Riley Creek - Three Ways!

A couple of these images have been seen here before, but one is for sure new to this website.  I'm  posting them together for point of comparison.

Riley Creek trestle, at 570 feet long and 98 feet high is the second tallest on the entire 470 miles of mainline and a truly signature photo location.  

A bit of history courtesy of the National Park Service:

The Riley Creek Bridge, manufactured in Pennsylvania and shipped north on 24 rail cars loaded with 600 tons of steel via the Panama Canal, consisted of seven steel towers decked with 30-foot and 60-foot steel plate girders. When finished, the creek crossing would measure 900 feet in length.

In the first week of January 1922, despite blizzards, sub-zero cold, and limited daylight hours, workers installed the first steel bent. Less than a month later, a steam crane crossed the bridge from south to north.

A few days later, with a minus-30°F wind chill, a celebratory train left Seward for Nenana, arriving on February 5.

FROM ABOVE

Take 1 is THE signature shot of this bridge looking east from high up on the park road more than a half mile away.

On the afternoon of July 4th, 2017 as we see the DEX sailing north across the bridge moments away from the end of their all day journey from Whittier.  The Denali Express is a charter train for Holland America Princess Cruises.  A single SD70MAC leaves Anchorage at 0430 with a consist of all privately owned HAP cars and deadheads to Whittier on the shore of Prince William Sound (backing down from Portage after turning on the wye).  There they rendezvous with a Princess Cruise Lines vessel and then depart at 0820 running non stop on an 8 hour journey more magnificent than anything you can imagine.  

Here they are arriving about 5 minutes early after a 294 mile trip.  The Alaska Railroad doesn't mess around, and timekeeping is a point of pride in the land of the midnight sun.

FROM BELOW

Take 2 is the second most popular view looking up from below.  The 10 mile Triple Lakes trail starts near the visitor center and drops down to the creek.  While there is a footbridge across the creek upstream, sneaking along the bank and wading out into the chilly waters flowing down from the Alaska Range provides a less common low angle view.

This is train 230S, the Southbound Denali Star - the Alaska Railroad's flagship train - about one third of the way done with it's daily 12 hour 356 mile one way trip from Fairbanks to Anchorage.

FROM EYE LEVEL

Take 3 is the least seen angle and slightly more challenging of the three.  I'd long noticed a steep rocky prominence rising almost level with the top of the bridge wedged in the "V" at the confluence of Hines Creek and Riley Creek just west of the trestle.  So one late summer day I made a point to give it a try.  There is a short steep unofficial trail up the back side of the outcropping and when you reach the top you are about 500 feet due west of the midpoint of the bridge offering this rather unique and inspired view.

This is again train 230S, the Southbound Denali Star - the Alaska Railroad's flagship train - heading to Anchorage.

Denali Park, Alaska
All taken during the 2017 season on respectively:
Tuesday July 4
Sunday August 13
Monday September 4, 2017