Once
upon a time, I would visit Alaska on an annual basis. OK, on
average, I do. The most recent trip was just a plain ol' fishin'
trip with a friend. The route to and from fishing paralleled the
Alaska Railroad for about 40 or 50 miles. I saw nothing of
interest on the way away form Anchorage, except for a parked work train
without power just south of Potter Marsh. On the last day heading
back to Anchorage, we spotted signals at Portage which indicated
something either imminent or past. Being the passenger, I could
try to look back at any railroad singals we passed. Between
Portage
and Girdwood, the Alaska Railroad tracks meander through the forest and
at
other times are out in the open parallel to the Seward Highway.
Since I had nothing better to do, I stared into the forest, and
finally, I saw a caboose. Huh, getting excited about seeing a
train while being driven around by a railroader is good at times.
We got ahead of
the work train and pulled over at the end of a tangent stretch of
track and waited several minutes for the train to approach and pass
us. It was interesting that the train entered a curve in an
original construction cut established almost 90 years ago.
