Road trips and airline flights get you to where you want to go, but they can be a hassle. Train travel is an entirely different experience. You can relax and admire the scenery, read a book, savor a meal, sip a drink, get up, and walk around.
Such is the fashion on the Alaska Railroad, which takes you from coastal fjords to interior hinterland.
Among the sublime sights we saw during our six-day ride in July were forests of birch and spruce that fell away to mazes of shallow lakes and sloughs where bull moose browsed. Canyon-laced uplands, untrammeled tundra flats, and corrugated crests stretched beyond imagination. Grizzlies, wolves, caribou, and Native hunters still roam this immense, glaciated wilderness, as they have for time immemorial.
Reindeer Sausage and Railroad Family
Alaska Railroad tours are a singular American sightseeing adventure. You travel in comfortable coaches by day with friendly and attentive staff. A crisply dressed guide provides commentary over a handheld microphone that makes the passing countryside come alive. Overnight stays in charming hotels and cozy cabins ensure that you won’t miss a magnificent moment.
The trains offer reserved seating with lots of legroom and large picture windows. In Adventure Class, you can visit the Vista Dome car and purchase food and beverages from the Wilderness Café. Step up to GoldStar Class and two-level cars that feature a glass-domed ceiling and covered outdoor observation deck. Enjoy complimentary cocktails concocted at the private bar and specially prepared meals in the white tablecloth dining room.
“The menu includes Alaskan delicacies such as reindeer sausage and Bolognese sauce,” 24-year-old dining captain Sasha Memmott noted.
The Alaska Railroad is a vital transportation link across the state. It operates year-round with regularly scheduled passenger and freight service from Seward to Fairbanks on more than 470 miles of track. Most of the nearly half-million annual passengers visit mid-May through mid-September, when more frequent departures are offered on the four routes. The rail line partners with cruise ship companies to transfer travelers from docks in Seward to its hub in Anchorage.
The railroad is small enough to feel like family to its many longtime employees, who proudly claim that Alaskan-born CEO Bill O’Leary accepts their calls and knows them by first name. A comprehensive centennial exhibition depicting the railroad’s history and place in Alaskan life continues at the Anchorage Museum until Feb. 18, 2024.
Popular day outings from Anchorage include round-trip train transportation to Seward or Whittier and boat cruises in Kenai Fjords National Park or Prince William Sound. Extended excursions of up to 10 days entail transportation, accommodations, and activities ranging from sedate sightseeing to adrenalin-filled thrills such as glacier flights, river rafting, and jet boating. Winter packages are also available with such sorties as dog sledding and aurora borealis viewing.
Hiccup and Pillbox
Boarding the Coastal Classic to Seward, we ascended the narrow spiral staircase of the GoldStar coach. As dawn’s alpenglow cast the crowns of the Chugach Range in rose and coral hues, the train hiccuped, hissed, and started to roll out from the historic Anchorage Depot. It moved at a jogger’s pace, and everything seemed enchantingly slow, as if time was poured molasses.
Before we’d left the clutch of stubby structures making up the downtown of Alaska’s largest city, convivial conductor Warren Redfearn appeared in a traditional pillbox cap, black three-piece suit, and gold pocket watch on a chain.
“Ticket, please,” he said in a sonorous baritone.
With a flourish, Mr. Redfearn punched eight stars through the ticket in the shape of the constellation on the Alaska state flag. The conductor of 47 years is often asked who’s driving the train.
“As the conductor, I am God on this train,” he proclaimed. “Anything I say goes. I may be in trouble tomorrow morning with the bosses in town, but right now it goes.”
Broken Chalice and Resurrection
Retired Anchorage resident Sue Link considers the 120-mile Coastal Classic route snaking through the Kenai Peninsula the one to take if you have just a day. It hugs the bore tidal wave Turnagain Arm clasped between 5,000-foot pinnacles, climbs over a mountain pass of jagged peaks that pierce the sky like shards of a broken chalice, and jockeys past deep river gorges and high valley glaciers before reaching the coast.
Some passengers book a one-way fare, continuing to their next destination by cruise ship out of Seward. The port town is within a whisper of Kenai Fjords National Park and the steely blue waters of Resurrection Bay. On a foreboding afternoon of low-lying dark clouds and intermittent rain, we took a five-hour bay cruise on Kenai Fjords Tours’ 150-passenger Nunatak.
Captain Kenny Akana masterfully maneuvered the boat between rock spires and into secluded coves close enough to waterfalls to feel the mist on our faces. The 95-foot craft rocked in choppy water as we watched several humpback whales lobtailing and waving their flukes high in the air. A bountiful buffet lunch was prepared at Fox Island Lodge, far from the mainland and snuggled in the woods between a pebble beach and a tranquil lagoon with yellow pong lilies.
Prince William and Raucous Throngs
Our second train, Glacier Discovery, retraced a portion of our previous day’s route from Anchorage, and we spotted curl-horned Dall sheep perched precariously on craggy cliffs. It stopped briefly at Girdwood, home to the renowned Alyeska Ski Resort, before veering off onto the 12-mile spur to Whittier that passes through the longest shared rail and vehicle tunnel in North America.
From the small shoreline town wedged between overshadowing mountains and Prince William Sound, we embarked on a Phillips Cruises tour into the pristine wilderness and turquoise waters of one of the world’s largest concentrations of tidewater glaciers.
“There’s no other cruise I am aware of where you can see 26 glaciers in just under six hours,” veteran captain David Wagner said.
We sailed on the Klondike Express three-deck catamaran, observing bald eagles soaring overhead as if guiding us. Barking harbor seals basking in the sun on rocky islets weren’t mutually curious. Raucous throngs of tuxedoed common murres and clown-faced tufted puffins crowded on cliff ledges were comical, flapping frantically to take flight.
Quirky Hamlet and Braided Rivers
Early the next morning, we left our Anchorage hotel for the interior of the flagship Denali Star.
“My dad worked for the Alaska Railroad,” Robert Smith said, “and on a trip was able to take me up in the engine. I met the engineers, and got to honk the horn. Thirty years later, I’m now the engineer on that very train.”
Mr. Smith spirited us through the fertile valleys and forested wetlands to Talkeetna. The quirky and touristy hamlet with historic clapboard storefronts was the inspiration for the TV show “Northern Exposure.” In the distance, Denali’s 20,310-foot, ice-sculpted summit speared piles of pancake-shaped clouds.
We went on Mahay’s Jet Boat Adventures, an exhilarating 50-mile excursion over shallow braided rivers in the enclosed 47-foot McKinley Queen. Captain Elias Hoffman is a Native Alaskan who grew up in an isolated Yupik subsistence hunting and fishing village.
“Moose hunting was always the most exciting time of the fall,” he recalled with a widening grin.
Driving the boat is based on the same principle as a jet ski.
“You run shallow to avoid as much current as possible and cut corners between bends as tight as you can,” Mr. Hoffman explained. Gravel bars and turbulent tributaries whisked by in a wink of an eye. The 46-year-old has spent half of his life learning the rivers one boulder and one bend at a time.
“There’s no place I’d rather be,” he declared from his captain’s chair while reading a broad reach of the river.
Homesteaders and Hurricane
All night, rain pattered on our pioneer log cabin with rustic furnishings and a claw-foot bathtub in the kitchen. Awakening to sunlight, we were back on the tracks in time to grab a handful of mid-morning snacks.
This stretch gave us insight into a time-honored Alaska Railroad tradition and a culture of rugged individualism.
“Denali Star passengers learn about the flagstops just north of Talkeetna,” said conductor Danielle Gallagher, one of 17 women among 132 conductors, who’s a role model for little girls who gaily don her cap. “They see the off-gridders: where they live, their cabins, their lifestyles, and the history of the Alaska Railroad through a different lens.”
The homesteaders simply wave their arms or a piece of clothing, and the train creeps to a stop for them to climb aboard. The service is a crucial lifeline in this remote region.
“I can understand why they decide to live out here,” an enamored passenger remarked to me on the windswept observation deck as we gazed at the mountains reflected in the Susitna River. “This backcountry is so beautiful it takes your breath away.”
The Denali Star stopped in the middle of the nearly quarter-mile steel arch of the Hurricane Gulch Bridge, suspended close to 300 feet over the abyss. The iconic bridge provided a picturesque panorama of the meandering Chulitna River and the emerald Alaska Range under wispy clouds in a cornflower sky.
Crown Jewel and Ambassadors
Late in the afternoon, we arrived at the small railway station in Denali National Park and Preserve. We stayed two restful nights in the comfortable Denali Cabins, with convenient shuttle service to the park and station.
The 6 million acres of spectacular subarctic wilderness are threaded by one narrow 92-mile gravel road, blocked by a landslide at about the halfway point until 2026. In the heart of the park is the crown jewel. The tallest mountain in North America, Denali has a greater vertical rise than Everest. The monumental snow-mantled mountain was clearly visible above the rambling river valleys and wildflower-strewn slopes in the crystalline air fragrant with the spicy scent of Labrador tea and the sweetness of crushed berries.
Popular Denali attractions are the abundant wildlife and the sled dog kennels. The dogs and canine rangers have protected the park’s designated wilderness in the winter for a century. At minus-40 degrees, it’s nearly impossible to start a motorized vehicle, whereas the Alaskan Huskies simply need a good breakfast and are eager to run.
During summer, the kennels are open daily with three cart sprints to showcase the sled dog teams. “We want people to be able to form a connection with our highly sociable dogs,” kennels assistant manager Jason Reppert said. “They are the biggest ambassadors for this park.”
Charismatic and Cinematic
First-year Denali Star conductor Kelsey Starlley applied for the position because she thought that the conductors “looked really cool in suits, and they were in charge.” She didn’t realize that there was another side to the job.
“The rail yard is entirely different than the train,” she said. “You can’t dry off after 20 minutes back inside a warm car when you’re out in the Whittier yard for 12 hours with the rain coming down sideways, and you’re under a coach with your face in the mud trying to close an angle valve on a brake pipe.”
On the return to Anchorage under Ms. Starlley’s stewardship on the last day of our amazing Alaska Railroad tour, we toasted the charismatic crew members, kindred passengers, and warmhearted Alaskans who had enriched our train adventure. Riding into a cinematic sunset, we reflected on our indelible impressions of the unimaginable expanse and scenic majesty of the state aptly called the “Last Frontier.”
