Tourist car at Anchorage, Alaska 1916. First observation Alaska Railroad car at Anchorage.
Colonel Mears ordered this car built on a Panama flat to duplicate one he had built in Panama. They called it the "Rubber Necker" car and was used for dignitaries and as rolling stadium seats for baseball games. There are photos of it at the Potter hay fields where the train with excursion flats with benches, would set on the siding while railroad baseball teams from South to Seward would play those from Potter North. The canvas weather curtains would certainly be handy in both Panama and Alaska. One of the flats with railing and benches can be seen behind the rubber necker. The log building in foreground was the first "station" in Anchorage. Note the car numbers 708 and 807 - Patrick Durand |
