Working Whittier
An Alaska Railroad crew is working Whittier yard with a pair of SD70MACs getting ready to double up a big 120N freight of mixed manifest and intermodal traffic off the AML barge up from Seattle that they will take north to Anchorage a little later.
Whittier is the ARRC's main port for interchange of both containers and railcars which arrive via the weekly AML barge from Seattle. The containers are stacked on racks two or three high above the main barge deck which contains 8 tracks for interchange of railcars to and from the BNSF & UP. The concrete structure rising beyond is the long abandoned Buckner Building, once the largest building in Alaska. And the single track at left and the tent structure beside it is the ARR's passenger 'station' which mostly serves passengers walking directly across the street to and from waiting cruise ships.
If you'd like to read a bit more about the history of Whittier and this fascinating structure check out these links:
www.alaskarails.org/historical2/whittier-history/index.html
www.army.mil/article/193996/discovering_wartime_whittier
www.onlyinyourstate.com/alaska/abandoned-buckner-building...
www.adn.com/features/article/shadow-abandoned-buckner-bui...
www.npr.org/2015/01/18/378162264/welcome-to-whittier-alas...
Whittier, Alaska
Wednesday June 21, 2017
Working Whittier
An Alaska Railroad crew is working Whittier yard with a pair of SD70MACs getting ready to double up a big 120N freight of mixed manifest and intermodal traffic off the AML barge up from Seattle that they will take north to Anchorage a little later.
Whittier is the ARRC's main port for interchange of both containers and railcars which arrive via the weekly AML barge from Seattle. The containers are stacked on racks two or three high above the main barge deck which contains 8 tracks for interchange of railcars to and from the BNSF & UP. The concrete structure rising beyond is the long abandoned Buckner Building, once the largest building in Alaska. And the single track at left and the tent structure beside it is the ARR's passenger 'station' which mostly serves passengers walking directly across the street to and from waiting cruise ships.
If you'd like to read a bit more about the history of Whittier and this fascinating structure check out these links:
www.alaskarails.org/historical2/whittier-history/index.html
www.army.mil/article/193996/discovering_wartime_whittier
www.onlyinyourstate.com/alaska/abandoned-buckner-building...
www.adn.com/features/article/shadow-abandoned-buckner-bui...
www.npr.org/2015/01/18/378162264/welcome-to-whittier-alas...
Whittier, Alaska
Wednesday June 21, 2017