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A woman was struck and killed by an Alaska Railroad train Saturday night.

Police say it appears 72-year-old Joyce Kusmider of Cordova was taking pictures of the sunset when she was struck. It all happened shortly before 7 p.m. on the railroad tracks near the Rabbit Creek Firing Range.

The coal train, which was going 45 miles-per-hour at the time it hit her. The train was heading north from Seward.

The train engineer says he saw a flash right before he saw a person standing on the west side of the tracks. He activated the emergency braking system but it was too late.

Kusmider's red sedan was parked by the track in a pullout on the Seward Highway. Officers found a camera by Kusmider's body.

"The possibility exists that she was actually photographing the sunset from the top of the train tracks," said Anchorage Police Lt. Dave Parker. "Her personal effects were in the car. There was no indication she was despondent or anything like that and her family explained to APD she loved to take photographs.

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