The Denali Star is the Alaska Railroad’s flagship train, operating daily in Summer in both directions (from around May 15 through September 15). The train runs a unique and colorful hodge-podge of rolling stock as it runs the 353 miles between Anchorage and Fairbanks, making just 3 intermediate stops, 2 of which (except Wasilla) are long enough to be fresh-air stops. The Denali Star schedule is an example of symmetry with two trains (as of Summer 2024) departing Anchorage and Fairbanks at 8:20am in the morning and both scheduled to arrive at the opposite terminus at 8:00pm (although delays do happen).

When I rode the train in the shoulder season (prices are less than peak season) on Memorial Day Weekend 2024, this was the consist with such a large diversity of different types of passenger rolling stock:

• 2 SD70MAC Locomotives
• 1 1960’s built baggage/generator car – the Alaska Railroad loads and unloads all bags on and off this train using forklifts by putting baggage on plastic pallets.
• 1 Gold Star Service car – A 2007-built Colorado Railcar UltraDome Double-Decker Railcar. The Alaska Railroads’ are the only ones with an upper level outdoor observation platform. These cars have a full kitchen and dining room on the lower level with all meals non-alcoholic drinks and 2 alcoholic drinks included. Generally costs about double what Adventure class costs.
• 1 Wilderness Cafe car – a slightly shorter Colorado single story railcar with two levels of windows, built in the 1990s for the Florida Fun Train and then rebuilt into a microwave-type food table seating/middle buffet area for the Alaska Railroad. It ran out of many food items by the end of the trip and I arrived in Anchorage feeling hungry.
• 1 Adventure Class Coach Car – built in South Korea in 1989.
• 1 Adventure Class Budd Dome Car – regular seats on each end away from the dome, first-come, first-serve (asked to stay for only 20 minutes at a time when busy) dome car open to all passengers on the train!
• 2 Wilderness Express Colorado Railcar Ultra Dome cars – these aren’t owned by the Alaska Railroad and are private chartered railcars. Generally full of cruise passengers on packaged tours, can also be booked individually through certain booking channels (not directly from the Alaska Railroad). Wilderness is priced right between Gold Star Service and Adventure Class, upper-level Ultra Dome seating as always the last two cars of the train, open air platform on the lower level, extra charge for drinks and full cooked meals in the dining room.
• Riding the Denali Star (in Adventure Class) was an amazing experience with a diverse group of people, from your usual retirees some of whom couldn’t ride in Gold Star because it was sold out to youngers backpackers to some Alaska residents going for a ride to get a unique perspective on their home state.

The Denali Star is a truly memorable trip. As long as you bring at least some of your own food (and water) Adventure Class is perfectly adequate. The Wilderness Cafe was just frozen meals although I did enjoy my just microwaved Reindeer hotdog (got the last one!). A final tip is that National Association of Railroad Passengers members (which gives you a 10% discount on Amtrak) can enjoy 20% off on the Alaska Railroad which was super easy to book although you have to do this by telephone. To me the big benefit of paying for Gold Star service (or the Wilderness Express) is the access to an open air viewing platform and the ability to have (or pay for) actual meals on the full day trip. The Budd dome felt better to me than the UltraDome seating (which I’ve experienced on the Rocky Mountaineer), with the unique looking over the railcars at both the front and rear of the dome.

The route is a long day of spectacular scenery. From the train a mixture of wildlife and even North American’s tallest peak Denali can be seen. More often than not Denali is behind the clouds and impossible to see. The train stops inside Denali National Park (which has excellent shuttle bus service since most of the park road can’t be traversed in private vehicles) with about 17% of visitors arriving by train.