Alaska Northern

Company History: Alaska Northern was established to take over the failed Alaska Central Railroad. They took over the property in 1910 but ANRR quickly became a pawn of greater forces. Guggenheim interests owned the Copper River & Northwestern, which ran northeast from the port of Cordova to the copper mines. They were possibly concerned that ANRR might stumble across a copper deposit and dilute the value of their holdings. They maneuvered to prevent any substantive work on the Alaska Northern right of way. Anxious to have a railroad from the coast to the Alaskan interior, the federal government bought the Alaska Northern for a quarter of its cost of construction in 1916. At the time of the purchase, Alaska Northern had 71 miles of line, three locomotives plus a steam dummy, a rotary snow plow, five coaches, an observation car, 24 flats, three boxcars, two tank cars, and two cabooses. In 1923 the AN was merged with the Tanana Valley Railroad to form the Alaska Railroad.

Successor/Parent History: Born in 1923 with the consolidation and connection of the Tanana Valley and Alaska Northern railroads, the line was owned by the Federal Government (under the Department of the Interior) from the outset, later becoming the responsibility of the Department of Transportation in 1967. In the mid-80s it was sold to the State of Alaska.

The Alaska Railroad links Anchorage with the port of Whittier and Seward to the south, and Fairbanks and environs to the north. Total mileage is about 525 putting it between Bangor & Aroostook and New York Ontario & Western in relative size. Alaska does run its own passenger service over the length of the railroad. Although the Alaska Railroad is disconnected from the rest of the North American rail network, they do interchange with other railroads. A trio of sea-going barges ferry rail cars from the port of Whittier to Prince Rupert, British Columbia, and Seattle, Washington. ARR had collected a fleet of Alco RS-1s (and a few RSD-1’s) with cowls, effectively making them cab units unique to this line. These were later replaced by second generation EMD power. The big power on the line is a fleet of 28 SD70MACs. A dozen of these are equipped with HEP for use in passenger service.

The port of Whittier is hemmed in by the ocean on one side and mountains on the other. A 2.5 mile single track tunnel is the only way out of the port. The line through the tunnel is paved like street trackage so that highway traffic can use the tunnel. It is a single lane so highway traffic going south enters from the top of the hour until quarter after. Northbound traffic enters from the bottom of the hour until 45 after the hour. Trains get priority and proceed as soon as traffic has cleared.

Brief History: The U.S. is a country of 50 states covering a vast swath of North America, with Alaska in the northwest and Hawaii extending the nation’s presence into the Pacific Ocean. Major Atlantic Coast cities are New York, a global finance and culture center, and capital Washington, DC. Midwestern metropolis Chicago is known for influential architecture and on the west coast, Los Angeles' Hollywood is famed for filmmaking.