English: The Alaska Railroad express train is arriving at McKinley Park station. We will get on the train, on the way to Fairbanks, in a few minutes. You can see most of the train. It consists of two diesel locomotive, a baggge/freight car, four other Alaska Railroad cars, includluding the Vista Dome car at left, five Holland America cars (center) and four Princess Cruises cars.

It is an impressive train set, but it takes 12 hours to travel 356 miles (573 km). It is rather like a cruise ship on land. Enjoying the trip is more important than how efficiently you get there, especially in the Holland America and Princess cars. (No luxurious meals, though)

To quote the old German joke about slow trains, "Blumenpflücken während der Fahrt verboten." (Do not pick flowers while the train is moving.)