TrainWeb.org Facebook Page

2013 NRHS Convention Alaska Railroad 557 Project and The Museum of Alaska Transportation and Industry 9/22/2013 Part 2



by Chris Guenzler



Alaska Railroad box car 1560E, nee United States Army troop kitchen car built by American Car and Foundry in 1943. It was sold to Alaska Railroad for maintenance-of-way use.









United States Air Force 80 ton switcher 1604 built by General Elexctric built in 1952.





Alaska Railroad MRS1 1718, nee United States Army 1818, built by Electro-Motive Division in 1952. It was delivered new to the US Army Transportation Corp and sent to Aachen, Germany. In 1953 and 1954, it provided test demonstration runs for railroad engineers from Germany, Belgium and France and received favorable reviews. It was transferred to the United States Navy in September 1970 and brought back to the United States to the Hawthorne, Nevada Naval Ammo Depot and renumbered US Navy 574. In December 1977, the locomotive was transferred from DOD surplus to the Alaska Railroad when it was re-numbered 1718.

From the early 1980's until 1992, it was assigned to the United States Air Force Alaskan Command mobile command post as the dedicated locomotive to power the ALCOP train. During its service with the US Air Force it retained its Alaska Railroad painting as a camouflage as its real purpose. When it was determined that the ALCOP train was outdated since they were were reaching their 50 year service life, the Peacekeeper cars were purchased to replace them. However, the USSR collapsed and it was decided they were no longer necessary. The locomotive was then transferred to the Clear AFS in Alaska where it hauled coal to the base power plant. It was retired in 1999 and was the last MRS-1 in military service. It was transferred to the Museum of Alaska of Transportation and Industry in 2000 with donations from Belgium, France, Germany, England the United States making that possible.





Alaska Railroad speeder G 1203 built by Fairmont.





United States Air Force S-12 1841 built by Baldwin in 1952.





United States Air Force S-12 1842 built by Baldwin in 1952.





United States Army tender 4074 built by Alco Locomotive Company from United States Army 2-8-0 4074 and currently numbered 0034.







Here came the speeder and guess who was riding it? Bart Jennings.





Tractors and trucks.





Fire truck.





US Navy HSL 33 22.





Fairchild C-123.





Coast Guard NIOIZ.





Can you guess what this is?





Chitina Auto Railer. I rode this around the parking area.





A posed picture. From here I went inside the museum building.









Views inside the museum building.





Police car and a truck.





US Air Force plane.





Air Force Fighter plane.





F-102 Delta Dagger.





H-21 Helicopter Workhorse.





Your guess is a good as mine.





Unites States Marine Corps helicopter.





Museum scene.





Fire trucks.





Tractors undercover.





Cars and trucks.





Bus 532.





An ambulance.





Boats undercover.





They have all kinds of trucks.





Here is an old car.





Another view of the Whitney section house.





A car and a truck.





Two trucks.





Snowmobiles are undercover among other items.





Tractors.





Do not ask me what this is.





More tractors.





More tractors and a car undercover.





Museum scene.





More farm equipment undercover.





A snow cat.





Museum scenes.





Ford truck.





Museum scene.





ARR Crane LC-56.





Alaska Railroad spreader 6 built by O.F. Jordan.





United States Army 45 ton switcher 7324.





Cars for sale. At this point I returned inside the museum for lunch.





Views of the Chitina Auto Railer. With that I talked with the bus driver before it was time to load then had our passengers make two lines, one for people who had early flights this afternoon, and the other for those who would be leaving later. I loaded the early flight first then the others.





Once we had a nearly full load, we drove back to Anchorage through the rain but it was dry when we returned to the Hilton Hotel. From here I walked nine blocks up E Street to find the steam engine on display on 9th and E Street.







Alaska Railroad 2-8-0 556, nee United States Army 2627 built by Baldwin in 1943. In 1945, it was transferred to the Alaska Railroad and became their 556. In 1957, it was donated to the City of Anchorage.





The sign for Alaska Railroad 2-8-0 556.





An outdoor hockey rink waiting for winter. I returned to the Hilton, retrieved my computer from storage and uploaded the pictures for this story then met Robin Bowers, and we walked over to the monument for two last pictues in Alaska.





My last views from Alaska. We walked back to Hilton where I retrieved my bags from storage, then lost Robin, so walked back to the Guesthouse Inn and Suites. I worked on the story in the lounge until Robin and I went to have dinner. We relaxed before I put the corrections in the story then I posted it on my web site and Trainoders.com. Robin and I took the shuttle to the airport then went through security and waited for our flights.

9/23/2013 I had Flight 94 to Seattle and then Flight 524 to Santa Ana. Winston Walker picked me up and took me home, ending the best NRHS convention I had ever been to.



RETURN TO THE MAIN PAGE