A l a s k a

The Fraser River seen from the British Columbia Railway


The standard-gauge Alaska Railroad Seward - Anchorage - Fairbanks was completed in 1923. During season there are running yellow/dark-blue tourist trains, then equipped with stainless second-hand full-length dome cars. They are running for Westours, from 1971 a subsidiary of Holland America Line, conveying cruise passengers. A new Wilderness Express with bi-level cars is used by Royal Caribbean International cruise passengers. The nice GM/EMD F diesels however have gone.

The British Columbia Railway in Canada connected only with the Alaska Highway. Also the 3ft-gauge White Pass & Yukon Railway was important only for the Alaska Highway, used by the U.S. Military Railway Service during WWII. Now cruise ships are coming to its starting-point Skagway and steam excursions for tourists are offered. The Bering Strait tunnel projects were a matter of science fiction only.

Alaska Railroad Express with F7 and two B diesel units on Hurricane Gulch Bridge, mile post 284.2, the Alaska Range in the background (Alaska Railroad)


Seasonal express Anchorage – Fairbanks with Westours dome cars, August 1989 (Wolfram Veith)


A classic Alaska Railroad passenger train with two F type diesels on the Riley Creek Bridge, in the background the Alaska Range (Alaska Railroad)