Hi guys,
Just another point of interest. I'm from Australia and never been to Alaska, so I checked out the Alaskan railways and the surrounding countryside on YouTube. It opened my eyes where a number of people were 'train-hopping' various freight lines across the country. Down here in Australia, you never hear of this practice at all. Good luck if you plan on creating some Alaskan layouts. Cheers,
Roy3b3
Trainz Collector and New Era Backer
You are confusing the Continental United States (the lower 48) with Alaska. There's a big huge country (Canada) in between us. The only highway up here (the AlCan) isn't a casual drive, although it is fully paved. There is no rail connection. It is all trucks, ships and planes.
The show will focus on the rail-belt. Most of the population of Alaska lives in the rail-belt, and around half live in or within an hour's drive of the ARR home base: Anchorage. I'm not sure than there was much freight hopping up in Alaska; that was more common in the lower 48. Here, the train still does flag stops for part of the route, although service is very limited in the winter. It is (I think) the last USA rail company that does both freight and passenger. However, there isn't daily passenger service like is most common. It is primarily tourists, seasonal trains like those to Girdwood (a ski resort), and limited scheduled service. It is definitely not a commuter train. However, there probably are some who choose to live out in the bush in a cabin, and take an ATV to a flag stop once a month to take the train to a city for a supply run.
Fairbanks (mi 470) and North Pole are at the northern end. That is not
the North Pole. There is a refinery there as well as the military for freight customers. Heading south, there isn't much. There is a large coal mine at Healy and a tourist stop near the tallest mountain in North America (Mount McKinley, although I think it should be returned to Denali). I simplify a bit, but it really is sparse with beautiful scenery. Eventually (mi 114) you hit Anchorage. This is not only a port city, but is also a major hub for commercial air freight. The airport is a large customer of the ARR, needing plenty of diesel fuel brought in. The start of the line (mi 0) is in Seward. This was the original headquarters. Today, it is a popular cruise destination, and thus a launching point for the cruise/rail excursions. I think a lot of coal is shipped out from here as well, from Healy out to Far East customers.
Between Seward and Anchorage is rough terrain, mountains, glaciers, and so on. There used to be a loop between miles 48 and 51 - the train went through a tunnel and looped around and over where it began. Around mile 55 is a short branch line to Whittier. This is another very small port city on the other side of the mountains. The Anderson Memorial Tunnel is over 13,000 feet and is a single lane highway shared with the train.
Now while there might have been a "Wild West" mentality at the start of it all, Alaska and the railroad up here are rather disconnected from the lower 48. If anything, we have more of a connection to our immediate neighbor: Canada. This is even more true with the rail, since the other surviving railroad up here is the WP&YR. Today, it is only a tourist line, starting in the port city of Skagway and heading up over the White Pass and into Canada. Most of the line is in Canada, and even more was there during the peak of the rail when it went all the way to Whitehorse. Back then, the roads were not competitive and mines (like Faro) were big customers. Th WP&YR even tried to pioneer container shipping, but the narrow gauge, tunnels, and all made for rather small containers.
