Recently three ex-ARR box cars came up for sale on the internet. I made contact with the owner to obtain permission to take some photos and a couple of videos to document what cars exist after retirement from the ARR. You would be surprised what's out there.  

Located way up the Hillside area of Anchorage box cars 10325 and 11753 and outfit car 1302 reside in a semi-undeveloped lot in a quiet part of the Hillside. All three cars were converted WWII Pullman Standard Troop Sleepers which the ARR hand many that were surplussed from the U.S. Army after the end of WWII. Over 2,000 troop sleepers and 400 plus kitchen cars were built. I've been told the ARR had the most surplussed troop cars out of every U.S. railroad.  

10325 has the old arched lettering and was mostly intact from it's conversion minus the roof walk being removed. I have included the data sheet in a photo. Inside the car it looks like it served as a livestock barn or sorts. Sometime in the 1960s the McKinley Park Route logo was put on many box cars and continued into the 1970s so seeing a car with arched lettering is uncommon.   

11753 was converted to a refrigerated box car in 1948,  11xxx series box cars were refrigerated and had four inch think insulation lined with oak, and most had 8' plug door on one side for loading and the standard 4' reefer door on the other. A few were painted yellow, though the exact number is unknown to me. Both sleepers and kitchens were converted to reefers. We can see inside the oak lining, the door sizes and other reefer details. From what I saw in person, it looked like this car retained it's roof walk. There are very few examples of converted reefer cars left, this is my third one that I have personally located.  

1302 is an outfit car and from what retired MOW foreman Rick Legget says if he remembers correctly 1302 was the only car rehabbed by B&B. I don't know when, but I did see a "Shopped" date of 1991.  1302 was a troop sleeper and retained it's diaphragm ends after conversion. The ARR had many outfit cars rebuilt from troop sleepers and kitchens to be used by MOW crews working away from the primitive road system of the day, and scarce towns along the railbelt. This car had provisions for a forced air heater instead of the old oil fired stoves, a kitchen, and a bathroom. Most of the windows were gone and years of open weather have taken a toll.    

Some of the photos show some writing that I found on the walls, I did find Bill Hightower's name along with the date of 1990 for a shop date.

A couple of hours were spent taking photos and video of these cars to help preserve the history of railroading in Alaska, a rewarding feeling and time well spent