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I am just a lowly trainman on Alaska Railroad, so I cannot really say for sure. There has been very little talk of the show recently at the railroad, which probably indicates they are at least done filming. Las time they were here filming, season two had just started airing, and the rumor was they w...

I liked the part where the dispatcher tells the conductor who works with Wanda that they are being held for a meet, or MOW. He tells the dispatcher that it is unacceptable. Are the crews on a mileage based pay, flat rate, or hourly? They say their in a hurry. I know that it is scripted, but most ra...

The Denali Park shelters have been built at different times by Alaska Railroad. Different ones are used by some of the tour operators that funnel passengers to the railroad. North of Talkeetna, more specifically, at Curry, there is an old yard track that has a caboose, a couple of freight cars, and ...

Normally, we coordinate with the dispatcher to get to a place with road access. Some parts of Alaska Railroad have lots of road access, other areas you can go for hours without any road access. If something unexpected happens, and a crew goes dead in an area without road access, things can get a bit...

Well, to start, it definitely depends on the railroad. Some do it all the time, others rarely. Alaska Railroad almost never does it, but on occasion the wrong car gets pulled and sent somewhere it should not be. Most of the time it is caught before it leaves the yard, if the clerks are on top of thi...

In an effort to focus my modeling a bit more, I have decided to thin my collection a bit. In order to facilitate this, I have created a list with Google so that everyone can view it, and I can easily keep the list up to date. To see what I have available, please follow the link below. Everything wil...

This is the Million Dollar Question!!!??? Is it challenging. Are you working the whole entire time , Is there down time etc. Short answer: sometimes, sometimes, and sometimes. The answers to those questions all depend on the Conductor and his or her assignment. There are days that can be really cha...

In response to some of the other threads in this forum about Alaska Railroad operations, I thought I would post a summary of the trains that Alaska Railroad operates on a regular basis. The easiest way to do this is probably terminal by terminal. I'll start at the south end and work my way north. Se...

Alaska Railroad's dispatch office is in Anchorage, AK.

The scenery is breathtaking. What a place to run trains. That roadbed is in top notch shape and I was surprised to see a CTC type signal system as I figured traffic was not busy enough to warrant the cost of a first class signal system. How many trains a day between Anchorage and Fairbanks I wonder...

Other than geographical limitations, no.

As you would expect, radio is pretty weak inside tunnels, but other than that the railroad generally has pretty good radio reception.

Thanks for the detailed information. With no crew based in Whittier, does this mean the Anchorage road crew takes the train to Whittier, pulls and loads the barge, then builds the outbound train and take it back to Anchorage? Is this a once a week event and how many days does it take to accomplish ...

On top of all that, the dispatchers had a bit of a meltdown today, and stopped answering the phone or the radio. We needed one pass at CP 1140, at the south end of the yard, but we couldn't them to answer us. By the time we finally did get them on the line, my Conductor was just beside himself. He ...

The airport station is one of the most modern stations on Alaska Railroad, and it is one of the least used. The only trains that go there regularly are the cruise line charters that operate out of Seward. Holland America, Celebrity, and Royal Caribbean charter that train. The cruise ship charters th...

Crew bases vary a little from summer to winter. In general, crews are based out of either Anchorage or Fairbanks and spend time in the hotel in either Fairbanks, Healy, Whittier, or Seward. Most road jobs are operated from Anchorage, although there are a few exceptions. Here are the exceptions! One ...