Autumn is fleeting in Alaska with the peak foliage lasting only a day or two it seems. If one wants to get out and shoot trains amidst the color the window is extremely narrow. Knowing that a northbound freight would be leaving Whittier in daylight on a Saturday I knew that I just had to give it a try. Alas for the first 40 miles it was simply dark with low clouds and driving rain and there were no opportunities for shots. However, here at Indian the clouds broke providing the results you see here as the little freight kicks up freshly fallen leaves as it holds the main passing the 4822 ft siding (longest on the line between Anchorage and Seward). The train is a 27 car mixed freight with interchange off the CN's Aqua Train that arrived Whittier the previous evening after a three day sail across the Gulf of Alaska from Prince Rupert, BC. On the point are twin GP40-2s built new for the ARR one each in the original as delivered scheme and the current livery. A bit of termination dust can be seen on the peaks of the Chugach Range in the background...a harbinger of things to come for sure. But for now down at sea level on the shore of Turnagain Arm one can just revel at the glory of autumn in the Last Frontier.
Coal and steel don't go bad. This album features long, slow, heavy freight trains; drag freights, slop freights, dead freights, etc. Trains with lots of power, and lots of different cargo slogging along behind.
From a hint of "Bee" (NKP 765), colorful "Bees" (KCS), "Bees" w/ "attitude", to "Bees" that "sting" your eyes, in their own way they have "Bee" on display! Equipment that "Buzzes" with Yellow & Black colors! ("Bees" can still "Bee" entering this "hive"!)
