Portrait of the Alaska Railroad

I've lived in Alaska for 27 years and have entertained many visitors. So, I decided to pick up a copy of Portrait of the Alaska Railroad for a relative who has enjoyed riding the train. Then I decided to get a copy for myself. The book describes in excellent detail the history and current workings of our railroad, and the photos are terrific! Author Kaylene Johnson's outstanding research makes this a book packed with information. Yet it reads like a fascinating story, not some dry history book. I've read a lot about the Alaska Railroad, but in this book, I found tidbits of information I'd never heard.A must for railroad buffs and anybody planning to make a trip north.

Portrait of the Alaska Railroad takes readers on an adventurous journey through the diverse terraine and communities that span the 470+ miles of tracks from Seward to Fairbanks, Alaska. Kaylene Johnson's prose is both captivating and informative, enabling the reader to imagine her or himself rocking to the gentle rhythm of the train while gazing out the railcar windows to see moose, fox, caribou, and bear. Johnson writes: "The fragrance of fireweed and rain-washed raspberries wafts up along the tracks in the Kenai Mountains. Later in the year, cranberry bushes turn crimson and the scent of autumn signals the season's change. In winter, the air smells like crisp, fresh bedsheets hung outside to dry."Readers insterested in information about the history of the Alaska railroad, wilderness access along the rail line, wildlife, native peoples, commerce, communities, and working trains will find this book an invaluable resource. Websites are noted that will supply additional information of interest to the reader.Full-page photographs complement Johnson's prose making it possible to feel as if one has captured the experience of riding the rails and seeing the Alaskan wilderness and towns along its route firsthand. Roy Corral's photography is truly stunning, from pictures of the city lights of Anchorage framed against the Chugach Mountains to Caribou grazing in a meadow in Denali National park. Photographs chronicle the life of a working train, communities along the track, and interesting people whose lives are supported by rail service. Corral's photographs coupled with Johnson's prose makes Portrait of the Alaska Railroad a great coffee table book. Inserts supply interesting information that can be read in a couple of minutes.Kaylene Johnson, a resident of Eagle River, Alaska, has a keen sense of the importance of the railroad to the Alaskan economy. She notes, for example, that "it would take sixteen hundred trucks to haul all the gravel that the railroad moves from Palmer southwest to Anchorage in a single day. Each day, from May through mid-October, as many as four trains made up of eighty cars each haul eight hundred tons of gravel forty-two miles. . ." Imagine the highway congestion if gravel were transported by truck instead of rail. Johnson captures the immense value of the railroad in this, and other examples. For some people who live along the tracks, the railroad serves as the only means of transportation and obtaining needed supplies. Fifty-eight miles of track span a wilderness accessible only by rail. "The flag-stop train is the only one of its kind still running in North America," Johnson notes. Passengers merely wave a white flag over their heads to signal the engineer that they desire to board.Portrait of the Alaska Railroad appeals to a broad audience of train enthusiasts and Alaska lovers. Whether you have visited Alaska previously, plan to visit, or will visit only from the comfort of your living room couch, the Alask