Eielson Switcher

This is one of the least photographed geeps in all the land. For one it is the most northerly based locomotive on the continent, consigned to permanent duty at Eielson Air Force Base 26 miles southeast of Fairbanks....truly the very end of the line and as far as you can get by rail from Anchorage. Second, Eielson, home of the 354th Fighter Wing, is strictly off limits to civilian personnel, and only as an employee of the railroad was I able to access it.

The base is home to a small rail network to support Air Force operations and formerly it handled jet fuel in tank cars for the air craft based there. While the rail unloading racks are still present and maintained in state of readiness, moving fuel by rail from Anchorage is strictly a back op option to the local supply from the Petro Star refinery in North Pole, Alaska.

The main use of the railroad these days is to switch coal hoppers for unloading at the base power and steam plant. The little 25MW plant seen here in the background was built in 1952 and burns coal mined in Healy and transported hear by way of the ARRC. To learn a little more here is an article on the plant with some photos:.

4902 is one of two identically painted GP40-2s both rebuilt from straight GP40s in 1993. This unit was built in December 1966 for the Atlantic Coast Line Railroad as their number 928 and would pass to SCL, SBD, and CSXT before being retired and rebuilt.

Eielson, Alaska
Friday July 9, 2010

Photo courtesy of Dave Blazejewski