Kollodge Gallery

About the Image

Some call it “The Last Train to Nowhere.”  These images were all made about thirty miles out of Nome, Alaska, on the Nome-Council Road at a ghost town site called Solomon.  My visit here was in the early fall of 1991.

The attempt to build this railroad was connected to the gold strike at Nome near the beginning of the 20th century.  The tracks laid near the Bering Sea had these engines and cars on them when hit by a tremendous storm which washed most of the tracks away leaving this rolling stock where it stands on the tundra.  Shortly thereafter, the gold rush started to wind down, the throngs of prospectors left the area and what’s left is this wonderful picturesque “train to nowhere.”

I made these images with a Canon F1 camera with Canon “L” lenses on Fuji RFP 50 chrome film while getting my feet wet in the bog.