Alaskan Relics The United States Army's Ft. Richardson that abuts the city of Anchorage is laced with a virtual maze of rail lines. While nearly all of them now sit unused and derelict, the miles and miles of trackage harkens to a day when the US's fighting forces relied on rail for virtually everything in their supply chain. While the Army is still a major rail customer of the ARRC, most movements now originate or terminate at the Port of Anchorage and very little traffic moves on to the Army's own trackage. However, here on a lonely siding sits a 1943 vintage former troop sleeper that was converted to a boxcar in 1948 and provided yeoman freight service on the ARR for decades. While most have been scrapped a few still reside on the ARR's roster in MofW service, though having long since had their friction bearing trucks swapped out for rollers. Not this old warrior, though. She might just be the last one that still features her original running gear since she has long since left the ownership of the ARR and is now property of the US Government serving as a material storage car...though it is doubtful anyone in the Army knows she even exists, because most assuredly if they did they would promptly send her to the scrap heap. Fort Richardson |
