Alaska Railroad Depot opens its doors to crowded Open House

FAIRBANKS, Alaska (KTVF) – Hundreds of families, locals and tourists alike, turned out at the Alaska Railroad Depot on Saturday for the popular open house. The guests not only got to see the sights, meet the engineers and conductors, as well as learn more about the railroad, but they also got to climb aboard the trains and take a ride down the rail.

“So for the free train rides today our goal is to get as many people out to enjoy a train ride,” said Meghan Clemens, Alaska Railroad External Affairs Director, “so we’re keeping them pretty short. We’ve got eight 30-minute departures that we’re running today, and each of those trains can hold about 300 people so there’s room for everybody.”

Each trip took about 20 minutes for visitors to climb into the train coaches and ride down the rail and back. Meanwhile inside the depot, a variety of educational and fun displays were set up.

“It’s a great event that we like to do at the end of the season,” Clemens added, “to be able to welcome out folks from Fairbanks to come take a free train ride, have a chance to get on board a locomotive, we’ve got some static equipment out here we’ve got some heavy equipment people can learn about, we’ve got prize giveaways, we’ve got magician, we’ve got all sorts of fun things for the family to do out here at the depot today!”

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