Alaskan Glory

With a face to make any Espee man proud Alaska Railroad GP40-2 3007 (built new for the railroad in 1976 she was one of the last 5 in as delivered black paint, receiving this modern look in 2011) leads a Fair Train south on the Palmer Branch at MP A1 starting into the 1% descent back to the mainline and their sprint to Anchorage. This seven mile long branch that leaves the mainline at Matanuska Junction is only in service as far as about MP A4 for the Fair Trains that run to the Alaska State Fair on a couple weekends at the end of August and first weekend in September each year. But it's the unit trains for Alaska Sand and Gravel that are the real reason this branch is still alive. When they come to a close each October the branch falls silent for better than five months until spring thaw and the dawn of construction season in the 49th state. Punctuating the horizon between the trees is the 6093 foot summit of Matanuska Peak in the Chugach Mountains.

Near Palmer, Alaska
Friday August 28, 2015