I took a trip on the Alaska Railroad's winter Aurora Train from Anchorage to Fairbanks this last Saturday. Normally, the Aurora train is three cars long: a dining car, one coach car, and a baggage car on the rear (where the people hauling supplies to their remote cabins and availing themselves of the flag stop service hang out--fascinating look into real Alaska!).
Mine was over ten times that!
I'll have to consult my photos to see what the actual car count was, but it was something like this:
*SD70MAC engine
*SD70MAC engine
*SD70MAC engine
*Baggage car
*Coach
*Ex-UP dome
*Coach
*Coach
*Tiki Rail Bar
*Dining car
*HEP power car
*Dining car
*Coach
*Coach
*Baggage car
But that wasn't the end of it! Behind the baggage car were about 10 flat cars and another 15 tank cars!
The Alaska Railroad's VP/COO Ernie Piper was on-board and announced that this was a historic event for the Alaska Railroad and one they had obtained a special waiver from the FRA for combining freight and passenger equipment on the same train. Apparently due to an emergency need of one of the railroad's customers, the railroad needed to get the freight cars to Fairbanks ASAP. On top of that, the eight passenger cars in front of the normal dining car and our two coaches were empty and being repositioned for a special Fairbanks to Anchorage charter of an international marketing delegation (they weren't accessible to us).
At over 40 cars long, this was one of the longest "passenger" trains I'd ever seen!
I'm not sure why they didn't simply run the freight as a separate train either just ahead of or just behind our passenger train. Perhaps they were short available crews or engines and consolidating the run was the only way they could get everything up to Fairbanks on time. Interestingly, we were limited to freight speeds (49mph in the 59/49 segments) and freight air brake pressure (90psi instead of 110psi), and this plus our delayed departure while we hooked onto our freight equipment (yes, we actually made a joint with all of the passengers on board--all we felt was a very slight jolt) meant that our arrival into Fairbanks was about 45 minutes late.
One of the most interesting passenger trips I think I'll ever be on!
When I get my pics downloaded, I'll post some.
Mine was over ten times that!
I'll have to consult my photos to see what the actual car count was, but it was something like this:
*SD70MAC engine
*SD70MAC engine
*SD70MAC engine
*Baggage car
*Coach
*Ex-UP dome
*Coach
*Coach
*Tiki Rail Bar
*Dining car
*HEP power car
*Dining car
*Coach
*Coach
*Baggage car
But that wasn't the end of it! Behind the baggage car were about 10 flat cars and another 15 tank cars!
The Alaska Railroad's VP/COO Ernie Piper was on-board and announced that this was a historic event for the Alaska Railroad and one they had obtained a special waiver from the FRA for combining freight and passenger equipment on the same train. Apparently due to an emergency need of one of the railroad's customers, the railroad needed to get the freight cars to Fairbanks ASAP. On top of that, the eight passenger cars in front of the normal dining car and our two coaches were empty and being repositioned for a special Fairbanks to Anchorage charter of an international marketing delegation (they weren't accessible to us).
At over 40 cars long, this was one of the longest "passenger" trains I'd ever seen!
I'm not sure why they didn't simply run the freight as a separate train either just ahead of or just behind our passenger train. Perhaps they were short available crews or engines and consolidating the run was the only way they could get everything up to Fairbanks on time. Interestingly, we were limited to freight speeds (49mph in the 59/49 segments) and freight air brake pressure (90psi instead of 110psi), and this plus our delayed departure while we hooked onto our freight equipment (yes, we actually made a joint with all of the passengers on board--all we felt was a very slight jolt) meant that our arrival into Fairbanks was about 45 minutes late.
One of the most interesting passenger trips I think I'll ever be on!
When I get my pics downloaded, I'll post some.
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