Alaska Railroad Denali Star

We took Alaska Railroad’s Denali Star to get to Denali from Anchorage and also took it back to Anchorage. The route is just gorgeous. It goes along mountain creeks, glacial valleys, river gorges, and lakes. I was also somewhat obsessed with the clouds and the atmospheric features on both trips because the mountains were creating incredibly interesting skies. Note: the photos below are a mix of photos from the trip to Denali and the trip back to Anchorage. Also, some of the photos below include the Nenana River on which I went rafting. Also, a different view of the Hines River, featured in the photo at its confluence with the Riley River, can be seen in my photos from hiking in Denali National Park.

As this is my second round trip on Alaska Railroad, with the trip to Seward being the first, I highly recommend paying extra for Goldstar seats if you are a photographer. Besides the free meals and glass-dome ceilings on the cars, the Goldstar cars also have an outside platform passengers can go out onto at anytime, which obviously makes for much better photos. Also of note, there is an Alaska Railroad employee pointing out places of interest along the journey and letting you know when you might want to get a photo. I found it very helpful, but for reasons that are beyond me, on the Denali trip, they kept pointing out gravel pits as points of interest. I’m a geeky engineer, and even I can’t figure out why they think we all find gravel pits incredibly interesting.

Denali seen rising above the clouds beyond the Susitna River near Talkeetna

Susitna River

Pond next to the Indian River

Hurricane Gulch

Summit Lake

Nenana River

Nenana River

Nenana River

Confluence of Hines Creek and Riley Creek (my photo on another blog post of Hines Creek was taken from that foot bridge on the right)

Alaska State Ferry: MV Kennicott

Thirty years or so ago, I took a cruise to Alaska starting in Vancouver and ending in Whittier through the inside passage. I wanted the cruise portion of that trip again, that is, the part where the boat takes you through the inside passage. However, I wanted more time in some of the cities to explore. The solution I came up with was to take the Alaska Marine Highway System, i.e. the Alaska State Ferry to a couple of cities then because the schedule is a bit infrequent for parts of the trip, to fly for a portion of the trip.

The ferry goes as far south as Bellingham, Washington. I flew to Seattle and then took a bus to Bellingham. There is an Amtrak train and also a bus that drops you off about a block or so from the ferry. Then after a lovely lunch in Bellingham, I boarded the ferry, in this case the MV Kennicott. We reserved a four berth cabin. There are only two of us traveling, but the two berth cabin does not have a private bathroom. We splurged for the four berth for the private bathroom and extra room. The room is rather small, unsurprisingly. It is rather spartan really. Cruise ship cabins are small, but generally they are well designed with lots of drawers, shelves, and other areas to unpack things. The ferry was not designed for that. The ferry cabin was designed for you to sleep but not really for you to place your luggage anywhere.

A ship's cabin with bunk beds

Our four berth cabin, made up for two people

We didn’t spend that much time during the day in the cabin though. They have a cafeteria for meals, but you can also bring your own food and use their microwave or their hot water. The food is ok, but if you have any dietary issues, you need to bring your own food. There is not that much choice with the food.

Also, there are a couple of sitting areas, including the popular forward observation seating area. The front observation seating area is set up like a theater, so you can relax and see where the ship is going.

Seats facing the front window of a ship

The front observation area where many passengers spend the day

There are also several outside decks where passages can go. Many people choose not to pay extra for a cabin and camp on the ship. There were camping tents set up in on several of the wider outside decks. Some people had rather fancy set ups for their tents.

A tent set up on an outside deck of a ship

One of the upper, outside side decks where people camp

There was also a large enclosed solarium where people camped. The area was quite warm, so people might be able to camp there without an actual tent.

Person walking down an inside passageway on ship

The solarium where people camp

People’s camping areas in some cases were involved. One had an entry rug. One hung a hammock between poles. There were clearly experienced campers on the ferry.

A camping tent with rugs outside it

Someone’s tent set up in the solarium including rugs

The ferry is definitely not luxury travel. However the route is wonderful and allow you to cruise the inside passage without having to be tied to a cruise ship’s schedule of one day per port.

Venice: All the boats

I am somewhat obsessed with the infrastructure of Venice, including transport. There are no cars, nor any other powered land-based vehicles. Everything is transported by land on foot or water by a boat of some type. Everyone gets around by foot or boat. I am unclear how the firefighters get the hoses to a fire. However, I was lucky enough to see the garbage boat in action taking a garbage basket that a garbage worker had brought to the canal.

Police boat
Police boat
Fire boat
Fire station boat entrance is to the left, and this is the only street light I saw in Venice.
Ambulance boat
Garbage boat picking up garbage basket
Garbage boat picking up garbage basket
Garbage boat bringing garbage basket over boat
Garbage boat emptying garbage basket into holding
Package delivery
DHL
Supply delivery with refrigerator or freezer
Crane boat and ferry boat to the right. The Vaporetto is the Venetian mass public transport.
Supply delivery boat entering narrow channel

Venice: Gondolas

Today in Venice was Gondola Day. We started the day by going to a place where they make gondolas, restore old ones, and do maintenance on them. Then we went to a shop where they make certain pieces for the gondolas. We followed it up with a gondola ride through some canal with musicians.

First, we went to Squero Tramontin (Domenico Tramontin e Figli) where they make new gondolas, restore old ones, and do maintenance on currently used ones. The company is currently owned by two sisters, who inherited it from their father. It has been a family business for five generations, since 1884. Elena Tramontin explained to us how they make a gondola and the history of them. Originally gondolas were used for everything in Venice including police, ambulance, etc. They were also originally operated by two gondoliers, but the shape was changed so that one gondolier can operate it. All gondolas are completely flat bottom, and in fact all boats that operate in Venice’s lagoon are flat bottom. The gondolas only need 10 cm of water depth. They are made of mahogany, cherry, and oak. The wood is dried naturally and needs about a year too dry. The wood is bent with water and fire. They are coated with six coats of paint, and finished with 24 carat gold leaf accents. It takes about five to six months to complete one. The government decreed that all gondolas be black centuries ago. The edging was brass, but now steel is used. The counterweight at the front is iron and has symbolic meaning (see photo below). The gondolas are built to last 30 years, but they need maintenance every 50 days or so to remove barnacles and such. However, in the shop when we visited were much older gondolas.

Domenico Tramontin e Figli, one of two squeros where they make gondolas completely by hand.
A 70 year old gondola in the squero being rehabbed.
Tools in the shop
A 60 year old gondola in for maintenance
The forcula is what the oar is placed against, and the shape of the forcula allows the gondolier to “change gears” including stopping, starting, going fast, reverse.
The counterweight at the front of the gondola. Otherwise known as the fero de prora. The shape has symbolic meaning. The round top represents the Doge’s hat (the Doge was the ruler of the Republic of Venice). The curve under the Doge’s hat is the Rialto Bridge. The six straight pieces to the front represent the six areas of Venice: San Marco, San Polo, Santa Croce, Castello, Dorsoduro, and Cannaregio. The piece that sticks out opposite the six represents the separate island from the main part of Venice, Giudecca. The shape of the piece from the Doge’s hat to the end represents the shape of Canal Grande.

After visiting the squero, we then visited an artisan who makes some of the special wooden pieces for the gondola including the all important forcula. They are made by hand. He now sells more of them around the world as art pieces than as their historical use in gondolas. He has another shop on the mainland, where once he acquires wood, he cuts it into smaller pieces and allows it to dry naturally. Each forcula is built specific to the customer, based on customer height and such. The pieces are finished with oil. The bottom part of the forcula is finished last once the gondola is built, so that is fits securely into the gondola.

Oars hang on the walls.
He demostrares how he outlines the shape.
All pieces are carved by hand.
A finished forcula.

We then went for a gondola ride, and I started paying attention to how it was operated. The gondola ride was quite nice and relaxing.

The gondolier is the oar in the forcula to reverse the gondola and change direction..
Oar in the normal position to go forward.

A few final notes. There are 433 licenses for gondoliers, and only one is held by a woman. There is a waiting list to get one. We were told there are about 500 gondolas working now, which numerically doesn’t add up. We were told there are extra for loaners during maintenance. However, since we were told they are made specific to the gondolier, I am not sure how loaners work.

Gondolas lined up near San Marco waiting for riders.
Gondoliers in traditional dress near Piazzo San Marco waiting for customers.

Bay Lower Subway Station

Another site I visited with Doors Open Toronto was an abandoned subway station. When the Bay Subway Station was built, there was an upper and lower level. According to the Doors Open Toronto website “When Line 2 officially opened in 1966, Bay Lower was in full use. Alternate trains used the Wye connection, which allowed customers to travel from Line 1 to Line 2 without changing trains. The TTC tested this system for six months and also tested the two separate subway lines for six months. Following testing, the TTC decided that two trains worked best and Bay Lower was closed.” If like me, you do not live in Toronto, that means very little or nothing. Having studied the Toronto subway map for a little bit of time, I think I now understands what it means, but to be perfectly honest, it sounds like it was a dumb idea from the start. Yes, yes, hindsight is 20/20, but it just seems overly complicated, and I know how long it took me just to understand New York City’s local versus express lines, so this seems like it might have made things easier for some but confused the heck out of others. It also sounds like something that carried not insignificant risks for train operation and train traffic control.

The lower level was not used for very long, but it has been used ever since by TTC for testing and training. It has also been used by the television and movie industry quite a bit for shooting scenes. The signs they had displayed seem to indicate that it has been a stand in for many U.S. city subway lines. Ever since I visited the lower level, I have been trying to think how many U.S. cities actually have a subway, as in trains that run underground. There are not that many, and furthermore, not many look like this station. Then again, the movie industry may not always care about things like that. But I digress.

In any event, it was kind of neat to walk around the platform. They had a train on either track with all doors open, so you could walk around the trains. They also let people visit the conductor’s seat/booth/area/I don’t what it is called. Today I learned, when given the opportunity to visit this area, people both young and old, really, really, really like to honk the horn. How the employees watching everything were not developing headaches from the horns constantly going off in the confined station where the noise really bounces around, I have no idea.

One final observation. I am rather fascinated by Toronto’s subway trains because the individual cars are all connected into one true train where you can walk very easily between all the cars. I don’t how many other systems have cars like this, but I was fascinated by it. I am most familiar with the Washington, D.C. and New York City subway systems where walking between cars requires going outside and is rather frowned upon or difficult. It would seem likely this would make it rather difficult for trains to be taken apart should only one or two cars need service, but I am not sure how often cars are taken apart and reconfigured on other systems where visually at least, it would appear to be easier.

Bay Lower Subway Station
One of the trains at the Bay Lower Subway Station. You can easily walk the entire length of the train.
One of the trains at the Bay Lower Subway Station. In the foreground is where two cars are joined, and you can walk in between.
View from the end of the Bay Lower Subway Station platform into the tunnel.

Eglinton Maintenance and Storage Facility

I am in Toronto for Doors Open Toronto. When any city allows people to visit a rail yard or water or wastewater treatment plant, I will be there. One of the places that was on the top of my list to visit is the Eglinton Maintenance and Storage Facility. It houses the Crosstown Light Rail Vehicles where they are inspected, cleaned and maintained. It only opened in January 2019, which was evident because it is still very clean and looks barely used. It is a well designed facility that appears to have been designed with the human worker in mind.

The facility has a train wash, paint booth, and numerous bay for maintenance. The maintenance areas have pit to work underneath the trains besides the platforms to work on the side or inside the trains, but it also has balconies so that the workers can get to the top of the trains.

In one area, there are several sand pumps. The trains carry sand, and if the tracks are really wet or if there is snow or ice, then the driver sprays sand to increase traction on the tracks.
The paint booth where two workers can work, each on their own lift.
The large maintenance bay with balconies
One of the trains in the maintenance bay
Trains in the maintenance bay
More of the maintenance bay. I did not find out what the green carriage is for.
Train wash area
Nicely labeled and color coded pipes and conduits

Mother Clara Hale Bus Depot

I recently got the opportunity to tour New York’s MTA’s Mother Clara Hale Bus Depot with the New York Transit Museum. It is the newest bus depot in New York, and it features many innovative and environmentally friendly design. It has a green roof. Stormwater from the roof in reused in the facility for bus wash. It has a thermal wall that absorbs heat in the winter. It is a really well designed facility, and it is huge. There are also many buses at the bus depot because of course the bus depot is for maintenance and repairs.


The front of the building featuring a gorgeous mosaic
The green metal on the south absorbs solar energy to help heat the building.
Heat exchangers for hot water
Access to oil/water separator
Bus wash using stormwater from the roof
HUGE storage tank stores stormwater from roof
Lots and lots of piping and conduit in stormwater recycling area
Stormwater cleaning tanks
I have a thing for pipes and conduits. I just love the patterns.
The green roof covered with plants
Plants on green roof absorb some of the stormwater, and stormwater runoff enters pipes to go to the storage tank.
Oh yes, there are buses at the bus depot, and they get maintenance and repairs.

MTA’s Flatbush-Empire Substation

I took another tour with New York Transit Museum today. This one of the Flatbush-Empire Substation, formally known as Old Prospect Park Substation. It was constructed in the early 1900s to originally provide power for Brooklyn trolleys and then was used to provide power to the subways. Sadly, the substation sits right above where the Malbone Street disaster occurred, where approximately 100 people lost their lives in 1918 when an untrained conductor was operating a subway train during a labor dispute. The substation played a role in the disaster when the circuit breakers tripped at the station from the train accident, and the substation operator restored power to the rail thereby electrocuting any victims on the tracks because the system operators thought the breakers had tripped due to a prank by strikers.

The substation originally converted AC power from the grid to DC using rotary convertors. Now they use modern thingamajigs that are not nearly so cool looking. The downstairs of the substation has all the old unused parts, not to mention all the hazardous chemicals that had to be removed. There are capacitors where PCBs had clearly been removed, and other places painted with a white sealant after asbestos had been removed. Upstairs is where the boring gray boxes filled with modern electronics that actually do the work now are. The substation does not have a working rotary convertor by the way. The only one left owned by MTA is at Substation #13 (see that post for photos and video).

Rotary convertor

Rotary convertor

Switch for rotary convertor

Cables coming up from grid underground

Electric busbar panel board

Electric bus

On top bus panel board

Ammeter

Ammeter

Electric switches

Third rail

Modern breakers

Batteries in case of loss of power to grid

Penobscot Narrows Bridge

While traveling though Maine, we drove over the Penobscot Narrows Bridge, which is a lovely cable-stayed bridge. Cable-stayed bridges are my favorite kind of bridges. I love their simple elegance and functionality. The Penobscot Narrows Bridge is unique in that it has an observatory on top of one of the pylons. Who would have thought to put an observatory on top of a pylon? Next to the bridge, you can also walk onto a small portion of the old Waldo-Hancock Bridge. The Waldo-Hancock Bridge was suspension bridge built in 1931. It ultimately had to be taken down due to heavy corrosion of the main cables. The Waldo-Hancock Bridge was replaced with the Penobscot Narrows Bridge in 2006.

A thunderstorm passed by right before we entered the pylon, so in the below photos taken from the observatory, there are some of out of focus areas. I waited until the storm passed before taking the photos, but the windows still had raindrops on the glass, so the photos are not completely clear.

Penobscot Narrows Bridge

Small deck of the former Waldo-Hancock Bridge

Looking south from the base of the Penobscot Narrows Bridge pylon

Looking north from the base of the Penobscot Narrows Bridge pylon to an old pier of the Waldo-Hancock Bridge

Looking east from the Penobscot Narrows Bridge pylon observatory

Looking north from the Penobscot Narrows Bridge pylon observatory

Looking south from the Penobscot Narrows Bridge pylon observatory

Looking west from the Penobscot Narrows Bridge pylon observatory

MTA’s Jamaica Yards

I took another tour with the New York Transit Museum today. This one was of Jamaica Yards in Queens, where maintenance is performed on subway cars. I love touring these yards. Jamaica Yards was different then some of the other ones I have toured in that it has a bit more space. Not a lot, but at least a little more. Every time I go on one of these tours I learn and retain just a little more.

Subway cars enter the yards from this tunnel

Jamaica Yards repair sheds

Jamaica Yards. “Stop look read your iron” is a warning to drivers to be alert where they are going. “Iron” refers to the rail.

Trains lined up in the yards

Trains in the maintenance shed

Of course I am going to be interested int the safety measures. These lights read: Carbon monoxide alarm boiler room, methane alarm gas meter room, high water alarm car wash pump room, and car wash fire alarm.

One of the workers shows us how they test that the shoe, which contacts the third rail, is at the right height

One of the workers shows us how they test that the shoe, which contacts the third rail, has the correct tension