I have several photos that I have made of USA #1829, a GP-7L that was possibly on the Alaska Railroad from 1960 to 1962. It is currently in service at the Tennessee Valley Railroad Museum in Chattanooga, TN., and is a regular service locomotive. It came to TVRM in 1993 from the Holston Army Ammunition Plant in Kingsport, TN. with #1824 and #1832.

I only took two of the photos, the one inside the shop, and the one where it shows just the back of it. The others came off the internet, except the one of it on the turntable. That one came from Matt Meadows. That is me running the table. This unit was never chop nosed, still has the Association of American Railroads Switcher trucks and smaller fuel tank from the GP-7L.

Additional remarks by Pat Durand

We now know where 1829 is along with the two other missing numbers in the sequence of numbers that came to Alaska in the 60's.

The only reference to 1869 I can find anywhere is the unsourced reference in the rosters that says it was damaged in a wreck. Maybe it was damaged to Alaska and returned to the Army/Navy depot.

For all three numbers to transfer to the TVM at the same time in the 1990's would lead one to believe they were together in storage all those years.

And a little more speculation:

Subject: Why you will never get a picture of Alaska Railroad 1829

On 5/2/10 Don Walker wrote:

USA GP-7 L 1829 is in Chattanooga Tennessee, at Tennessee Valley Railroad Musuem. As you can see it still is in it's as built configuration, leading me to believe it never made it to Alaska. I rode on this loco in the mid-90's on a TVRM excursion. 25 years after riding on one of it's siblings at Eielson AFB in the early '70s.

On 5/6/10 Don Marenzi replied:

The 1829 is interesting. If I recall correctly, it was supposed to be one of the twelve GP-7's that were to come to the ARR in 1960, but it had wreck damage or mechanical issues. Another unit was substituted. I don't know if the 1829 actually made it to the ARR, or which unit was it's replacement.

The Army had 20 GP-7's built in 1951, to be used in switching bases stateside. The eight that didn't come to the ARR stayed at various bases, mostly in the South/East. 1829 served at least part of this time at the Holston Army Ammunition plant in Tennessee. Shooting from memory again (always dangerous), I think a few of these stateside Army GP's were leased to the Clinchfield Railroad in the 1960's/early 70's. Not sure if 1829 was one that got leased to the CRR.