Valley Block and Concrete
4492 E Fairview Loop
Wasilla, AK 99654
(907) 376-4784

Valley Block and Concrete has served Wasilla since 1990 with ready-mix concrete, concrete blocks, cultured stone, Insulated Concrete Forms (ICF’s), pavers and stepping stones, retaining wall & garden wall blocks, building materials and tools. [Note Valley Block and Concrete is not an industry serviced by the Alaska Railroad.]

For model railroaders: Even though there are no rail connection it would be easy to add one for incoming "special" aggregates.

WASILLA, ALASKA: WHERE THAT LONESOME WHISTLE BLOWS

Somewhere around 7:30 PM on the evening of July 28, I returned home from an unsuccessful Denali Star shoot just beyond the overpass on the way to Three Bears at Pittman. I had got a picture all right and technically it was fine, but it wasn’t what I wanted and so I came home, determined to try another evening.

After I parked in the driveway and grabbed Sancho’s bag, I realized I had left my launch pad behind. True, it is only a pizza box and is easily replaced, but I don’t want to leave pizza boxes to litter up the Alaska countryside, so I headed back to retrieve it. As I drove over the overpass, I was startled to see a train I knew nothing about passing under -a gravel train - and it pulled a caboose! I thought only the work train pulled a caboose. I continued on, retrieved my launch pad and got back on the highway, southbound. I hoped to catch up to the unknown gravel train but it beat me through the main part of Wasilla. Beyond there, the tracks wind through the valley below Was-Mart.

I figured if I stayed on the highway I could beat it to Valley Block and Concrete - just the right place to photograph it. I did beat it - just barely. I heard the whistle and rumble bearing down even as I extended Sancho’s prop arms in preparation to launch. It rolled into the scene just as I launched Sancho.

The lead locomotive was the legendary ARR 3001, a GP40-2 engine still wearing the original black paint it was delivered in.

So here it is, this gravel train I did not know about, passing by the Valley Block and Concrete gravel mine. I shot frames one and two and then had Sancho give pursuit in the hope he might swoop in for a closer view of the caboose but the train rolled faster than Sancho’s top speed of somewhere between 40 and 45. Plus I knew wires crossed the tracks a short distance ahead. They are hard to see and invisible to Sancho’s collision avoidance system. I shot photo 3 and gave up the chase.

Added by Frank Keller - Bill, this is indeed the Work Train. Part of their duties involve dumping ballast which is what you see in the cars.