Walter Strong

 

image 61. Not a pretty picture, but a testament to momentum.
image 62. Not a pretty picture, but a testament to momentum.
image 63. Rube and Goldberg would be proud of this answer to the call of Mother Necessity. The three generator sets in the middle of the flat must be spares. The one connected to the two 55 gallon drums is providing power for the mechanical reefers on the pig train that follows. Connection is made via the extension cords laying on the deck. The scene is looking due East or railroad North in the Anchorage Yard in the early 50s. The old Elmendorf coal fired power plant is on the left and the old yard masters office and dispatch tower are on the right.
image 64. ARR flat 12201 has been rigged with the generator set and electrical cabinets as a temporary power supply for the mechanical reefer pigs which must be new arrivals on the railroad. Troop cars were modified into power cars for this purpose eventually.
image 65. North bound freight at North end of the Anchorage Yard proceeds under the watchful eye of a WWII relic concrete pill box on Elmendorf. The new cars are enjoying a ride on state of the art equipment for auto transport. Some lug nut should be able to tell us what year they are.
image 66. New caboose 1069 brings up the rear of the Fairbanks bound freight. The two re-rail frogs provide a lot of confidence along with the mud ballast.
image 67. ARR 12356 flat in piggy back service, with Alaska Steamship trailers. Imagine the man hours used to set the cribbing and apply all those chain binders for each trailer on train.
image 68. Each flat in the train has a different deck and blocking is not standardized. Just imagine the crew gets to repeat the process for the south bound loading.
image 69. Is this ARR flat 12641? With a 20' Smyth the Smoother Mover container secured with cheese blocks no less. The old Hollywood Apartments above on the bluff overlooking the Anchorage Yard. The Elmendorf power plant looms above at the right.
image 70. Dispatcher? Yard Office? This is near the old scale house in the Anchorage Yard. It is 6:43 RR time and he is radio equipped. The small cylindrical device on the shelf in front of him is a mechanical calendar. All the latest equipment.
image 71. Numbers 71 through 74 depict a derailment not reported in my reference material. The location is at the extreme RR South end of the Anchorage Yard. Notice the new as yet unballasted track panels and switches part of a major rebuild of the Yard. Could this have contributed to the lead unit splitting the switch.
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72. The mud flats and Cook Inlet are on the right. The ABBA set of F units is brand new!

They still have the factory EMD plow and the single level winterization hatch. The hand rails next to the door had been modified raising them to clear the service platforms in the new diesel engine house.
image 73. If you were setting on Ken Brovald's train watching bench in Elderberry Park, this would be the view of the Anchorage Yard throat. The derailment at this location shut down all operations South bound. FP7 1512 and B unit 1503 appear to be on the rails but 1502 on the lead was in a real bind.
image 74. Nose on shot of brand new 1502 shows how lacking the EMD stock plow was. The Railroad subsequently built all the plows for the F fleet in the Anchorage Shop. Notice the extended fuel tank under the trailing B unit. The two flats behind 1512 are a MOW water car and transporter for the cable blade Caterpillar snow fighters.
image 75. Rehabilitation and expansion of the railroad docks in Seward.
image 76. Rehabilitation and expansion of the railroad docks in Seward.
image 77. Rehabilitation and expansion of the railroad docks in Seward.
image 78. Rehabilitation and expansion of the railroad docks in Seward.
image 79. Rehabilitation and expansion of the railroad docks in Seward.
image 80. Rehabilitation and expansion of the railroad docks in Seward.
image 81. Rehabilitation and expansion of the railroad docks in Seward.
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82. Rehabilitation and expansion of the railroad docks in Seward.
image 83. Rehabilitation and expansion of the railroad docks in Seward.
image 84. Views of the ice covered tug SeaWitch with a rail car barge in Whittier after crossing the Gulf of Alaska in early spring.
image 85. Views of the ice covered tug SeaWitch with a rail car barge in Whittier after crossing the Gulf of Alaska in early spring.
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86. Numbers 86 through 89. Of loading foreign cars at the Whittier barge slip on a rainy spring day.

Note all the fallen flags, SOO LINE, ROCK ISLAND, SOUTHERN PACIFIC, BURLINGTON ROUTE and a Canadian Pacific flat under the North West shovel.
image 87. See descrption #86
image 88. See descrption #86
image 89 See descrption #86
image 90. See descrption #86

Special thanks goes to the Walter Strong family for providing these images!
Thanks also to Pat Durand for the extended commentaries.

Page created 3/24/11 and last updated 3/27/11
© 2011 Walter Strong collection unless otherwise noted

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