Another Summer in Alaska

My life is heavily divided between summer and winter. This probably has a lot to do with the nature of employment in train service on Alaska Railroad. For the first few years, it is highly seasonal. As such, I work the most in the summer, and then I am laid off for the winter. I say "laid off," but I think the railroad uses that term differently than most employers. When most employers conduct layoffs, it terminates employment. With the railroad, it is a temporary condition in which I retain employment and seniority, but I am not working. They will call me back to work in the spring.

Southbound at MP 58 on a work train.
All photos by James Ogden.

Alaska Railroad is a full service railroad, with trains operating year round, but because a lot of our passenger service caters to tourists visiting Alaska, we have more traffic in the summer. That is our busy season. In the winter, the freight continues on about the same pace as the summer, but the passenger service is reduced. In the summer, passenger traffic is the bulk of our business, in the winter it is more of a footnote. Typically I work from early May to October. Last winter, I even worked in December and January.

So, what do I do with myself all winter? Well, last winter I got the idea that I was just going to enjoy being unemployed. I figured I could get things done around the house, and spend some more time on hobbies. Turns out, when you rent your home, there is not a whole lot to do around the house besides the regular chores. My hobbies, while interesting, were not the only thing I could do. So, I went out and got myself a part time job, shuttling airline crews between their hotels and the airport. It probably does not sound all that exciting, but it was not bad. It was easy, and it certainly pays better than sitting around the house! I will probably do that again. This winter we own our home though, so I am certain the "honey-do" list will grow. No doubt, I'll stay busy, even without the railroad calling in the middle of the night!

This past summer flew by. I still feel as if I just moved up here to take the job with Alaska Railroad, but in reality, I have now completed three summers here. This summer, like the others, was interesting and enjoyable for the most part. I spent all of it on the Conductors' Extra Board. Last summer, the goal was to work the summer on the board, but I got bumped a lot. I was the lowest Conductor on the railroad last year. This year however, I had a few Conductors below me. I went to the board on May 12, and managed to stay there until September 20. At that point, they force assigned me to the Conductors' board in Fairbanks. I took a couple of vacation days instead of rushing up there, because they were talking about laying me off within a couple of days anyway. It is an awfully long drive to get laid off just a few days later. While I was on vacation days, I got bumped for the first time all summer, and then they laid me off on the 24th. That was the only time I got bumped all summer. Just having a few people below me in seniority makes a big difference. In 2014 I got bumped every two weeks, or less.

The northbound Coastal Classic runs along Turnagain Arm, at about
9:45pm, one summer evening.

Right now in my career, I prefer the extra board. To some people, that probably seems a little crazy, the schedule is unpredictable, and you cannot plan anything more than a few hours in advance. When the car needs maintenance, I always plan it for my wife's days off, because there is a very good chance I will not be around. Living life on a two hour call is not always the best way to go. But, despite the drawbacks, I enjoy the variety of the extra board. I rarely work with the same person twice in a row, and I rarely work the same job twice in a row. I get to go just about everywhere on the railroad, and sometimes I get to be on more unique jobs, that they only use the extra board to cover.

This year, I did the usual trips, such as the passenger train to Fairbanks, the yard jobs, and the Whittier freight jobs. Strangely, I did manage to entirely avoid tying up in Whittier, and I managed to avoid hostling most of the summer.

Hostling is a thankless job, especially the night hostling. Hostlers work out of the diesel shop, also known as the roundhouse, though it is actually not round at all. During the day, hostling is pretty slow. Most of the work is just moving locomotives around for the mechanical staff. At night, it can be pretty busy. The passenger trains all arrive in Anchorage between 5:30pm and 10:15pm. If fuel levels are below a certain level, the yard crew that switches passenger trains will drop the locomotives off at the fuel rack, outside the roundhouse, when they are done switching that train. They only drop it off. Once it gets there, it is in the hands of the hostlers. The hostlers fuel the locomotives, add sand if needed, and then do some general cleaning. They go through the cab and take the trash out and restock any supplies, such as toilet paper, hand sanitizer, napkins, and track warrants. They also make sure all the tools and equipment are in their appropriate places. They also usually wash the windows. If time permits, the entire locomotive gets washed. We are probably a minority, as far as railroads go, for having Conductors and Engineers wash their own locomotives by hand! We get a bucket with detergent and a brush on a long handle and scrub the whole thing by hand, top to bottom. After the locomotives have been hostled, they get an air brake test, and then they go back on their trains.

Southbound at MP 180 on the QAP gravel train.

Even if the locomotives do not need fuel, the hostlers go over to the car shop, where the passenger trains are serviced, and at least go through the cab and take out the trash and refill the supplies. Once the locomotives are on their assigned trains, it is time to do brake tests. Freight cars get a Class 1 air brake test when they are first put in a train, and after that, only when the train is changed by more than one pick up and one set out. Passenger trains get a Class 1 air brake test every calendar day, even if the train has not changed at all. Usually the hostlers perform those in the middle of the night. The goal is to have the air tests done by the time the morning yard crew comes on duty, so they can focus on getting the trains to the depot early enough to leave on time. After the air tests, the night hostlers are usually just about done for the day. There is some paperwork to take care of, as always, and then it is time to go home.

The Whittier freights are usually interesting, even if the weather is lousy. Whittier is famous for the amount of rain and generally lousy weather it receives. Whittier and Anchorage are only about 60 miles apart, but the weather can be completely different. Sun and a cloudless sky in Anchorage does not necessarily mean it is nice in Whittier. Whittier itself is a small town, only 182 people live there, but it is an important place for the railroad and for Alaska. Whittier features a deep, ice free port, and so a lot of the things consumed by Alaskans arrive through Whittier. Some of that comes by rail, in an uncommon way. Alaska Railroad has no direct rail connection to the rest of the US or Canada. Instead, cars are interchanged to the BNSF, Union Pacific, and Canadian National by a fleet of barges. Car floats were popular in New York at one time, and the principle is similar, but the barges that come to Alaska are much bigger. The float operations in New York run on relatively calm water and over short distances. The longest voyages there were a few hours. The barge between Seattle and Whittier takes a week, on a normal voyage, and operates in much rougher seas. There are times when the swells exceed 15 feet, even in relatively protected waterways, and the barges must be able to handle that. When the barges get to Whittier, the rail cars roll off, much like the car float operations in New York. A train is assembled in Whittier, and then runs to Anchorage. Meanwhile, other cars are brought to Whittier, switched to comply with weight and balance requirements on the barge, and loaded for transit to the "Lower 48." Alaska Marine Lines operates three barges, each with eight tracks on the deck, and stantions to support shipping containers above the rail cars. Canadian National owns another barge, which operates between Prince Rupert, BC, and Whittier. It is similar, but lacks the equipment to handle shipping containers. All of these barges are capable of moving 45 or more cars. Every piece of equipment on Alaska Railroad arrives and departs the property on those barges.

Explorer Glacier, seen from a freight train headed to Whittier.

Loading and unloading the barges is a delicate operation, which requires a bit of planning. There is often switching to do before cars are loaded on the barge, because everything must be balanced properly. In addition, the Coast Guard has different requirements for shipping hazardous materials than the railroad, so a train that leaves Anchorage in compliance with all the railroad tonnage and hazmat requirements, usually does not meet all the Coast Guard requirements. Once all the cars are in the right places, loading the barge takes place at walking speed, and only when the tidal conditions are right. Too low or too high a tide means the slip, the movable bridge that connects dry land to the barge, will be at too steep an angle to safely move rail cars across it. The barges are capable of pumping seawater aboard for ballast, which can accommodate for some of the variation in the tide, but ultimately, Mother Nature gets the final say. If there are delays, it can mean "losing the tide," and having to wait for the next tide cycle. As a train crew member, there is a lot of motivation to avoid losing the tide, because it means getting stuck in Whittier longer, and no one likes staying there any longer than necessary!

Matanuska River, seen from the right of way of the old Sutton branch.

The passenger trains are always interesting. If nothing else, passengers have a way of providing some amusement, even if they do not intend to. The majority of the summer passengers are tourists, visiting Alaska from another place. Most are here for the first time. As such, a certain amount of tourist type questions are expected. Quite a few are on their first train ride, and so there are some common questions about the railroad that come up too. The most common question I get is who is driving the train. For some reason, many people assume the Conductor runs the train, and some people become a little alarmed when they see me walking through the passenger cars. It is funny because almost every kid on the train knows that the Engineer does the driving. No matter how hot it is outside, someone usually asks how much snow Alaska gets. I usually have to explain that it varies a lot, because Alaska is huge. Anchorage gets a few feet every year, but Fairbanks gets less. Whittier and Seward get a ton. People often ask how cold it gets in the winter too. Every once in a while, you get someone who really brightens your whole day, and it is usually a kid. To most of the kids on the train, the Conductor is what they want to be when they grow up. Some of them get all excited to see the Conductor, and it is hard to not enjoy that. I usually try to keep some souvenirs handy to give to the kids on the train. They are just little things, key chains or pins that say "Alaska Railroad" on them, but the kids love it. And, of course, there is always some wise guy on board who asks, "can I drive the train?" That question gets old, but it is usually an adult who asks and clearly thinks they are being pretty funny.

Charter trains are a completely different kind of passenger train. They are generally chartered by locals as a way to entertain guests. Sometimes they charter a car or two, and have them pulled by one of our regular trains, sometimes they charter their own train. I had the chance to work a charter this year that was organized by the Anchorage Convention and Visitors Bureau. They charter a train to run to Portage and back in the evening, and then invite some of the local businesses in tourism aboard. They also invite travel professionals from outside Alaska to come up here and experience the railroad. It gives travel professionals a taste of what Alaska has to offer and a chance to network with some of the local vendors. They have lots of local food, dinner, beer, wine, and some local musicians or a DJ. They charter a dome car, a coach, a couple of our bistro cars, and a business car. The DJ or musicians usually set up in the business car, which can be arranged to accommodate dancing, while food is served buffet style in the bistros. The coach and dome are for people to sit down and enjoy the view.

Locomotives for the overnight freight to Anchorage are headed over to
the yard in Fairbanks. This is January, and it is -26 degrees.

We had a spectacular trip the day I worked that train. The trip to Portage is usually pretty scenic anyway, but it was a picturesque fall day in Alaska, complete with moose, Dall sheep, and beluga whales. Even the locals were pretty excited about it. The mountains were bright yellow, with a light dusting of snow on the tops, and the sky was cloudless. The evening sun lit everything up brilliantly. We had lots of time scheduled to get to Portage, so when the whales appeared in the inlet, we stopped the train to let everyone enjoy it and take pictures. As the sun set, and it began to get dark, people headed for the business car, where there was singing and dancing. They even had karaoke going for a little while. We turned the lights down in the business car and the coaches, and people enjoyed the entertainment well into the evening. With charters, you can never be sure if it is going to turn into one big drunkfest, which usually results in problems, or if it will go well, but this one turned out quite well.

Overall, I had a great summer. There were good days and lousy days, as one would expect, but it was a good summer, even if it flew by. A common question I get this time of year is when I expect to be recalled. I figure it will be early May. They may surprise me and call me sooner, but I would not bet on it. In the mean time, I'll enjoy not having to answer the phone, and get some things done on the honey-do list. They say the winters here are long, but it will go by fast too, and I'll be back to the railroad before I know it.

A panorama of Whittier in the winter, taken from my hotel room on the 14th floor of the Begich Tower.
Click on the photo to enlarge.

Passengers Say the Darndest Things!

Lately I have been working on the extra board, and in the past two weeks, I have caught a lot of passenger trains that way. While I do enjoy working on the passenger trains, I have found that sometimes passengers say things to which I do not know how to respond. Many of our summertime passengers are not from Alaska and many of questions simply are the result of being in a place with which they are unfamiliar. That is to be expected. But it also seems that at least once or twice per trip, someone asks a memorable and ridiculous question. Here are a few examples from the past couple of weeks that stand out in my mind.

Last week I was on the Glacier Discovery train, which operates daily between Anchorage, Whittier, and Grandview. The train leaves Anchorage in the morning, goes to Whittier, and then goes into Chugach National Forest, making stops in Spencer and Grandview. There is a brief layover at Grandview, and then the train heads north, going back to Whittier and ultimately returning to Anchorage in the evening. Many passengers ride the train to Whittier for scenic boat tours, and then return on either the train or a motor coach. Others ride to Spencer for rafting or hiking and then return to Anchorage via motor coach. While there are a few people who go out to Spencer or Grandview for camping, the majority of the passengers on the train return to their point of origin on the same day as they departed. In any case, the train only operates during the day.

On one of the trips I made on the Glacier Discovery last week, a gentleman approached me and asked me, "Does this train have a sleeping car?"
I replied that it did not, to which he replied, "Do any of your trains have a sleeping car?"
I responded, "No, we run all of our passenger trains during the day, so there is no need for sleeping cars."
He asked, "What about the trains that run at night?"
I was a little bewildered by that question, but said, "We don't run any passenger trains at night, they only run during the day. Just freight trains run at night."
He said, "Oh, well where do people sleep then?"
I said, "If you want to take a nap, you can do it in your seat."
I guess that was the answer he was looking for, because it seemed to satisfy his questions about railroad sleeping accommodations.

Alaska Railroad allows passengers to ride in the vestibules at the ends of cars if they wish. If there gets to be a crowd, people are asked to limit their time there so everyone gets a chance. All the entry doors on our passenger cars are Dutch doors, and we usually leave the top portion open. Because of this, the vestibules are quite popular for people taking pictures of the scenery, because it allows them to do so without glass in the way. However, when riding in the vestibule people are not supposed to lean or reach beyond the body of the car for obvious safety reasons.

On another trip on the Glacier Discovery, the day after the sleeping car interrogation, I noticed that some people were leaning way out of the side of the car ahead of the one I was in. It appeared that they were trying to photograph the locomotive in a curve, but they were hanging precariously over the side of the car. I walked up to that vestibule and spoke to them about it. They appeared to have been drinking, but they were polite and promised not to do it again. Less than a mile later, I happened to be in a position where I could see that vestibule from another car again, and noticed the same people doing the same thing, this time on the other side of the train. I walked to that vestibule again and asked them to find their seats. They protested a little but sheepishly made their way to their seats. As they were filing out of the vestibule, one of the people in the group asked, "Are you afraid we're going to try to jump off the train or something?"
I said, "No, I am more worried about you hitting something close to the tracks or losing your balance."
He then asked, "What would you do if we did jump off?"
The way he asked the question made it obvious he was just trying to get a reaction out of me by asking something ridiculous, so I replied, as stoically as I could, "Once you're off the train, you're not my responsibility."
He looked a bit surprised but did not comment.

This week, on a train chartered by Holland America Tours, one of their passengers asked me what is perhaps the vaguest question I have ever heard. Holland America has their own service staff on the trains, which does include tour guides to narrate the trip. As I was walking through the car, a man stopped me and said, "Excuse me, I just wanted to ask you about something the guide said earlier."
I knew right then that this was going to be interesting, because I had not likely been around to hear what the guide had to say in the first place, but against my better judgement I said, "Alright, I'll try to help."
He then explained, "Well, a while ago we were going through the Alaska Range and I saw this one mountain with some snow on it and it looked like it also had a glacier on it. Our guide said she didn't know the name of it and I was just wondering if you knew the name."
I expected it to be something I could not answer, but this was even more hopeless than I had anticipated. Before I could respond, he continued trying to describe the mountain, "It must have had a glacier, I mean, the glacier was pretty big. The mountain was pretty big too, but I don't think it was Denali, and I was just wondering if you knew the name."
He paused, during which time I was still blown away by the ambiguity. Once again, before I could say anything, he continued, "I know not all the mountains in Alaska have a name, but if this one does, I was just wondering if you knew. I know this might be a little bit of a stretch, but if you can help, I'd really appreciate it."
By this point I was thinking this was a lot more than a little stretch! I finally had a minute to respond and said, "I would probably have to see it to tell you what it is called."
I guess he thought he hadn't described it well enough, so he continued, "Well, it was pretty big and it was in the Alaska Range. It also had a big glacier on it, and it looked like there might have been some snow too. We just went by it a little while ago, it was on the left."
I told him again, "I'd have to see it to be able to tell you."
He then asked, "Well, do you think it even has a name?"
I said, "It probably does, most of the bigger mountains do, but I just don't know which mountain it was without seeing it."
He replied, "Oh ok, well if it has a name, do you know what it was?"
Figuring there was no other way out of this one, I simply said, "Nope!"
I guess that's all he was looking for, although I cannot imagine I gave him any more information than the tour guide already had.

Earlier today I had a man approach me and explain that he worked for New Jersey Transit. We chatted for a bit and compared notes on the electric railroading there and mountain railroading here. He suggested that I try to get on the railroad there, and told me that my seniority and vacation time would transfer. I was a little surprised by that, since it is a different railroad, but he went on to tell me that my seniority and vacation would transfer to any railroad in the country, and I should do my research. Having gone from BNSF to Alaska Railroad, I am well aware that seniority and vacation do not usually transfer from one railroad to the next. He was quite shocked when I told him that Alaska Railroad does not participate in Railroad Retirement or the United Transportation Union's "National Agreement." We tend to do our own thing up here in those cases. After he headed back to his seat, I could not help but wonder why he thought I would be interested in working for a railroad in New Jersey. We had this conversation as the train was passing through the Alaska Range and over Hurrican Gulch, and I could not help but think that by comparison, New Jersey has extremely little that appeals to me!

Sometimes the hardest part of the job is maintaining a straight face when someone says or asks something ridiculous, but it completely serious and expects a serious reply.

Seward Depot

There are two passenger depots in Seward, AK, but the original depot is no longer used by the Alaska Railroad. The original depot was built at milepost 0, the southernmost point on the Alaska Railroad. It was built before Anchorage had even been founded, and Seward was the location where people began their trip to Fairbanks and the interior of Alaska. When the railroad was completed, a trip to Fairbanks took two days by train, with an overnight layover in Curry. Curry no longer exists as anything more than a spur track, but that is a story for another day. The current Seward depot is pretty nondescript. It is a small wood frame building next to an asphalt platform at the end of the track. The current end of the track is at milepost 1.6.

At 5:36pm, on March 27, 1964, south central Alaska experienced a major earthquake. At the time, it was the most powerful earthquake ever recorded, measuring at 9.2 on the Richter scale, and lasting around four minutes. The epicenter was east of Anchorage, so while there were effects statewide, the majority of the damage was at the south end of the railroad. One of the consequences of the earthquake was major elevation changes in areas near the ocean, including in Seward. Prior to the earthquake, the railroad continued south from the location of today's depot, along the shore line, and then around to the location of the original depot. Along the way there was a yard, some oil storage facilities, and numerous docks and piers.When the earthquake occurred, the soft silt and mud beneath all that gave way and slipped into Resurrection Bay, taking the railroad, piers, and oil facility with it. In addition, the earthquake generated tsunamis that affected Alaska, but also traveled out into the Pacific Ocean, reaching places as far away as California, Hawaii, and even New Zealand. The tsunamis reached Seward shortly after the earthquake and washed many buildings and facilities near the shore into the ocean. In addition to all this, the destroyed remains of the oil facility caught fire, and the fire was then spread throughout the town by the tsunami.

Despite all the destruction in Seward, and the fact that the old depot is located right next to the shore, it still stands. The mile and a half of track between it and the new depot were never rebuilt, which is why the railroad no longer goes to milepost 0. Today the old depot houses some of the offices of the Alaska Sea Life Center, but they have left the exterior almost exactly as it would have been while serving the railroad. There are some exhibits in there, and visitors to the Alaska Sea Life Center can usually visit those exhibits during normal business hours. Anyway, several days ago I was in Seward on a coal train and the hotel we stayed in was right around the corner from the old depot. It was a gorgeous day, so I decided to go for a little walk and take some pictures while I was at it.

The front of the old depot.

North end of the old depot. The concrete building in the background is the main part of the Alaska Sea Life Center.

South end of the old depot, the concrete porch is newer.

Former track side of the old depot.

Track side of the old depot. The parking lot is where the south end of the yard would have been located.

With the exception of a dock missing in the foreground, the view from the old platform is unchanged.

Photo: Whittier Turn Crew

A couple of weeks ago, I was called to work on a Whittier freight train. We went to Whittier with some freight for the barge, did a little switching, and then returned to Anchorage with freight that had come off the barge. It was a pretty simple and straightforward trip, although we were surprised when we arrived in Whittier by the presence of a film crew from Windfall Films. Windfall Films is the producer for the reality television show Railroad Alaska. They stopped us on the way in to clip on wireless microphones and have a job brief, and then they filmed us switching. Anyway, on the way back we had to stop in Portage to wait for a Seward bound freight train to pass. Our train and theirs were too long to meet anywhere between Portage and Anchorage, so we had some time to kill while they got to Portage. It was a beautiful day, so we decided to take some pictures.

Left to right are as follows:
John, Manager of Operating Rules and Training
Ryan, Student Engineer
Keith, Brakeman
And me, the Student Conductor.
Davy, the Conductor, was behind the camera, and the engineer opted to stay in the cab.

Appropriately, ARR #4004, the Spirit of Whittier, was the leader on the return trip from Whittier. Our other locomotive was the #4014. This train was known as a "turn," since it went to Whittier, dropped off cars, turned around, and came back with new cars.

Hand Brake Derailment

A few weeks ago I mentioned that I had a story about a derailment that was caused by brakes that were stuck. Here it is, I hope the suspense has not been too big a problem!

Last summer, on the 29th of July, I was called off the extra board to work as a Brakeman on a gravel train. The plan was to go to Birchwood, where the train was parked overnight, take it to Palmer to load gravel, and then head south to Anchorage, where the gravel would be dumped at Anchorage Sand & Gravel's dump site, and then return the train to Birchwood to park it for the night. At that point, we would get a ride back to town, and go home. That was a typical day on the gravel train, and it took the full 12 hours usually. Palmer and Anchorage are not that far apart, but loading and unloading takes several hours.

We got to Birchwood just as the sun was rising (which is pretty early in Alaska!) and untied the train. There were nine cars tied down, and I made sure to check three cars behind the last one with a hand brake, as usual. Shortly afterwards, we began our trip north towards Palmer. On the Palmer Branch, there is a loop near milepost A1, where we normally turn the gravel train around, prior to loading. The loading tipple is north of the loop, but it is much easier to turn the empty train and then back it up to the tipple. We stopped at the switch leading to the loop, which happens to be the only spring switch on the entire railroad, and then started around the loop. Since the train had loaded the day before, the switch at the north end of the loop was against us, so we had to stop. The Conductor and I both got off there, since we would have to back up to the tipple after the train came out of the loop.

Once we were off the train and had lined the switch, the engineer started pulling out of the loop. For the first 35 cars, nothing extraordinary happened. After about 35 cars went by, we could smell something that was not quite right, and we could hear a car making a lot of noise. A couple cars later, we saw the culprit. The 43rd car was moving, but the wheels were not turning. We told the engineer to stop, and he did as quickly as he could. When the train stopped, we looked at the car and found that the hand brake was fully applied. This was puzzling, and we figured it must have been applied in Anchorage and never released, which would mean the previous crew would have dragged it from Anchorage to Birchwood, and we certainly had dragged it from Birchwood to Palmer. We released the hand brake and called the dispatcher, so they could have someone check the tracks before the morning express passenger train came through.

We inspected all the wheels on the car and determined pretty quickly that they were completely shot and would have to be replaced before that car could go anywhere. We are not supposed to let a car go on if it has flat spots or shell spots of a certain size. The wheels on this car were so badly damaged they were not even round anymore! Between Birchwood and Palmer, we had been up to 50 mph with this car dragging. There were some massive flat spots, but it looked like the wheels had turned a bit, because in other places, all the metal scraped off to create the flat spots was piled up on the wheel treads, creating large bulges and piles of what looked like molten metal chunks. It was a mess. We came up with a plan to pull the train out of the loop and set the car out in the loop for the Carmen. The loop was not ideal, because it would disrupt the gravel train the next day, but we really had no other choice.

We explained what was going on to the engineer and instructed him to move very slowly for set out process. It would take a while, but the goal was to get the car out of the train without causing more damage to the car or the track. I rode on the car ahead of the damaged one so that I could keep an eye on it and stop the engineer if anything happened. The Conductor stayed at the switch. As we started moving, the wheels turned, but all those piles of metal shavings and bulges caused the entire car to bounce, wobble, and hop violently as we moved, even at only about two miles per hour. After about fifty feet of this I asked the engineer to stop and I tried to knock some of the mess off the wheels, but I was unsuccessful. I did notice that as the wheels turned, these chunks and bulges had destroyed the brake shoes. This meant we would probably have to set out a second car since we would be unable to rely on the hand brake on the damaged car.

We continued moving south to get the train out of the loop, but we only made it a few hundred feet. The car hopped and hit a low rail joint at the same time, and the lead wheels landed on the ties. I told the engineer to "plug it," or place the brakes in Emergency, but the second axle followed before he stopped. Even at two miles per hour and with emergency braking, it took about 50 feet to stop the train. We called the dispatcher, who had just come on duty, and informed her of the situation. She told us to hang out and wait, and she would send someone out to look at it. It was only 6:30am though, so none of the management would be there for several hours. Palmer is an hour drive from Anchorage, and most of the managers do not come in before 7:30am or 8:00am.

As per the normal protocol, the managers came out and got written statements of the facts from us and downloaded the locomotive event recorder tapes. The dispatcher had already had a track inspector look at the track between Birchwood and Palmer, and evidence of a dragging car had been found. I guess they were able to find marks and some minor damage to the rail. We suggested they check everything between Anchorage and Birchwood as well, since it made no sense that one car 43 back would have the hand brake applied in Birchwood. In Anchorage, when the train gets dumped, it is split in two sections, so it would make sense to have cars that were in the middle tied down there. If someone forgot to release a hand brake when the train was put back together, it would explain why the hand brake was applied. The management agreed to do that. They decided that the damage to the wheels of the car was enough that it should be repaired right there. There was no sense in rerailing it out and then setting it out for later, since the Carmen would have to drive out there to rerail it anyway. Some calls were made to Anchorage to get wheels, jacks, and a boom truck out there to take care of the car.

Around noon, the Carmen arrived with wheels and went to work. We uncoupled the head of the train from the car, and then backed around the loop and pulled the rear portion of the train away from the car as well, to give the Carmen plenty of space to work. Then all we had was time to kill. They told us it would take a couple hours to replace all the wheels. During that down time, we learned that the track inspector had found similar rail damage south of Birchwood, indicating that the car had been dragged from Anchorage.

By the time the Carmen were done replacing the wheels and brakes, we were nearly out of time to work. Anchorage Sand & Gravel had decided to cancel the train several hours earlier, because of the delay. Even if it had been loaded then, it would have been around midnight before it got to Anchorage, at which point everyone at AS&G would be at home. We put the train back together and then pulled it down near Matanuska, the junction where Palmer Branch leaves the main line. There we tied it down and got in the van to go home. The next day they would be able to get on the train there and just back up to the tipple and load as normal.

As far as derailments go, we were pretty fortunate. The railroad lost a day's revenue from one of the most lucrative trains, but overall it was a pretty minor incident. Between Anchorage and Birchwood the previous day, that train had probably attained speeds near 60 mph, with that hand brake applied, and we had been up to 50 mph that morning. We all agreed that the railroad and us were all very lucky that the car had not derailed then. The result would have been a pretty significant mess that would have cost a lot more than one day's revenue. It would have no doubt shut the railroad down for several days. All things considered, it could have been much worse.

The railroad did a formal investigation into the derailment, during which myself and everyone on that crew were relieved of responsibility for the incident. The cause was determined to be the failure of the Brakeman the previous day to release the hand brake prior to departing the Anchorage Sand & Gravel dump site. That Brakeman was not fired, but did get suspended from work for a couple weeks. Shortly after he came back to work, he took a voluntary layoff. In January 2014, he was offered the Conductor training program and opted out, effectively resigning. His resignation resulted in me having the seniority to get the Conductor training program instead.

Passenger Service

Last weekend, I worked on my first passenger train. I learned a lot, and had a few misconceptions about passenger service dispelled.

The train I worked was Alaska Railroad's weekly winter passenger service between Anchorage and Fairbanks, known as the Aurora. This train runs north on Saturdays and south on Sundays. The 358 mile trip is scheduled to take 11:30, with the majority of the stations being flag stops, where the train only stops if there is someone boarding or disembarking at that particular station.

Unlike freight crews, passenger crews come on duty only 15 minutes prior to the scheduled departure of the train. The yard crew gets the train to the depot and several of the depot staff handle passenger ticketing and boarding before the road crew comes on duty. In that 15 minute window, the crew has a job brief, during which they talk about any conditions that will affect train operation, such as temporary speed restrictions. They also talk to the dispatcher to verify that the paperwork is all up to date and correct. After that, the Conductor goes into the depot and gets the passenger manifest from the ticket window, and then it is off to the train. Once everyone is on the train, just before departing, the crew must complete an air test. The 15 minutes get used up very quickly. It is a whirlwind of activity right at the start of the day, and lots of hurrying to make sure the train departs on time. Once the train is underway, the pace slows down a little. There is still paperwork to be done, but the Conductor has all the way to Fairbanks on the northbound trip to take care of it.

Once the Aurora gets underway, the Conductor has to look over the passenger manifest and figure out what stops will be made. Since the Aurora is a flag stop train, the station stops can change quite a bit from one trip to the next. The only stop that happens pretty much every time is Talkeetna. After figuring out the stops, there really is no paperwork that has to be completed right away, but I found it was easier to start on everything early, so that I would remember to do it later. It also meant I had less paperwork to do at the end of the day, so if I got sidetracked by something else, I was not in such a hurry to finish the paperwork. Once the paperwork is started, there is some down time.

I had expected there to be a bit of paperwork, although I had not expected the whirlwind to get going in the morning. Prior to working the passenger train, I had thought that passenger Conductors have it pretty easy. I mean, you never hear about a passenger train breaking a knuckle, and they certainly do not have to switch en route industries! I figured passenger service consisted of eating free dining car food, socializing with the passengers, and relaxing. What I learned is that there is some down time on the job, but it is hard earned! Between station stops, there can be quite a bit of down time, but at each stop, it is definitely go time.

Our first stop on the northbound trip was Wasilla. We had a just a few people boarding there. Since the Wasilla platform is only about the length of two coaches, the Engineer cannot see exactly where to stop to get the appropriate door at the platform. So the Conductor has to go back to the door to be used and count the Engineer down to the stop. Usually the countdown is done in coach lengths to a stop, starting about four coaches from the stop. Once stopped, we had one person get off, and then several who wanted to get on the train. Since Wasilla has no ticket office, we were given the tickets for the passengers boarding there with out manifest, prior to departing Anchorage. The easiest way I found to distribute tickets on the platform like that is to announce to everyone to have their ID out, and then call out the last names on each reservation. As each name is called, the person or group can approach the side of the train, show their ID's, at which point I would give them their tickets and allow them to board. In addition to boarding people, we had luggage to stow in the baggage car. We also had one person stop by with a package for a family that lives off the railroad in Sherman, which is only accessible by train. Once all the passengers and their luggage were on board, we continued heading north. Despite all the activity, the entire stop was only a couple of minutes.

When we left Wasilla, we had more down time before our next stop, which would be Talkeetna. Somewhere in there was time for breakfast too. Talkeetna is always a stop, but you never know what is going to happen there. Some days, it is just a quick one, and other days over a hundred people get on or off there. We only had a few people with reservations to there, but that still does not guarantee anything about that stop. Talkeetna serves as the jumping off point for people who have cabins or homes between there and Hurricane, some 60 miles to the north. In that area, along the Susitna River, the railroad is the only means of access. Because of that, the train will stop anywhere to pick up and drop off people. There are no passenger depots between Talkeetna and Hurricane, but there are a lot of trails that lead to cabins out in the woods. If people need to get on the train out there in the woods, they come out to the tracks and flag the train down. Train crews that have worked in passenger service a while generally have a pretty good idea of where the trails are, because those are where we usually stop, but the railroad will pick up someone flagging down the train at any location between Talkeetna and Hurricane. Because of the locals that live out there, Talkeetna can be quiet if no one is going out there, or it can be very busy if a lot of the locals are traveling at once. I had heard stories from other student Conductors that made it sound like thousands of people boarded every week at Talkeetna every week, so I was a bit anxious to get that stop over with.

As it turned out, Talkeetna was not the complete zoo that had been described to me. There were about a dozen people that boarded there, for whom we had the tickets, and three locals. The boarding and luggage handling was basically the same as it had been in Wasilla, it just took a few minutes longer. We also received more items, mail, and newspapers to deliver to some of the locals who were not riding the train. Once everyone and everything was on the train, we headed out. Because locals can flag down the train anywhere between Talkeetna and Hurricane, I stayed in the baggage car, where there is a makeshift office, since I would have to load items for anyone we picked up. I would also have to unload items for the locals on board when we got to their stop. It was just easier to ride in the baggage car and be in position instead of the dining car, which was four cars away.

My Conductor told me I got off pretty easy that day with the local traffic. We had a few people to drop off, but no one flagged down the northbound train. Once the three who boarded in Talkeetna were off the train, we were done with the local stops. All we had to do was deliver the newspapers, mail, and a couple of other items. Once we were north of Hurricane, I went back to the makeshift office in the dining car. There was still some paperwork to be completed from the locals' tickets.

Our next stop was another small one in Healy, and then we went to our final destination of Fairbanks. Healy only had four people disembarking, and would have been quick and uneventful except that just before pulling into the station, we learned that the checked luggage belonging to the four people getting off had been mislabeled as going to Fairbanks. Since most of the passengers were going to Fairbanks, we had quite a few suitcases to look through in the baggage car. We ended up having a fairly lengthy stop in Healy, but we did find the luggage in question!

In Fairbanks, everyone who was still on the train disembarked. There we did not have to handle luggage because there are people there full time who load and unload luggage. We just pulled in and got everyone off the train. By then, our 12 hours to work were up, so once everyone was off, we collected our stuff and got off the train ourselves. The train just sits at the depot all night anyway, and it is able to be serviced right there at the platform. As we were collecting out stuff and getting ready to get off, we ran into the CEO of the railroad, which surprised us a little. He had not been riding the train, but was apparently in Fairbanks for something and decided to check in with us. He was surprised at the crowd getting off in Fairbanks. Over 150 people had disembarked there, which is quite a lot for the middle of the winter. Usually few people go to Fairbanks in February!

Once we had collected our stuff and gotten off the train, it was off to the hotel for a good night's sleep before returning to Anchorage on Sunday.

Second First Trip

At 11:00pm on Friday night, I went on duty for my first trip as a student conductor. Well, it was my second first trip, but the first in Alaska. I would be working the overnight express freight train from Anchorage to Fairbanks. Usually the crew for that train goes on duty at 7:30pm, but the engineer had not been rested, so the trip began behind schedule. We did our paperwork, had a brief about some of the slide zones out there, and then got out the door and on the train.

It was a surprisingly long train for this time of year, at 8,300 feet, but we have also had surprisingly warm weather for this time of year. Usually January is the coldest month of the year, and that cold usually restricts train length to about 3,000 feet. With daytime temperatures well above freezing, and mild nights, the railroad has been able to run much longer trains than usual.

Our trip started off uneventfully enough. We had no speed restricted cars or any cars that required special handling. There were no temporary speed restrictions to think about over the 358 miles, so all we had to remember were several slide zones, but those were five hours away from Anchorage. We all chatted and tried to keep each other awake, and the conductor quizzed me on different rules and operating practices. There was no southbound freight train that night, and we met the coal train within the first 90 minutes, so we had the railroad to ourselves.

As we traveled north, recent rain had made some bluffs near the tracks unstable. This caused the railroad to place some slide zones in service. Those slowed us town a bit once we were north of Talkeetna, but we found everything to be fine in all of the slide zones. Once we started getting into the mountains north of Talkeetna, the snow started to get a bit deeper. There were a few spots where a little of it had slid down onto the tracks, but it was nothing to cause alarm. We crossed the Hurricane Gulch bridge just after 5:00am, and then started down the other side of Chulitna Hill. Just a couple miles later, the trip started to get more eventful.

As we came up on milepost 287, my conductor turned to the engineer and asked if he, in his opinion, thought that using the emergency braking capability of the FRED, on the rear end of the train, would stop a train faster in an emergency than just using the emergency brake valve on the locomotive. As soon as he got the question out, the train went into emergency without any warning. Talk about timing! We came to a stop and the engineer attempted to recover the train from the emergency application.

After a couple attempts, it became clear that the brake pipe pressure was not being restored through the train, and my conductor and I would be going for a walk. We got suited up to go walking through the snow, and grabbed some tools, fusees, air hose gaskets, and air hose retention wires. Then we got off the engine and began walking back to find the problem.

The snow in this area was pretty deep, although the track area had been cleared down to the height of the rail head. On one side of the tracks, the hill dropped off into a river, and on the other side of the tracks, a hill came up from the tracks. We decided to start out on the river side, just so we would be out of the way on the off chance something slid down the hill towards the train. The snow on the river side was above the knees, with a layer of ice on the top. This made walking difficult, because the ice was thick enough that it could not be easily pushed away by walking, but it was not thick enough to walk on top of it. We decided to take out chances on the hill side of the tracks, but that idea was short lived. When we crossed over, we found the snow there to be between waist and chest deep, and it had the same layer of ice on top. So after walking one car length through that, we crossed back to the river side.

After trudging through the snow for an hour, we found the cause of the emergency brake application. A pair of air hoses had separated between two cars. We coupled them back together and the engineer was able to recover the brake pipe pressure. It looked like the air hoses were hanging pretty close to the snow between the rails, so we tightened up the retention wires to get them up off the ground a little more. Once the engineer notified us that he had brake pipe pressure back, we walked back to the locomotive. Despite it taking an hour to get back to the problem, it was only about 20 cars back. The snow and ice had really slowed us down! We were happy it was only 20 cars back, and not 110!

Once we got back to the engine, we got underway again. As we approached the Honolulu siding, the train went into emergency again. This time, the train stopped on a bridge, which had no walkways on it. In January that would not normally be much of a problem, because you could walk across the river below. This January however, it has been so warm that the river was flowing, so walking across it would not be an option. Before we started walking however, the engineer attempted to recover from the emergency application. As we were trying to figure out how we would get across the bridge, he announced he was getting air pressure back, and no one would have to go for a walk. That was a relief! Once he had the brake pipe recharged we got underway again.

For the next few hours, the trip went back to being uneventful. As we got into Denali National Park, it began to get light out. This time of year, the park is pretty quiet, but there were some moose and caribou out and about. We left the park and came along the Nenana River, and headed into Healy Canyon. Just as we started into the canyon, the train went into emergency once again. Again, the engineer attempted to recover the air, but this time he was not successful. Once again, we suited up, geared up, and started walking. This time it only took us about seven minutes to find the problem, and it was the same two air hoses. There was very little snow on the tracks in Healy Canyon, and that made walking much easier!

Since the problem was the same two air hoses, we decided to fix them in such a way that this would not happen a third time! We got some wire off the locomotive, and I had a roll of duct tape. We wired the glad hands together and then tested them to make sure they would not move. Once we were satisfied they were secure, we wrapped the whole mess with duct tape to make sure it would not go anywhere! We let the dispatcher know about the modifications we had made, so that the yard crew in Fairbanks would be aware that they would have to manually uncouple those hoses. By the time we were finished, it was daylight out and the sun was lighting up the canyon. We continued north, although by this time we only had about 90 minutes left to work. The dispatcher told us to go as far as Healy, where another crew would take over, since Fairbanks was still four hours away.

We arrived in Healy just about the same time as our relief crew, and from there we were driven the rest of the way to Fairbanks. We went straight to the hotel to get rested for the return trip. By the time we got to the hotel, it was 1:15pm. Our return trip southbound would normally have gone on duty at 7:30pm, but we were obviously not going to be rested by then!

At 1:30am Sunday, we went on duty for the southbound trip. Once again, the train was going to be late from the start. Just as with the previous trip, the beginning was pretty uneventful. We started with a brief on some of the slide zones we had, although there were fewer than the previous trip. Just like before, we had no temporary speed restrictions and no cars requiring special handling. The train was quite a bit smaller too, only about 5,600 feet long. We got underway and had a pretty unremarkable trip until we got to Healy Canyon.

Healy Canyon is a tight, winding canyon, through which the Nenana River flows. The railroad sits on a ledge several hundred feet above the west side of the river. On one side of the tracks, there is a steep drop to the river, and on the other side is a steep, rock wall that reaches up to the mountains. Because of numerous tight curves, the speed limit through the canyon is 15 mph. It takes almost an hour to cover the distance between Healy and Denali Park, despite being only 12 miles apart. As we were coming through the canyon, we came around a curve and found a boulder sitting squarely between the rails. It was still about a quarter of a mile away when we found it, so the engineer stopped the train short of it. All three of us got out to see if we could move it. It was not huge, about two feet long and a foot across, but it was deceptively heavy! Using a couple bars in the tool closet in the engine, we were able to use some leverage to get it out of the track area and out of our way. Once we cleared the boulder, we were on our way again.

The rest of the trip went pretty smoothly. We had an unremarkable trip the rest of the way to Anchorage, and we made it all the way to Anchorage before we ran out of time to work, although barely. We pulled the train into the yard at 1:25pm, and from there a yard crew took over to break it up.

Conductor Training

I realize it has been about six weeks since the last blog post, and for that I apologize. There is simply less to write about when I am not working for the railroad! However, in the last few weeks, there have been some changes around here.

As you know, I was laid off from Alaska Railroad back in September. This was an expected, seasonal layoff. There is simply not enough winter traffic on Alaska Railroad to keep the entire work force busy. At the time, I was expecting to be laid off until mid to late April, at which point I was expecting that I would be called back to work as a Brakeman for the summer again. Two weeks ago, my expectations changed. One of the managers called me to tell me that several people senior to me had turned down the Conductor promotion. He wanted to see if I would be willing to take it, since the railroad was really hoping to get eight new Conductors this year. The catch to it was Conductor training would begin ten days later. Normally the railroad is required to give prospective Conductors a minimum of 30 days notice prior to training, and it is not a voluntary promotion. This means if given 30 days notice, a trainman must accept the promotion to continue employment with Alaska Railroad. Despite the short notice, I accepted the position, and on Monday, I went back to work for the railroad.

This week has been classroom training. Another week of classroom training will follow, and by the end of the month, all of us will be doing our on the job training.

Most of training has been a good refresher for me. It is amazing how much you forget when you do not work for the railroad for several months. Besides being a refresher, I have learned a lot of new things as well. Something we did not do as Brakemen, or during my time on BNSF, was handle passengers. Alaska Railroad operates passenger trains all year, and the people who work in freight service are required to be qualified to work in passenger service too. Well, there are a lot of extra things to know about passenger service. Some things are more obvious than others. For example, passenger cars are not allowed to be kicked or dropped during switching operations. Even when they are unoccupied, they contain too many things that can break, like windows and dishes. They also must have the brake pipe coupled and the air cut in to all cars when switching. Freight cars can be switched without air brakes, if the engine is capable of controlling them, but not passenger cars. Other things are not as obvious. For example, when coupling passenger cars, you have to stop approximately one car length short of coupling and make sure the couplers are properly aligned and there are no hoses or cables in the way. Only then can you make the coupling, and when the coupling is made, the couplers must be fully compressed and then fully stretched to verify that is is coupled securely.

Besides passenger rules, we are going over all the rules. As a Brakeman, it was important to be familiar with the rules, but they were summarized more during training, since Brakemen work with Conductors. Conductors on the other hand, have to know and understand the rules a lot more clearly because they are the person in charge of a train. The engineer may operate the controls, but ultimately it is up to the Conductor whether a train moves or not, and where it goes and which cars go with it. With that much responsibility for the train, it is obviously very important to have a thorough knowledge and a clear understanding of the operating rules.

Well that is all that is new with me. Hopefully, I'll have more to talk about now that I am working at the railroad again. Despite the silence, I have been busy with other projects for the blog and site. As many of you know, we have a small, but growing, "Other Resources" section. One major project for that has been to map out passenger rail service in the United States. Eventually, it will be a historical reference, showing how passenger service has evolved in the US over the last century or so. Needless to say, that is a fairly large project, especially for one person. I will continue to add information to that page as it is ready. As always, if there is anything you would like to see added to there or anything you are curious about, let us know.

Some of you have asked when we will get to hear from Steven again. As many of you know, he has been away doing missionary service, and his computer access is highly limited. He will be returning home towards the end of May, at which point, I believe he plans to pick up with writing again. As always, let us know if there is something you want to read about, or if you just have a question. The best way to reach us is to send us an email at ogden.bros.trains@gmail.com.

Where the Rails Meet the Sea

Whittier, Alaska, is a unique town for a variety of reasons. It is only accessible through a railroad tunnel, which has had the tracks embedded in concrete, making it possible to drive a highway vehicle through. Whittier has about 180 residents, nearly all of whom live in the same building. Whittier is also the only interchange point on the Alaska Railroad.

The Alaska Railroad has no direct rail connection to any other railroad in North America, making the interchange of railroad cars more challenging. Whittier is a port town, and the railroad maintains a barge slip there which is utilized for interchange operations. Alaska Marine Lines owns three barges, Whittier Provider, Anchorage Provider, and Fairbanks Provider. Each barge has eight tracks on the deck. They also have stantions to support shipping containers above the deck, high enough to clear most rail cars. Each track on the barge is over 400 feet long, making it possible to ship more than 40 freight cars on each barge. Approximately 5,000 tons of cargo can be hauled in the rail cars. The barges which carry rail cars also carry shipping containers above the rail cars. Approximately 10,000 tons of cargo can be moved in containers on each barge.

In Seattle, Washington, the Alaska Railroad maintains another barge slip, which is the other terminal for railroad barge operations. In Seattle, cars are loaded and unloaded from the barges by the Union Pacific Railroad. From there, they can go anywhere in North America.

Besides the barges operated by Alaska Marine Lines, the Canadian National Railway built another similar barge, called AquaTrain. They operated that barge for a long time, but more recently it was sold to Foss Marine, and they currently operate it.  It also has eight tracks, although only six tracks go to the end of the barge. There are two switches on the barge to access the two shortest track. The AquaTrain also has no container loading capacity. It operates between Whittier and Prince Rupert, British Columbia. In Prince Rupert, rail cars are loaded and unloaded by Canadian National.

The barges which connect the Alaska Railroad to the rest of North America are all large, ocean going barges. The tugboats that tow them are less specialized than the barges, but are also large, ocean going vessels. The three Alaska Marine Lines barges operate on a rotating schedule, with weekly departures from both Whittier and Seattle. The AquaTrain simply ferries cars back and forth between Whittier and Prince Rupert. A trip between Whittier and Seattle typically takes about a week in good weather. In the winter, when the weather is less cooperative, it is not uncommon for those trips to stretch out to ten days, and occasionally to two weeks. The trip to Prince Rupert is typically about two days shorter.

The railroad and the barges operate 24 hours a day, and in all weather. Usually the weather in Whittier is rainy and windy, but whenever the barge arrives, it gets unloaded. The quicker it can get unloaded, loaded, and out of port, the more money it can make. The sooner foreign rail cars get off the Alaska Railroad, the sooner the railroad can stop paying the per diem for them.

When a barge is expected in Whittier, a train leaves Anchorage to meet it. It is about a two hour train trip to Whittier usually. Often the trip is planned so that the train gets to Whittier ahead of the barge enough to get things switched out and organized before the barge gets there, so that everything is ready to go when the barge arrives. Typically, about half of the train consists of cars that are going on the barge, and the other half is mostly intermodal flat cars that haul shipping containers. When the train arrives in Whittier, it must be split up to fit in the yard. The flat cars all get put in places where the longshoremen can unload the containers that were brought in.  The containers usually get stacked up around the yard, where they will be out of the way. Many of them are empty, since Alaska does not export many containerized products. During some parts of the year, there can be refrigerated containers full of fish, destined for cities all over North America. The remaining cars on the train typically get placed on one or two tracks on Whittier yard, wherever they will fit. Once all the cars are out of the way, it is time to unload the barge.

Before unloading the barge, the train crew, barge crew, and several managers meet together in a little shack near the dock. Besides getting out of the rain for a few minutes, there is a lengthy discussion about the logistics of unloading the barge. Concerns such as heavy cars, long cars, or wide cars are brought up. Tide information is referenced to make plans, since unloading can only occur during certain tidal conditions. Once all the questions are answered, a plan is made, and the meeting adjourns. Everyone working on the barge and slip area gets a hard hat and a self inflating life preserver. The goal is to stay out of the water, but better safe than sorry.

When unloading begins, the conductor usually goes on the barge. The stevedores unlash all the cars, and once unlashed, the engine is coupled to the car at the stern. The conductor releases all the hand brakes, except the one at the stern. At the bow, the cars are typically coupled to a large steel block, called the headblock, which is welded to both the deck and the bulkhead at the bow. The conductor uncouples the cars from the headblock, and then instructs the brakeman to release the handbrake at the stern and pull the cars. The cars are pulled off the barge at walking speed or less, and up the slip. The process is repeated for each track.

The barge has eight tracks, but the slip only has three. Because of this, the barge must be moved several times during the unloading process. When in port, the barge is tied to several hydraulic winches, which allow the crew to reposition the barge to access other tracks. The tug stays lashed to the port side of the barge, though it is rarely called upon to provide assistance in moving the barge. Unloading is planned to coordinate with the tide, weight of the cars, and balancing the barge. The barge has large ballast tanks, which can be filled with seawater to offset uneven loading and unloading, but balance must still be taken into consideration. At times when the tide may get too high or too low to use the slip, the order of unloading can be used to cause the barge to lean to one side or the other, which can be used to help offset tidal changes.

After the rail cars are off the barge, forklifts are brought onto the barge and the load of containers are unloaded. These containers are loaded onto the now empty flat cars that were spotted all over the yard earlier. Usually there are far more containers than there empty flat cars though, so some of the containers get staged out of the way in the yard until more flat cars arrive. The containers that were brought to Whittier on the train are then loaded on the barge.

Usually by the time the barge has been unloaded, the train crew no longer has time left to work. Between the trip to Whittier from Anchorage, the switching before the barge operations, and then the barge operations, 12 hours can be used up easily. The crew goes to a hotel in Whittier to get some rest. While that crew is resting, another train arrives from Anchorage. It is similar to the first, and is about half flat cars and half interchange cars. The crew that brings that train into Whittier spends several hours switching in Whittier. They get all the newly loaded flat cars together again, as well as the cars that arrived on the barge. They spot more container flat cars, and usually a few more cars that need to go on the barge for the other crew to load later. Usually they cannot take all the cars that came off the barge, because a train of that length, plus all the flat cars, cannot be assembled between the yard and the tunnel to leave town. Some of the offloaded interchange cars remain behind, but all the flat cars are taken out of Whittier, back to Anchorage.

The longshoremen spend the time loading the barge with the containers that arrived from Anchorage on the two trains. They are less affected by the tide since their vehicles are on tires and are not coupled together, and so they work while the train crew rests. The goal is to have all the containers in place and secured by the time the train crew comes back on duty to load the barge.

When the first crew is rested, they go back on duty to load the barge. That shift usually starts with some switching, after the conductor and the barge crew chat for a few minutes about the placement of cars in the barge. The idea is to put the cars in an order that makes sense, so that each track on the barge only needs to be accessed one time during the whole operation. Once the interchange cars are put in an order that will work, everyone meets in the shack to go over the plans for the day. This meeting is very similar to the one held prior to unloading the barge, and many of the same topics are covered again, including the tide, the weather, car weights, and the order of loading. Once all the questions are answered and a plan is developed, everyone gets on their hard hats and life preservers again and goes to work.

Once again, the conductor works on the barge, and the brakeman on the slip. The brakeman gets the train to the barge, and then the conductor controls the movement on the barge. The train is brought to a stop one car length away from the headblock. At that point, the conductor places the last car in emergency and secures the hand brake. This gives the engineer something to push against, particularly when the tide is low and the slip is downhill towards the barge. Once the brakes are applied on the last car, the conductor gently couples the car to the headblock. Stopping one car length away from the headblock helps ensure that this happens gently. Coupling too hard to the headblock can potentially move the barge. Since the slip rests on the stern of the barge, too much movement could cause the slip to slide off the barge, opening up a space through which rail cars could fall into the ocean. Fortunately, this is extremely rare, because everyone is very careful when working on the barge! Once the cars are securely coupled to the headblock, the brakeman secures the hand brake on the car on the stern, and then uncouples the rest of the train. The stevedores lash the cars down, and when they are done, the same process happens again on another track.

Once the barge is loaded, the train crew puts together all the flat cars that remain, and any leftover interchange cars that were unloaded previously. Usually there are a few that the other crew was unable to take with them. The whole train gets an air test and then heads for Anchorage. In Anchorage, the crew will bring the train into the yard, where it will usually fill one of the longer tracks. They go home, and the yard crews break the train up, and prepares all the freight to head to different destinations all over Alaska.

Passenger Car Switching

Today I write from a Viewliner Roomette on Amtrak's southbound Silver Star. This may be the first time we have composed a blog post from a moving train. It probably does not come as a surprise that a trip report will be put together after this journey, but that will be at a later date. Today I thought I would talk about switching passenger cars and a few other things from work.

Earlier today, I boarded the Silver Star in New York, with my wife, Sarah. We elected to take the train to Florida to visit her parents rather than fly because we both enjoy train travel and the cost for us to travel First Class on Amtrak was slightly lower than the cost for both of us to fly. When the train departed New York, it was lead by an AEM-7 electric locomotive. The overhead catenary, which provides electricity to operate such a locomotive, ends in Washington, DC. Upon arriving at Union Station, the electric locomotive was removed and a pair of P42DC locomotives were placed at the head end. This was the first time Sarah had ever seen this operation, and explaining what was going on got me thinking a bit about work, particularly about passenger switching.

When I started working with Alaska Railroad, there were many similarities to what I had learned on BNSF. One big difference between Alaska Railroad and nearly every railroad in the Lower 48 is that Alaska Railroad operates both freight and passenger trains. This is not like a freight railroad hosting Amtrak, which is quite common in the continental United States, because the host railroad rarely does any passenger operations beyond allowing Amtrak to use the trackage. Amtrak provides the passenger train crew and equipment. In Alaska, the Alaska Railroad operates the freight trains, but also operates the passenger trains. The Alaska Railroad provides the crew and equipment for passenger operations.

Since Alaska Railroad operates both freight and passenger trains, this means that train crews could potentially go back and forth between passenger equipment and freight equipment during the course of a tour of duty. This would have been an extremely rare situation for road crews, but was more common in the yard. During the summer, Anchorage Yard had two crews each day that were specifically assigned to switch passenger equipment. Occasionally, when they were either busy or not on duty, another crew could be assigned to take care of a few moves in the coach yard.

Every day in the summer, at 4:30am, the morning passenger switch crew came on duty. The first passenger train scheduled to leave Anchorage was the southbound Coastal Classic, which went to Seward. The train was made up the night before, by the evening passenger crew, so there was rarely any switching to do in the morning. This was done to expedite the morning movements and ensure an on time departure, at 6:45am. Occasionally the locomotives had to be added, but even that was typically done by the roundhouse hostlers, in the middle of the night. Once we got on the train, the Brakeman would release the hand brakes and walk through the train, getting the doors and steps positioned for use at the depot. The Conductor and Engineer would compare paperwork with the train dispatcher and perform an air brake test. As the train departed the yard, a couple of carmen would perform a visual roll by inspection, for safety. We would head south out of the yard, on to the main track. Once the Brakeman had walked through the train, he would stay on the rear car. Once on the main track, the train had to be backed up to the depot. The Brakeman would serve as the eyes for the engineer during that movement. At the depot, the train would be secured. The road crew would take over and bring it to Seward from there.

For the yard crew, there were still more trains. The Denali Star, which operates to Fairbanks, was next. This was usually the most complex. The evening crew usually had things in order, to minimize the work for the morning crew, but because this train operates with private tour company cars, it is impossible to have it put together the night before. The morning crew would first get on the locomotives and pull the Alaska Railroad portion of the train out of the yard. Next, the Wilderness Express cars, if there were any that day, would be added to the rear. They could only be added after they had finished servicing them and lowered the derail protecting the entrance to their track. Sometimes they were ready when the crew got there, other times the crew had to wait a few minutes for hem to finish up their work. Behind the Wilderness Express cars, Holland America Line's McKinley Explorer cars were added, followed by Princess Cruise Line's private cars. Since Holland America and Princess are sister companies, their tour operations in Alaska are combined and operate under the name HAP Alaska-Yukon. Both companies' private cars are serviced together, on the same track, and the evening crew usually had them put together, in the right order, the night before. Once they were added to the train, an End of Train Device was added and tested, and then an air brake test was conducted. Once again, the carmen did a visual inspection as the train departed the coach yard. This train went around the wye on the way out of the yard, and then backed out to the main track. The engineer spotted the train at the depot, where it was secured to await the road crew and an 8:15am departure northbound.

The last train of the morning was the Glacier Discovery, which went to Whittier and Chugach National Forest. This was usually the easiest train, since all the switching was almost always done the night before. After an air brake test and a visual inspection from the carmen, the train headed out to the main track and was then backed in to the depot. Just like the others, it was secured to await the road crew and the trip southward.

When the morning passenger crew was done the morning switching, there were still several hours left to work. Usually a short lunch break was on the agenda, followed by some freight switching. This was, of course, all determined by the yard master.

At 6:30pm, the evening passenger crew came on duty. Their switching was typically more complex, since they were responsible for setting up trains, as much as possible, for the morning crew. The first train scheduled to arrive was the southbound Denali Star, which was so long it had to be split in two when it arrived at the depot. That train was due at 8:00pm every day, and the evening crew would meet it at the depot. The cars belonging to Princess and Holland America would be cut off east (railroad north) of the C Street crossing, just outside the depot. Motor coaches were provided by Holland America and Princess for their passengers, and there is a large paved area there for easy transfer from the train to the waiting coaches. The remainder of the train would pull up behind the railroad depot. When the train arrived at the depot, some of the servicing was done immediately. The crew would have to wait until everyone servicing the train was finished. Once the toilets were all pumped, baggage unloaded, and money counted and removed, the train could head to the yard. Once in the yard, the switching began. The switching could be simple, or it could seem to go on all night. The current position of cars and the arrangement needed the next day determined the complexity of the switching. Other variables that contributed to complexity included the need for car to visit the shop or have wheels trued. Wheel truing is a process that removes flat spots and other imperfections from wheels, resulting in a smoother, safer ride.

When all the Denali Star switching was complete, it was time to do a different train. Usually. Y the time it was complete, both the Coastal Classic and the Glacier Discovery had arrived and were parked at the depot. It was up to the Conductor which one got done next. Both needed to go around the wye, so they would be facing south, since all the switching happens at the south end of the coach yard. Usually the Glacier Discovery was the easier one, since it usually just had to be put away for the night, with little or no switching. The Coastal Classic usually had a little switching, and sometimes a Wilderness Express car or two to put away. Both trains however were far easier to put away than the Denali Star usually was.

Switching passenger equipment could be frustrating at times, for a variety of reasons. One of the most frustrating aspects of passenger switching was the speed. All the coach tracks were limited to walking speed, and the train must be stopped prior to coupling to other equipment. This sounds and is simple enough, but it adds considerable time to even a simple switching move.

Perhaps the most frequent frustration of passenger equipment switching is the overwhelming amount of connections and the limited amount of space between cars. When cars are coupled together, the air hoses must be coupled and the angle cock opened. On freight cars, this is a quick task. On passenger cars, there are electrical jumpers, communication cables, and a walkway in close proximity to one another. Additionally, the air hoses and angle cocks are not located beside the coupler, but rather directly below it. In some situations, it is so crowded between cars that the only way to couple hoses and open angle cocks is to crawl under the car and lie down between the rails, facing up at the bottom of the car. Needless to say, almost anyone who switches passenger cars finishes the day covered in grease, oil, and dirt.

At this point however, I do not have to worry about crawling in the dirt under passenger cars. The Alaska Railroad experiences a pretty significant drop in traffic around the end of September, and consequently they lay off about a third of the workforce. This is a temporary, seasonal layoff, and everyone laid off is guaranteed their job and seniority in the spring, if they still want it. I was notified on September 18th that I no longer had enough seniority to hold a job, and I would be laid off. I will go back to work in the spring, in April or May, depending on manpower needs. It will be sooner if they decided to train ten or more Conductors this winter, but I will not find out definitely about that for at least another month yet. Most people would be disappointed to be laid off, but I am enjoying it. While I enjoy my job, it is nice to have a break. I had taken a week off in the past three years when I got my layoff call, and I was ready for a vacation! Besides, it gives me the opportunity to visit distant family and take leisure train rides, such as this one, aboard Amtrak's Silver Star. I'll be enjoying dinner in the diner next!