Portrait of the Alaska Railroad

by Kaylene Johnson

In July 1923, President Warren G. Harding visited Alaska to drive in the ""Golden Spike"" commemorating the grand opening of the new, federally funded railroad linking Seward with Fairbanks. The Government Railroad had taken eight years and the influence of three U.S. presidents to complete. Shortly afterward, it was renamed the Alaska Railroad. In the eighty-plus years since then, America's northernmost railroad has remained a critical transportation link, a working train as well as a touring train that wends through some of the most fabulous country in the nation. Resplendent in blue and gold, the engines and cars of the Alaska Railroad remain disconnected from other rail lines, set apart on a track that travels north through the wilderness to a dead end near Fairbanks, and south to a dead end at the seaport of Seward. But, oh, what beauty lies between. In this lavishly illustrated and authoritative book, the Alaska Railroad rides in the spotlight. Through words and color-rich photos, Johnson and Corral offer an entertaining history of the railroad, the routes, the engines and railcars, the landscape and wildlife, and much more.

Paperback

First published May 1, 2003

About the author

Kaylene Johnson-Sullivan is a long-time Alaskan who makes her home in Palmer. She has found adventure on Denali, the Chugach Mountains, and as a wrangler and cook in the Brooks Range. Her award-winning articles have appeared in Alaska magazine, the Los Angeles Times, the Louisville Review and other publications. Her books include Our Perfect Wild: Ray and Barbara Bane's Journeys and the Fate of the Far North; Canyons and Ice: The Wilderness Travels of Dick Griffith; A Tender Distance: Adventures Raising My Sons in Alaska; Trails Across Time: History of An Alaska Mountain Corridor; and Portrait of the Alaska Railroad.

She holds a BA from Vermont College and an MFA in Writing from Spalding University in Louisville, Kentucky.

source: www.kaylene.us