Alaska Railway...

[caravanman]

Hi,

I was very impressed by a train tv programme shown last evening here in UK about the Alaska Railway.

The trip took place in March, and there was lots of snow.

The presenter rode a mix of freight and passenger trains, so I am not clear if there is passenger service on the whole route.

The passenger section looked like Anchorage to Fairbanks?

I still hope to take a snowy winter train ride from Winnipeg up to Churchill, but maybe the Alaskan route would be a good substitute.

Anyone rode either routes in the winter?

Cheers,

Ed.

 

[jis]

I rode the Alaska Railroad in its winter schedule late in November, and part of the ride turned out to be through a blazing blizzard, which was kind of neat.

In the winter schedule there is a single round trip each week called the Aurora Express or some such, which runs from Anchorage to Fairbanks on Saturday and back on Sunday. In addition there is the so called Hurricane Turn which runs on some schedule on a few days each month. I could never quite figure out the details about it. Its primary purpose is to provide service to the off grid people between Talkeetna and Hurricane. Anyway, that is all that runs in the way of passenger service in the winter, and it is eerily beautiful through mountains of snow.

BTW when we arrived in Fairbanks in the evening the temperature was -36F and the blizzard had just ended. Spectacular is probably an understatement.

In the summer there is daily service or better between Anchorage and Fairbanks, and in addition there is service from Anchorage to Whittier too. In the winter the latter route is essentially closed because of danger of avalanches on the tracks.

I would highly recommend the Aurora Express. They let you open the upper part of the dutch door in any car and take photos, and there are lots of places with spectacular views. They even stop in the middle of nowhere and let people take photos of Denali. It's kinda neat. Very friendly atmosphere and great crew.. You need to be very well prepared with warm apparel and headgear. When the ambient temperature is in the -20s and the wind is blowing in your face at 60mph, unless every bit of you is well covered you will get frost bites very very quickly.

If I had enough time I'd have spent a week up in Fairbanks. Of course being so close to the Arctic Circle, Fairbanks has only brief periods of daylight in the winter, and one of the things you can do is go out on an excursion north of Fairbanks to (a) cross the Arctic Circle and (b) spend a night and if you are lucky watch a brilliant display of Aurora Boreolis. But hope you like cold.

 

[Metra Electric Rider]

No need to go that far for a similar experience - you could take the Bergen line between Oslo and Bergen (or really, any train north of Oslo and Stockholm in winter). Although Alaska is wilder (and, despite being similarly far north) and colder the trains through the mountains of Scandinavia in winter are quite impressive. I spent a long weekend at Finse, the high point between Bergen and Oslo - 1222 M above sea level - cross country skiing - it's desolate with the only access being train or ski's (or snowmobile if you have a permit).

 

[ScouseAndy]

What channel was it on Ed? Hoping its one with catch up available as I'd like to have watched that

 

[CCC1007]

Sounds a lot like Railroad Alaska, from the discovery channel in America, it is available on iTunes, all three seasons.

 

[jis]

What channel was it on Ed? Hoping its one with catch up available as I'd like to have watched that

Sounds a lot like Railroad Alaska, from the discovery channel in America, it is available on iTunes, all three seasons.

That is a very nice series. I had the same conductor on my ride. He is a hoot!

Can you imagine Amtrak giving safety instructions on the PA system on how to open the dutch door window and safely view the scenery and take photos? that is what they do as part of their safety briefing, in addition to a long lecture about the importance of not exposing your skin for too long to the -20F or lower external temperature, specially north of Hurricane. The food in the very informal food service car was also quite reasonable.

One impressive thing I saw, was that one car had a leak in what is supposed to be the sealed air gap between the two FRA compliant panes in each window. In no time after we started, first moist air from inside the train seeped into the gap and condensed on the inside of the outer pane, and then formed these beautiful crystal patterns of ice. I have never seen that sort of pretty pattern form before. it was just a random bonus.

 

[caravanman]

Hi,

Just by coincidence, the BBC are currently showing a live "Arctic" programme each evening from Churchill !

Nice to see a little snow and polar bears.

The show was on channel 5, I think they do have a "catch up" option, but not sure. Chris Tarrants Extreme Railways. He is doing one from S. America next week.

Thanks for the suggestion of Bergen, that might be a more sensible option... but I am not known for sensible rail trips.

Thanks to all,

Ed.

 

[jis]

Actually you will see plenty of snow up on the Hardingervida Plateau between Oslo and Bergen most of the year. It just gets deeper in the winter.

OTOH if you go in the summer and take the "Norway in a Nutshell" package, you get to see almost every bit of the Oslo - Bergen route, and in addition you get to ride the fascinating Flombahn from Flom on the fjord upto Myrdal on the Oslo - Bergen Main Line. and ride a steamer on the fjord too.

A bigger circle trip that gives you an experience of the coastal steamer is to take the train from Oslo to Bergen, take the coastal steamer from Bergen to Andalsnese, and then take the train from Andalsnese to Trondheim and then back to Oslo.

An even bigger circle possibility is to take the coastal steamer to Bodo, north of the Arctic Circle, and then take the train from Bodo to Oslo via Trondheim.

Due to shortage of time, the trip I and a friend of mine cobbled together was to fly from Oslo to Bodo, then take the coastal steamer from Bodo to Stamsund on the Lofoten Islands and back, and then take the train back from Bodo to Trondheim, a side trip to Andalsnese on the fjord and then back to Oslo by train. We did this in mid summer. it was interesting to have the Sun shining upon us in Stamsund as we went for a short walk to a restaurant at midnight to catch a late dinner before I return steamer was due at 2am.

At Trondheim I had the stolen camera experience where my first digital camera disappeared. Fortunately at time with a relatively empty memory card, since I had just swapped out a full card and replaced it with an empty card. So, yeah, you don;t have to go all the way to India to get your camera stolen.

 

[caravanman]

Thanks for those tips, Jis.

My lost camera was a bit old and heavy and due for replacing anyway. Sadly not insured. The good side of that episode is that the camera I bought in India was about £60 cheaper than the same item in the UK.

Cheers,

Ed.

 

[Metra Electric Rider]

The Coastal Steamer (hurtigruten - i.e. fast route) is well worth it as you get to visit small towns and mingle. You could also do a loop through Sweden through åre, östersun, Uppsala, Stockholm and back from Trondheim.