Alaska Railroad

[landnrailroader]

This rendering of the Alaska RR, is going pretty well. In some instances the curve value on the track chart is nowhere close to anything that would fit the digitized data, even where the track is easily seen. I guess because of it being so far north, the stitching together of aerial images leaves some to be desired too. I have passed MP-24 now, and am at the south switch of the Crown Point siding which is 3707 feet long. This area is pretty remote so roads and all are far between. As I lay a few miles of track, I go into the Track Viewer and creat a path from the southmost point and if it runs all the way to the end, good. If not, I have found that the coordinates of a issue in the Track Viewer are not close to those in TSRE but I can usually tell from the shape of the path the approximate location and then just hunt for it. My error panel does not show any orphan track pieces but I know there are several, 3000 meters or so under ground. As many know, I use M-tracks for most curves and rather than use a lot of dynamic pieces, I'll appproximate a curve as close as possible. When I do upload this route, I'll include a zip of M-tracks and also a .pdf file of the track chart. Might think about going on toward Fairbanks. That is about 300 miles from Anchorage and I wonder if there is a crew change involved. If so that would be a logical place to divide the route. I'll include a separate marker file for the track, which makes findinig mile posts etc. a lot easier. I'm not much impressed with TSRE markers.

Jerry Sullivan

[eric]

MTracks is already in the library.

[TrainSimJack]

Isn't there an Alaska railroad for Train Sim Classic?

[CSRX]

Isn't there an Alaska railroad for Train Sim Classic?

Whole different program than what MSTS/ORTS is.

[Unoriginal]

Isn't there an Alaska railroad for Train Sim Classic?

Yes there is, but it isn't for open rails and from what I've seen it isn't really a bright spot imo (but its still better than most of the other dovetail garbage).

[landnrailroader]

Eric,

Mtracks is in the library, true, but it seems that a lot of folks that downloaded my routes that had it, all of them sinice the Milwaukee Road "GAP", seemed to draw a blank on where to get it so I started a while back with including the zip of it in a subdirectory I call "documents". I also put anything else of interest there. I wish the original creator of M-tracks had included more curve sizes than he did. For example there is no 5 degree, 45 minute curve, but there have been two of these so far in the Alaska trackage. I could use dynamic track - which I found to be greatly improved, i.e. the process of using it, in TSRE. This would have a radius of 303.6 meters. I just use 300 meter radius pieces for those places. There are a couple of 14 degree curves. There is a constant in surveying curves, which when divided by the degree, will give the radius in meters or vice-versa. 1746/14 = 124.7 meters radius, so I use 120 meter radius pieces. The constant is not all that accurate above about 7 degrees but for MSTS it is good enough. In this Alaska route, if a siding involves a curve, I use M-tracks spacing on the siding but if it is tangent, I use MSTS spacing. You need a good eye to see the difference or a magnifying glass.

Jerry

[eric]

No worries, and yes, it's easier to include the track & roads with an installer if you have the ability to do so.

[landnrailroader]

Continuing the progress on the Alaska RR, mile 43 was reached this evening and a few meters beyond. At around mile 38, the grade starts that will take the line up to GrandView at a elevation of 1100 feet, highest point south of Anchorage. From mile 40 to 45 at Grandview, it is one curve after another on gradients ranging as high as 2.01% but we must remember that although these values are shown on the track chart, this is actually a compensated grade and the average is more like 1.5%. What I am doing is makiing curves 0.1 to 0.2 percent less than tangents and trying to hit the check points as close as possible. Curves also have spirals, which I fake like this. Just before mile 43 there is a 8 degree curve but if you use only 8 degree pieces, you will be far different than what is digitized, so I used a 10 degree piece of 4 degree curve on each end and a 8 degree in the middle and then adjusted the length of the 4 degree sections until the track matched the digitizing. So here is how things look to a Eagle flying near mile 42 and looking back down the grade.

Jerry Sullivan alaska_01.jpg

[landnrailroader]

Continued on over the top at Grandview, Mile 45 from Seward and started down the north side. Mile 48 sits in the middle of part of a double "S" curve that is supposed to be no greater than 15 degrees. I guess because of scaling between digitizing off Google Eartht and MSTS, or perhaps because of being so far north, there is no way that a maximum 15 degree curve, i.e. 116 meter radius would ever fit, so I did the curves to match as closely as I could, the digitizing. The sharpest curve then is 90 meter radius or 19.4 degrees. I know this is sharp but I also know that there were 20 degree curves on the Blue Ridge grade between Old Fort and Asheville, NC, and until it was opened up a bit there was a 20 degree curve in the Natural Tunnel of Virginia. So now an Eagle is flying over the area and wonder what in the cat hair are those humans up to-----.

alaska_02.jpg
From the top right to the bottom it is a steady descending 2.7 percent grade Mile 48 is near the middle of the upper "loop", i.e. the mid-left.

Jerry Sullivan

[landnrailroader]

Not far after the previous image the track comes to a series of closely spaced Tunnels. Track charts indicate six of them but when you look at Google Earth the images in the area are very poor so I did the best I could to fit them in; Now we have got down to more or less sea level again and are at mile 61. The junction to Whittier is at mile 64 and Anchorage is about mile 120. From here on there are no significant grades and fewer curves as the main line skirts the north side of Turnagain Arm before turning more or less due north into Anchorage. I'll digitize the main roads and there is a documents folder that will include the 2010 track charts. Look for it in the library by years end as I stop here and there to work on another unrelated project

I have done two units of an education project for the "Friends of the Cumbres & Toltec" and am working on a third. The first had to do with components of the track, then the 2nd one was all about steam locomotives in which I pointed out a number of valves, safety appliances, etc. and explained those. Now I am workinig on the "family history" of the C&TS. My prose is probably way too technical for the final product but one of the ladies in charge happens to lives across the pond from me in Orange Park and she and a couple of others will edit, rip, & tear mine and other's prose to get to a 10 year old level. In most of our childlhoods the possession of a Lionel or American Fllyer train was a rite of passage, but now, a Iphone is the rite of passage. In 2016 my grandson, standing next to a hot #489 in Osier, CO asked, "GrandPa, what makes it GO?". I thought I was going to puke, so educating the current & future generations is our mission.

Jerry Sullivan

[TrainSimJack]

I have some family in Fairbanks, could probably get some pictures sent down if you needed any of the current day railroad at that end of the line.

[landnrailroader]

Thanks, but as I indicated a while back, my plan is to do the track and then put it in the unfinished category. I have no personal interest in the Alaska RR but as a former track inspector manager (Southern Rwy.) I am picky about my track. My personal interest is mostly L&N and I have several parts of that also under construction as well as the C&TS work.

Jerry

[landnrailroader]

Progress has continued and now I am working at mile 87 alongside of Turnagain Arm. This area is mostly level with a maximum grade of 0.1% but there is one curve after another. I find that in some cases, the curve value on the track chart is impossible to use on the digitized route, so in those cases I lay a curve as close to the digitized markings as possible. In one case that involved a short stretch of 90M radius which is 19.4 degrees. Although sharp, there were curves to 20 degrees on two SR routes I used to test. Both were eventually eased as much as possible with Natural Tunnel being eased to 18 degrees, and Coleman, on the Old Fort to Asheville, NC section being eased to 16 degrees. There are many compound curves too although none have more than two different degrees of curve. Looking ahead, I find no tunnels between Anchorage and Fairbanks. I have read where there is a 12 hour running time between those points so it would seem to me that there is a crew change somewhere. I sent a request to the ARR office and asked about this but I may or may not get an answer. If I do, I'll do track for the northern part in two sections, otherwise one section. The distance is about 350 miles from Anchorage to Fairbanks and while there are no tunnels, the highest point is reached at almost 2,000 feet near Denali.

Jerry Sullivan

[landnrailroader]

Progress continues and I completed the line through mile 97 today. Anchorage is mile 115 but I will continue 4-5 miles beyond Anchorage so there is a staging area off line so to speak for activities. I have learned that there are no crew change points in the 350 miles between Anchorage and Fairbanks which I find odd because I also have read where the running time for passenger traiins is 12 hours or so. The Alaska RR does not cross state lines so it may not be subject to FRA rules one of which limits on duty time to 12 hours. I may break the line into two parts and if so, I will do it more or less at mid point. I'll also add the 12 mile Whittier branch.

Jerry Sullivan

[eric]

I've heard that crews do occasionally layover in Healy. Since AAR doesn't have other traffic to contend with as far as crossings, 350 miles might be doable with a single crew, but is probably right at the limit of a 12 hour duty day.