RR, locals debate plan

April 22, 2007

By John R. Moses

Frontiersman

TALKEETNA - Some residents who planned to meet amongst themselves Saturday about the impact of tour buses rumbling through a quiet rural neighborhood instead got a chance to sit down informally with representatives of Princess Tours and the Alaska Railroad Corporation to hash out the plan's basics.

East Woodpecker Road residents and other interested parties told railroad spokesman Tim Thompson they worry about dust, noise and other fallout from the railroad's intent to load and unload passengers at a railroad siding that until recently has only been used as a crew camp and a rail welding yard.

The half-mile-long siding, which sits on 300 undeveloped acres of railroad land ending in riverfront property, became a little less remote in the minds of area residents when heavy equipment this week cut a swath of woodland to lengthen the mile-long road so tour buses can easily reach the tracks.

Chris Thompson, an executive with Princess Tours, said about 10 buses a day will go up and down East Woodpecker Road on Saturdays and Mondays. Every other Wednesday, six to eight buses will serve a smaller train.

Tourists bound for Denali will have a chance to get a ride into Talkeetna to meet fishing tours or other trips they might have booked, or to shop downtown before boarding another bus for their final destination. Chris Thompson said tourists are encouraged to go into town before going to the lodge. Some, he said, simply want to get to their lodge.

Talkeetna Town Council Chair Ruth Wood was one of about 15 people gathered around a group of picnic tables in front of a Main Street coffee house for the Saturday meeting. She told the railroad's Thompson that she is disappointed the railroad didn't let locals in on the new planned use of the road and rail siding.

&#8220You've had all winter to talk to the community,”

she said. &#8220A decision should never have been made

without talking to the

community.”

The railroad, which moved 525,000 passengers last year, is congested, the spokesman said. Using the siding in Talkeetna for a special train will resolve a train delay problem caused by congestion.

Offloading passengers in Sunshine, farther up the Talkeetna Spur Road, is not practical, nor is offloading in Willow or Wasilla. If the railroad did that, he noted, Talkeetna would really lose some tourism.

Tim Thompson said that news of the plan broke when the plan was only about four weeks along.

He apologized for not meeting with the community sooner.

When pressed for a look at what the future holds, the railroad spokesman noted that the railroad owns 300 acres and for now has no plans for permanent structures there. The railroad may, however, build a new section house there, which would add to the road

traffic.

&#8220Ten, 20, 30 years down the road, I don't know,” he said.

One area resident who moved to the Wolf Run Subdivision in the late 1970s said he has a pretty good idea what the future for that area holds, and it looks a lot like a new lodge. Gesturing to the buildings surrounding the group, Bill Aratt said he sees the potential of East Woodpecker Road turning into a street lined with businesses like the downtown where the group sat.

&#8220The railroad doesn't care about Talkeetna and certainly not about us living in this area,” Aratt said. &#8220It's all about money, and it's only about money. When somebody tells me it's not about the money, I'm skeptical. I just wish I were wrong more often. The question is not what they plan to do now. The question for us is ‘what is their potential to grow?'”

Longtime Talkeetna resident Roberta Sheldon recalled how she has seen the volume of tourist traffic grow over the decades. The trains, she said, &#8220grow larger and larger every year.”

The town has provided things like restroom facilities and other services for tourists.

&#8220We've taken our hit. I think it's time that Princess and the railroad chip in on the impacts,” she said.

The railroad spokesman said he'd take concerns from that meeting back to railroad officials.

Residents want not just dust control but more control by the railroad on the speeds crew members use when driving down the road to railroad land. Several residents said dangerous driving speeds put pedestrians, including the area's children, at risk.

The railroad will send its chief executive to the Talkeetna Town Council meeting May 7 to meet with the community.

Contact John R. Moses at 352-2270 or john.moses@ frontiersman.com.