    Portage was never rebuilt.












    Last is a picture of the "Ghost Forest" created by the earthquake.



    More later.

    Leave a comment:

  • Bbags
    replied
    The rest of the pictures do not follow any particular story thread but are just some that were taken by my daughter, my son or myself.

    Locomotives:

    #2002 an EMD GP49




    #3011 an EMD GP40-2



    #2002 an EMD GP38-2



    more later

    Leave a comment:

  • Bbags
    replied
    Hi again

    As we continued through the yard we saw the following.

    This is a Russell snow plow that is no longer in use.




    Next are a couple of box cars.

    The first box car is an old troop carrier from the second world war where you can see where the windows were paneled over with metal to make the passenger car into a box car.






    We then saw a gondola with some new equipment ready for shipment.



    Then there were 2 older locomotives waiting to be scrapped.






    Last is a picture of the front of the Alaska Railroad headquarters building.

    This is one of the few all brick buildings found in Anchorage.



    More later

    Leave a comment:

  • Bbags
    replied
    Hi again

    While we were driving around the yard a switcher entered the yard.

    This is an EMD MP15 #1552







    The next pictures are of a rotary snowplow that the Alaska Railroad still uses when the snow is so deep that the plows that are on each locomotive are not sufficient for the task.




    More later


    Leave a comment:

  • Bbags
    replied
    Hi again

    While we had time to kill before the flight home we were able to take pictures of rolling stock in the Anchorage yard.

    The first two pictures are of a box car that was just sitting there on a siding.






    Next were two tourist cars.

    They are owned by Wilderness Express one of the many companies that run excursions on the railroad.




    Next are 2 cabeese just waiting for a train so they could leave the yard.






    More later

    Leave a comment:

  • Bbags
    replied
    Hi again

    On our last day in Alaska we were flying out of Anchorage at 7:30 PM so of course we left my daughter's house at 1 PM(only a 45 min drive to Anchorage)in order to spend some time getting more train pictures.

    First they are doing some construction at Bird Creek using the railroad and Difco Dump cars to carry large quantities of rock to be used about 1/2 mile away.

    The area was closed to the public but I was able to take a picture of the work train locomotive.




    We arrived at the Anchorage train Station just as an empty coal drag was headed back to the coal fields. Missed the locomotive but here are pictures of the empty cars and the caboose.







    More later

    Leave a comment:

  • Bbags
    replied
    Hi again

    We also did some hiking while in Alaska.

    i wanted to see a moose in the wild but unfortunately no such luck.

    First is a picture of a waterfall with my son standing at the base.





    Next is a picture of me standing on a very slippery rock at the same waterfall.




    After we hiked some more we approached and open area with a view of Turnagain Arm.



    More later

    Leave a comment:

  • Bbags
    replied
    Hi again

    While on vacation we had a chance to view a glacier up close from a boat that travels on a lake which was once hidden by a glacier.

    The lake covered by Portage Glacier started to appear in about 1915 and by 1998 the entire lake was exposed by the shrinking glacier.

    The U.S. Forest Service in coordination with Chugach National Forest runs a tour of Portage Glacier on the Ptarmigan, a tour boat named after Alaska's state bird.

    This is a picture of the boat.




    The following are pictures of Portage Glacier taken from the Ptarmigan.






    The last picture is of the mountains that surround the lake.



    More later

    Leave a comment:

  • Bbags
    replied
    Hi again

    Some of the other things we did while I was visiting was to ride a gondola to the top of a mountain which is one of Alaska's few ski resorts.

    There we ate dinner on the mountain.

    The ski area is located in my daughters home town of Girdwood.

    The picture is a view of the restaurant on top of the mountain.



    This is a view from the mountain top looking toward Turnagain Arm.



    This is a picture of an artillery gun used to start small avalanches before they can become large and dangerous.

    This was located at the ski area but the railroad uses similar ones to protect their track from avalanches.



    More later

    Leave a comment:

  • Bbags
    replied
    Hi again

    To complete our trip we returned from picking up the rafters to Girdwood.

    There are 2 points of interest in the section.

    First is a section known as "The Loop".

    Back in the days of steam, A huge wooden trestle was constructed so steam engines could pull the loads up the steep mountain grades (steam engines could only pull up a 1% grade).

    In so doing the tracks actually looped over one another.

    The loop was hailed as an engineering feat in its day.

    The loop trestle was abandoned in 1951 due to high maintenance costs and the introduction of diesel engines which can pull up a 3% grade.

    Here we can see the locomotive from the rear of the train as we proceed through part of the loop.



    Next is a series of 5 tunnels all in less than a mile of travel. These tunnels appeared in the movie "Runaway Train"

    This is a picture of the train entering one of these tunnels.



    This completed this trip on the Alaska Railroad.

    More later

    Leave a comment:

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