Wednesday morning I get myself up and ready. Again amazed at my adult skills as I’m still on my own. (Have to laugh!) I head down for breakfast but the kitchen still hasn’t fixed the food issue and I only have fruit to choose from. I would not make a good vegetarian. I’ve learned that this past week. I need sustenance!

We take the motor coach to the railroad tracks to meet up with the train. I climb aboard and find my car. I am with a less-talkative rail guide again.

We pick up our passengers. About 70 passengers. Then we head south for the port.

As I’ve mentioned before, these Southbound DEX trains are usually happy and in a party mood. They tend to be the best money runs. Today is not so. My car is full of hot cocoa and coffee drinkers. I still serve them with a smile.

My bar is in the front of the car on this trip. When I am making drinks and serving, I do look up and enjoy the scenery. I also hear the horn and am aware of the number of blasts having different meanings.

When we are coming up on the bridge over Wiggle Creek, a tributary of the Susitna River, I hear the horn. It is one long blast. He is not letting up. I sense a problem and I say out loud, “Something is on the tracks”. No one hears me as I’m facing the front. The horn is still sounding. I feel the train brakes attempting to stop the train. We start to cross the bridge when the emergency brakes kick in. We stop abruptly.

I’m looking out the window to my left. Trying to assess what’s happening. I can see people standing beside the tracks. They don’t look panicked. That’s a good sign. I assume we’ve hit a moose or other animal. This happens. I was onboard when it happened last summer. (The animals prefer the tracks. Especially when snow is on the ground. It’s easier to travel).

The rail guide in the front car knows what has happened and comes back to our car to let us know.

We have hit an ATV. No one was on it at the time. Thank goodness.

We sit there for about 20 minutes.

I hear the horn blast, letting everyone know we are moving forward. We start to roll and I look out the right window and see the ATV. (Pictures included below). There are three men looking at the damage. Further in the distance are two more ATV’s. One holds a small child and on another one a woman.

Later I get the entire story. The man driving the ATV was drunk and for some reason had his ATV on the tracks. The train was coming and he couldn’t get the ATV off so he jumped off. The ATV taking the hit.

The incident is still under investigation. The man never removed his helmet and took off before he could be identified.

If you zoom in, you can see there’s a cable attached to the ATV on the left and the man with the helmet seems to be trying to attach it to the damaged ATV.

I’m relieved no one was injured. Still, this was wild! It’s an adventure on the rails!

It was a wild Wednesday. This story deserves its own post. So stay tuned for part two of Wednesday!