According to Conductor
Culver, Grandview is more than a location on the
railroad. To him, Grandview is everything after the rafting tour
people are dropped off. In other words, even though Grandview is
a point location on the track, Grandview is a 10-15 mile stretch of
railroad in which there are many grand views. It still remains
grand all the way to Seward aboard the Coastal Classic train.
Conductor Culver
and his crew do their best to give passengers more than their moneys
worth. Culver's knowledge of professional railroading and the
route and its history translates into a fantastic experience for
passengers. Sometimes for days in a row, they will spot bears on
or near the track, or even in trees! Although we did not see any
bears, we did see evidence of tree bears. Certain trees had bent
and denuded branches.
This day, the Glacier Discovery pushed on past Grandivew, but short of
Hunter. On the stretch of single track past Grandview, Engineer
Hightower parked the train, did his brake test, then switched ends and
pulled the train back to meet the float trip passengers. The
remaining pictures represent the return to Portage, Whittier, Portage
and Anchorage, with many more stunning views!
Below in the Loop District, the re-engineered railroad occupied a
slightly lower elevation
than the old alignment. At milepost 49, a bridge sits rotting
away. Trains on the old right-of-way heading south would cross
the path of the new alignment, go across the valley on high trestles,
then into a curved tunnel, then be at the southerly mouth of the valley
heading
towards Trail Glacier. All this track was necessary due to the
Bartlett Glacier
occupying land preventing any other route. Bartlett Glacer
receded which allowed the Alaska Railroad to engineer the loops out of
existance.
Below left photograph shows the line of old railroad track
alignment. Just below the center of the frame, the trestle bridge
would have stood, then the track entered a tunnel in the area of trees
and reversed itself, exiting the tunnel and onto the far valley side
from the tree area to the left and into the higher valley
entrance. The lower right hand picture shows a low hill below the
waterfall. The lower of the loops traversed this hill.
The lower loop had the railroad track cross over itself. The
lower right photograph shows some barely visible bridge abutment.
The lower left photograph shows several bridge piers, one on either
side of the river.
