Alaska Railroad

Somewhere in AK

I intimated that I might post more often whilst in AK but of course I have been too busy. The first weekend we took a trip via Fairbanks to Anchorage from from there to Seward (first syllable as in sewer) and thus followed much of the course of the Alaska Railroad. 

At the Fairbanks end the railroad extends slightly further than shown but only for freight as yet see here, although there is a talk of extending the passenger service right to Delta Junction. 

The gauge is standard, but the route is single track and sometimes tortuous so the average speed is slow.

We walked as close as the general public do to Seward's claim to fame, the Exit glacier, which is one of about 40 spawned by the vast Harding Icefield and one of the few that are accessible to ordinary mortals.

Exit glacier

Running south from Anchorage the road and railroad initially run parallel and hug the coast of the Turnagain Arm of the Cook Inlet then, at Portage, the line splits with one branch running to Whittier and the other to Seward.

Turnagain arm of Cook Inlet

Although we did not make it to Whittier I later learned that it is accessible only via a 2.5 mile long combined railroad and road tunnel or by sea and yet it is a major port not only for cruise ships but also for freight.