05/21/2026
Here's a neat modelling idea for you!
Floating Train Friday
The Alaska Railroad has no physical connection to the rest of the North American rail network. But that doesn't prevent them from having a robust interchange. The ARR owns a service and interchanges weekly with the BNSF and UP in Seattle via barges owned and operated under contract by Alaska Marine Lines.
However, there was a second player and the barge pictured here is the AquaTrain which was owned and operated by Foss Maritime under contract to CN. Whittier was the designated interchange point and once loaded on the barge this is a CN "train." At the time of this photo the AquaTrain was on a 10 day cycle between Prince Rupert and Whittier. Alas, a couple years later the service was cut back to only two sailings a month and then finally in 2021 the CN called it quits when the last barge sailed north empty to be loaded for the last time in Whittier on April 16th of that year. This ended just shy of six decades of service and wiped Alaska from Canadian National’s system map for the first time since 1962.
After their first two decades of service the CN made a major commitment when they contracted with Shin-A shipbuilding to build what was then the world’s largest railcar barge at 400 ft long by 100 ft wide with a capacity for 45 standard 50 ft freight cars on eight tracks. Launched in 1982 and sailing from Prince Rupert, BC the AquaTrain offered the shortest railcar service to Alaska at only 600 miles slip to slip. At its peak the barge operated on roughly a 12 day cycle making 30 complete round trips to Alaska annually.
The barge had an 8 track layout that tapered to 6 on the stern with two switches on the deck. This was to accommodate the layout of the slip in Prince Rupert which did not allow the barge to move to four positions like they could here (the AML barges are 8 straight tracks and the barge is shifted side to side to line up with the two track slip). This barge is loaded completely to the gills with 45 cars of southbound interchange. Lashed to her bow on the port side is the 118.7 ft long Justine Foss, a 4300 hp tug built in 1976.
So enjoy this look back to a better time and what has been lost.
Whittier, Alaska
Saturday October 8, 2016
