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I used to work on the Alaska Railroad, so I appreciate the scenes you're trying to capture. I agree that viewing from the east is best for most of the ARR locations you've mentioned. I personally woudn't "flip" scenes--the result just wouldn't be satisfying to me. There are a couple of methods I would consider for moving the view from the east to the west side of the tracks. The first was mentioned in a previous post--build a peninsula. A second possibility would be to build a multi-level layout, with "waterwings" turnback curves at the ends of the scenes in question. Example: build a Seward scene on the lowest level (where trains running from left to right will be northbound); run up around a turnback curve to the middle level representing Turnagain Arm (where northbound trains will run from right to left); run up around a second turnback curve to the top level representing an Anchorage scene (where northbound trains once more will move from left to right). Rather than engage in all of this construction effort, I would be very tempted to stick with a conventional around-the-walls concept, and model the Turnagain Arm scene looking from the east. The foreground of the scene could be the east shoulder of the Seward Highway--the foreground and the highway would undulate up and down (just like the prototype) and the railroad behind it would be relatively level--using cuts and fills (again, just like the prototype). Behind the railroad in the scene would be your representation of Turnagain Arm, done either with a painted or photomural backdrop. To me the effect would be much more dramatic and pleasing than just another mountainside (which would be the case if the scene were viewed from the west). To see how effective such a representation can be, find a copy of the MR article from a few years back on the Florida East Coast Railroad model with Atlantic Ocean scenes in the background.
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