Katkus selected for second Alaska Railroad poster

WASILLA — A Valley resident has again won Alaska Railroad’s poster contest and she’s going to be signing copies this week and next.

According to an Alaska Railroad press release, Wasilla’s Taffina Katkus won the contest for a second time. Her piece, “Seward Solidarity,” depicts a train on a bridge with a mountain and eagle in the background and an otter in the foreground.

Her first win was in 2009 with a picture called “Clearing the Way” that depicts a Jordan spreader crossing Hurricane Gulch Bridge with Mount McKinley in the background on a cold winter afternoon.

In 2010, Wasilla’s Stefan Wilson won with a depiction of a passenger train traveling along Turnagain Arm.

In 2011, Palmer’s Douglas Girard won with a depiction of a train passing over the Matanuska River Bridge during breakup.

Katkus plans to be in Seward today signing copies of the poster at the Dale Lindsey Intermodal Terminal, in Anchorage Saturday signing copies at the historic downtown depot on First Avenue, and in Fairbanks signing at the Fairbanks Depot Dec. 10.

Prints of the image cost $55, posters $30 and pins $5. Katkus is a Wasilla City Council member and a sign painter who has operated her own sign shop for 29 years.