Alaska Railroad Collection

Physical prints housed at:
Anchorage Museum at Rasmuson Center
Bob and Evangeline Atwood Alaska Resource Center
625 C Street
Anchorage, AK 99501
Phone: 907-929-9235
Fax: 907-929-9233
Email: resourcecenter@anchoragemuseum.org

SCOPE AND CONTENT OF COLLECTIONS

The collection consists of photographic images created by the Alaska Railroad. The majority of the collection focuses on locomotives, bridges, buildings, construction, freight, equipment, passenger services, employees, and track. While the main focus of the collection is the railroad, the photographs often capture details of mid 20th century life in Alaska, as well as images of the Alaskan landscape.
The collection is arranged by subject, alphabetically. The subjects often overlap (i.e. “Derailments” and “Wrecks” share similar material), and therefore the subject index is a useful tool. Locations along the railroad line have a corresponding milepost number with Seward at MP 0 and Fairbanks at 470.3, and list of the mileposts is provided. The Alaska Railroad collection is housed in two filing cabinets. There is an accompanying collection of the Alaska Engineering Commission (which became the Alaska Railroad in 1923). It has the same accession number of B79.2, and houses nearly 2700 photographs relating to the earlier years of the railroad (1915-1923).

Helpful Terms and Abbreviations
AEC Alaskan Engineering Commission, created to build the railroad, in August of 1923, the Commission was abolished and substituted with the “Alaska Railroad”
B & B Bridge and Building
MOW Maintenance of Way
MP Milepost
MP & E Motive Power and Equipment
Piggybacking When the trailer chassis is separated from the tractor and loaded directly onto a railroad flatcar.