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 Post subject: Two mystery locomotives from Alaska
PostPosted: Fri Aug 29, 2014 3:07 pm 
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Joined: Tue Apr 16, 2013 11:48 am
Posts: 30
Location: Minnesota
Hi again folks, I'm still working on my Alaska shortline and industrial railroad website, and am trying to ID a couple mystery engines from different books.

The first shows up in an old issue of Alaska Geographic magazine (no longer published), and is attributed to the Alaska Anthracite Railroad.

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AK_Anthracite.jpg
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It looks like an 0-4-2 Porter or similar, I am not sure of the exact make. The cab is similar to Porter's "cold climate" design with enclosed fuel bin, also seen on an 0-4-2 Porter used at Yakutat & Dry Bay (http://digitalcollections.lib.washingto ... obb/id/280).

The Alaska Anthracite had various other names and is known to have had an Alco 0-4-0 (CN 41751) named "Ole", still sitting on the river bank near Katalla (http://fairweather.alaska.edu/chris/ima ... ge-13.html), previously owned by the Katalla Co for construction on the Copper River Northwestern. One source also mentions "Ole" used at a rail line on Shepherd Creek (across the Bering River). There is a whole rats nest of abandoned railroads and small trams in this area. The mystery loco shown in AK Geographic might have been on a disconnected branch of the AK Anthracite, on one of the other lines, somewhere else in AK, or might not have been in Alaska at all. Any ideas people might have would help! (I've asked the local museum and tried contacting the people mentioned, with no luck).

The other mystery locomotive is an open-cab 0-4-0 seen in the first edition of Howard Clifford's Rails North and described as part of the White Pass and Yukon RR.

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clifford_switcher.jpg
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As it's not recorded in any WP&YRR info I can find (while other small locos like a Fordson-based switcher are), I'm led to believe it was with another outfit. I'm leaning towards the Treadwell Mines railroad, as they seem to be one of the few operating without cabs (Usually Alaskans wanted as much cab as possible, even on the smallest loco). However, it could also be from somewhere outside AK. The name plate on the front is unreadable in the book, but looks like Baldwin's circular style.

In my previous post (viewtopic.php?f=1&t=34920) on Treadwell locomotives I included some photos. I've seen photos of three different units there, one with a flat-topped saddle tank, one with a relatively smooth curved tank, and one with a curved tank and more "stuff" sticking out of it (sand domes etc). From my research, Treadwell had between 3-5 steam locos (one or two may have been compressed air). Two steam and one pneumatic were Baldwins. Anecdotally, one was a Davenport which was moved to Funter Bay and which I wrote about here: http://saveitforparts.wordpress.com/201 ... -railroad/

I have yet to find a photo specifically showing the Davenport at Treadwell, I'm still looking for anything I can find on that one in addition to the two above!

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Lesser Known and Obscure Railroads of Alaska

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