Western Railroad Discussion > North to Alaska

My uncle decided to celibrate his retirement by driving from Maryland tp Prudhoe Bay Alaska.  I met him in Montana and spent a little over two weeks with him.  It was not a railfan trip but he knows I like trains(he also likes them more than he will admit) so we did stop and do some rail excusions along the way.

Pictures 1 & 2 - We swung by the old staion on our way through Helena MT.  They have an old NP steam engine on display and there was a freight with BNSF power sitting by the station.
Picture 3 - I happened to spot this engine buy complete surprise as we passed through Columbia Falls MT.  I had never heard of the Mission Mountain Railroad.  As a D&H fan, it was great so see one of their old GP39-2s.

Thanks for looking



Edited 1 time(s). Last edit at 08/13/19 22:03 by dh1205.

---

---

---

Picture 6 - Mission Mountain Railroad MP15AC in Columbia Falls.

The next stop we made was on the White Pass & Yukon.  We had booked tickets to Carcross but when we arived the night before, we founf out they were running steam engine 73 the next day.  They let us switch our tickets so the the steam trip.  I spent the morning of our ride sitting at the station watching all the diesel trips get ready for the day.



Edited 1 time(s). Last edit at 08/13/19 13:12 by dh1205.

---

---

---

More WPY



Edited 1 time(s). Last edit at 08/13/19 13:13 by dh1205.

---

---

---

A few more from Skagway. Eventually the steam train backed down to the platform.



Edited 1 time(s). Last edit at 08/13/19 13:16 by dh1205.

---

---

---

The 73 is a beautiful locomotive.  She sounds really good charging up the hill.



Edited 1 time(s). Last edit at 08/13/19 13:18 by dh1205.

---

---

---

We saw quite a few of the other White Pass trains from our train. 

We ended our trip with a ride from Anchorage to Seward and back on the Alaska Railroad.



Edited 1 time(s). Last edit at 08/13/19 13:22 by dh1205.

---

---

---

Thanks for taking the time to look at my trip.



Edited 1 time(s). Last edit at 08/13/19 13:23 by dh1205.

---

---

---

Thanks for the pics....

It looks like you had an interesting trip.

Awesome series!

Great Trip and information.

Ed

Very nice post-thanks for sharing.

BB

Great photos.  Thanks for posting them.  I just returned from the WP&Y and also got to see the Alaska Railway.  What a wonderful trip.  Can't wait to go back.

Jim Barton  

Jbarton Wrote:
-------------------------------------------------------
> Great photos.  Thanks for posting them.  I just
> returned from the WP&Y and also got to see the
> Alaska Railway.  What a wonderful trip.  Can't
> wait to go back.
>
> Jim Barton  

Thanks. It’s amazing up there, I did not want to leave. 

That guy standing in the cab door of #103 in photo 7 was wearing the same hat when I was there in 2008!

Very NICE series!

Larry

Thanks Larry!
Very Incide photos!
Dan

Amazing photos. Love it!!

SantaFeRuss

Great series. Did you ever get to Prudhoe Bay? Was the Dalton Highway difficult to drive on?

Posted from iPhone

Thank you everyone!

eastpenn23 Wrote:
-------------------------------------------------------
> Great series. Did you ever get to Prudhoe Bay? Was
> the Dalton Highway difficult to drive on?
>
> Posted from iPhone

We made it up.  There are some random paved sections along the way.  Most of the paved sections are worse than the gravel sections. The locals said that the road is much better in the winter.   Having said that, the Highway was not as bad as I expected, but be prepared for a few flats and a cracked windshield.  The trip was well worth it.