Has any of the inquiring minds here travelled on the Alaska Railroad? And how was the adventure? Any wildlife seen?
//raises hand
Yes, many many years ago (1978). I didn’t see much wildlife while on the train, except for a bald eagle sitting in a tree, but the day we spent in Mt. McKinley National Park made up for that. I’ve got some halfway decent slides from that trip that I should scan and post someday…
I had the pleasure of riding the Alaska Railroad in September of 2003 while on a cruise tour of Alaska with a few other members of my family. We had ridden the Alaska Railroad from Anchorage to Denali National Park, and then from Denali to Fairbanks. We did not see much wildlife from the train, except for an eagle perched in a tree here and there, but otherwise the scenery was spectacular.
The Alaska Railroad uses at least two SD-70 Macs on their passenger trains, and I assembled an HO scale passenger train, which I run during the open houses of our local club, the Sioux Valley Model Engineers Society. Our annual Fair Week open house begins August 7th out at the W.H. Lyons Fair Grounds here in Sioux Falls.
If you should ever plan a vacation trip to Alaska, you should also try booking a trip on the White Pass & Yukon Route Narrow Gauge Railroad. That too, is well worth the money. My avatar is just one of the pictures that I had gotten from the “White Pass”.
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