Construction of a railroad providing access to the mineral-rich interior of Alaska was completed by the United States Government in 1923. The line originated at Seward, a deep-water, ice-free port on Alaska’s southern coast, and proceeded north 470 miles to Fairbanks. At Milepost 114, a “tent city” of railroad workers on the banks of Ship Creek became Anchorage. In 1985, the Federal Government transferred ownership of the Alaska Railroad to the State, which operates the road today as much for tourists who come to experience Alaska’s wonderful scenery, as for the transportation of freight, primarily coal, lumber and petroleum products.
The principal passenger service on the Alaska Railroad is the link between Anchorage and Fairbanks, Alaska’s two largest cities, via Denali National Park. During the summer tourist season, the flagship Denali Star covers the route daily in each direction on an all-daylight 12-hour schedule. The train carries coaches for all passengers, two dome cars, a traditional diner and a bistro car. This train also conveys the full-length dome cars operated by Princess Cruises, Holland America Line and Royal Celebrity Tours, called respectively Midnight Sun Express , McKinley Explorer, and Wilderness Express, whose accommodation must be purchased directly from the cruise lines. From the autumn till mid-May, frequency on the “Mt. McKinley Park Route,” as the railroad historically referred to its Anchorage-Fairbanks corridor, is just one round trip per week, the off-season train re-titled Aurora.
Most patrons of the Denali Star are destined for its namesake Denali National Park, home of Mt. McKinley, the tallest mountain in North America, and abundant wildlife including caribou, moose, grizzly bears, wolves and eagles. But the entire railway traverses pristine wilderness, offering frequent views of Mt. McKinley in the distance as the line travels from the Chugach Mountains overlooking Anchorage, then along the eastern flank of the Alaska Range. Approximately mid-way between Anchorage and Denali, passengers may opt for a scheduled stop at Talkeetna, a classic frontier village that serves as a staging area for Mt. McKinley climbers as well as a base for McKinley “flight-seeing” tours.
In contrast to the northerly route of the Denali Star , where the mountains tend to be distant, the southern division of the Alaska Railroad’s main trunk connecting Anchorage with Seward cuts right through the mountains of the Kenai Peninsula. This route boasts the scenery of Cook Inlet’s Turnagain Arm between Anchorage and Girdwood, location of the Alyeska Ski Resort, Portage Glacier and the glaciers, gorges and waterfalls of the Kenai Mountains. Seward lies at the head of Resurrection Bay, surrounded by the Kenai Fjords National Park which can be viewed on half-day cruises. The Anchorage-Seward line hosts two different passenger trains, summer only. A daily scheduled service called the Coastal Classic runs southbound in the morning, returning northbound in the evening, takes 4¼ hours each way, carries coaches, a dome car and café-style diner. The Grandview is a newer train featuring low-level dome and lounge cars; however, this service is operated on an irregular schedule, exclusively for several cruise lines calling at Seward, and the train is available only to cruise ship passengers transferring between Seward and Anchorage.
During World War II, the U.S. Army built a branch from Portage on the Seward division of the Alaska Railroad to the port of Whittier on Prince William Sound. Requiring two long tunnels through the mountains, the Whittier Cutoff reduced much of the distance and grade between Alaska’s interior and the sea, facilitating the movement of heavy cargo. Today, Prince William Sound has become a popular destination for day cruises showing off tidewater glaciers and marine wildlife, so the railroad obliges summertime tourists with its Glacier Discovery train, a daily RDC (self-propelled Rail Diesel Car) service between Anchorage and Whittier. Rather than lay over all day at Whittier, the Glacier Discovery doubles back up the branch to Portage and then down the Seward trunk as far as Grandview, stopping at Spencer Glacier for an optional Float Tour on the Placer River and glacier sightseeing nonpareil.
The Alaska Railroad’s seasonal passenger service has become the foundation of an extensive repertoire of packaged tour selections - rail and one-way air transportation, transfers and hotels, sightseeing and adventure choices - along all of its routes. While the railroad was originally built for commerce and remains an active freight carrier, the company’s involvement in the travel business has grown it into a major tour operator in the state of Alaska.
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