Ever wonder why you don't see many photos of the Alaska Railroad in the winter time? Well, for one, the tourists are gone which means less cameras by the tracks to catch any action. Another reason is the weather. If it's not snowing it's probably gonna be cloudy; sunny days are at a premium up here. Another reason is there's very little daylight to play with. The sun comes up mid-to-late morning and is setting before 4 PM. In other words, it's dark when you go to work, and it's dark when you leave. The biggest factor though is simply the lack of trains. This winter, the Alaska Railroad runs one passenger train a week, and it happens to run under the cover of darkness into and out of Anchorage and Fairbanks. They also generate one to two freight trains per week which run during the weekdays, so unless you have off of work, you're not seeing them. In order to get a shot, you need a multitude of factors to come together perfectly like they did here the day after Christmas as ARR 3008 leads a freight train to Whittier and a waiting barge. Well, almost perfectly...even though it's just after noon, the sun is still below the Kenai Mountains there in the background!
