Western Railroad Discussion > Alaska railroad question

How much of the Alaska railroad is CTC or what ????
And is the railroad all welded rail or not ????

 

The main stretch of CTC is about 90 miles from South Anchorage to Kashwitna. There are also two CTC islands, one in Portage and one in Hurricane. Finally, the 10-mile long Whitter Branch, that connects to the main at Portage, is CTC. All other controlled track is TWC and everything else is "Other than main track".

Rail is a combination of CWR and jointed. Concrete ties in some location and steel ties on many of the curves in the wood-tie sections.

On a related note, how much track has been installed at Houston heading down to Port MacKanzie?  I appears that a full wye has been installed at Houston, but is that all or is there some more track installed heading south?

BNSF6400 Wrote:
-------------------------------------------------------
> On a related note, how much track has been
> installed at Houston heading down to Port
> MacKanzie?  I appears that a full wye has been
> installed at Houston, but is that all or is there
> some more track installed heading south?

See my post in this thread, about 16 posts down with the track schematic.

http://www.trainorders.com/discussion/read.php?1,3676457

What are the crew districts on the ARR? Do freights change crews between Anchorage and Fairbanks?  If not can a crew make the run within their hours of service or is there a lot of dog Catching?
JC

JasonCNW Wrote:
-------------------------------------------------------
> What are the crew districts on the ARR? Do
> freights change crews between Anchorage and
> Fairbanks?  If not can a crew make the run within
> their hours of service or is there a lot of dog
> Catching?

All Anchorage to Fairbanks trains run all the way with one Anchorage-based crew. At one time there was a crew change in Healy but that has been gone for many years now and trains run all the way. It's a long run, usually taking the full 12, or near it. Crews often die close to either end but our CBA permits yard crews to travel up to 50 miles outside the terminal to dog catch trains. When I worked the 07:00 Anchorage terminal job for awhile, we often come on duty, grabbed our papers, and hopped in the buggy to relieve the south freight somewhere outside of Anchorage and bring it to town, then bust it up. No extra time claim, unfortunately. The 18:00 Anchorage yard job often does the same for the south Denali Star when they are tight on time.

There are regular yard jobs in Fairbanks that typically do the same for northbounds but every now and then they will call a crew off the board. As much as I enjoy the north end, it's an exhausting run, especially because most of it is dark territory with hand-throw switches at the sidings. We don't have pools, the jobs are assigned and usually run high seniority as they pay well. OT after 10 hours, which you will almost always get on this run. I have caught some of them off the board although I generally work terminal jobs in Anchorage.



Edited 1 time(s). Last edit at 11/28/15 06:22 by trainjunkie.

I forgot but how many miles between the two cities?

Posted from Android

350 miles.

Boy, you're a weath of information. Hope you and your family had a great Thanksgiving.

Frank

Not much point in building a partial wye. . . . . .