Alaskan Train
60.745797°N 149.012600°W

The Alaskan Train double-decker coach whisks you to Spencer Glacier for lunch and rafting. 6/28/2010 2:15:20 PM

Lake Spencer
60.699122°N 149.038853°W

On the west shore of Lake Spencer with a view of Spencer Glacier. 6/21/2010 3:34:53 PM

Lake Spencer
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Rafts on Spencer Lake with Spencer Glacier in the background. 6/21/2010 4:08:38 PM

Lake Spencer
60.696269°N 149.036142°W

Raft on Lake Spencer passing by a small iceberg. The dark areas in the ice are pieces of rock that fell onto the glacial ice as it carved through the mountain valley over the centuries before the ice calved off and floated into the lake. 6/21/2010 4:32:24 PM

Placer River
60.718753°N 149.062514°W

Rafting down the Placer River. 6/21/2010 4:58:51 PM

Placer River
60.751772°N 149.003194°W

The train pick-up point along the Placer River. 6/21/2010 6:00:00 PM

The Alaskan Railroad conducts a day trip that leaves Portage, AK, and travels to Spencer Lake with views of Spencer Glacier. Rafts are waiting to take you down the Placer River eventually stopping where the train picks you up and returns to Portage.

Try to get a seat on the second deck of the train car which is covered in windows for a sublime short trip to Spencer Lake. After lunch, the rafts are launched and you begin a gentle trip out onto the lake with beautiful views of Spencer Glacier and icebergs that have calved from the glacier and floated out into the lake.
The glacier has receded from the west end of the lake to its present position since the early 1900s. The glacier deposited a terminal moraine along the west shore of the lake that has acted like a dam creating Spencer Lake. There is a trail along the northeast shore of the lake that allows access to the glacier. There are signs along the way that mark the glacier’s recession over the last century. Eventually, the rafts leave the lake and float down the Placer River which cuts through the terminal moraine and flows out onto the glacial outwash plain.

Alaska Railroad Logo

The Alaska Railroad (reporting mark ARR) is a Class II railroad  which extends from Seward and Whittier, in the south of the state of Alaska, in the United States, to Fairbanks (passing through Anchorage), and beyond to Eielson Air Force Base and Fort Wainwright in the interior of that state. Uniquely (for America), it carries both freight and passengers throughout its system, including Denali National Park (most other intercity passenger rail in the U.S.A. is carried on the federal Amtrak system). The railroad has a mainline over 470 miles (760 km) long and is well over 500 miles (800 km) including branch lines and sidings. It is currently owned by the state of Alaska. The railroad is connected to the lower 48 via three rail barges that sail between the Port of Whittier and Harbor Island in Seattle (the Alaska Railroad-owned Alaska Rail Marine, from Whittier to Seattle, and the CN Rail-owned Aqua Train, from Whittier to Prince Rupert, British Columbia) but does not currently have a direct, land-based connection with any other railroad lines on the North American network. In 2011, the company earned a profit of $4.9 million (down 11%) on revenues of $161.5 million (up 8.5%), $121.5 million of which was operating revenue (up 11.9%).

• http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Alaska Railroad