Alaska Railroad No. 551 as of May 1949

Alaska Railroad No. 551 was one of twelve S-160 class GI Consolidations to arrive in Alaska starting in 1943. Completed by Baldwin in June 1943 as C/N 69637, she became the U.S. Army Transportation Corp. No. 2379. There were 2210 of these 2-8-0 Connies built between 1942 and 1944 to become the largest single class of steam locomotives ever constructed.

No. 551 is modeled as appearing in 1949 passenger service . She worked over the entire length of the Alaska Railroad in mixed service until retired in 1956. She was eventually sent to scrap.

Among her 12 sisters, there were a variety of modifications and appliances unique to each locomotive. Depending on type of service and date, each locomotive also changed over the years. All 12 units were Alaskanized with side mount bells on the left side of the smoke box just behind the stack. This bell remained on 551 through out her years of service.

As of the date modeled, 551 has no plow or flanger attachment and is in passenger service and carries the number 5 indicating she is on the South bound Fairbanks passenger train.

The high sideboards on the tender are left over from the time this tender was attached to one of the rotary snow plows. Heavy hinges supported clam shell doors that covered the coal bunker when it was in snow service. A larger tender went behind the rotary. The snow doors were removed from the original tender and it began a rotation of service behind more than one of the GI Consolidations.

The high coal bunker created a problem when the fireman needed to move from the cab to the top of the tender. The cab overhang created a close clearance that was deemed unsafe. The solution unique to 551 was a 10 inch bump up in the center rear of the cab roof overhang.

The cabs were very cramped as built for European clearance standards. 551 retained its original width but did have the new higher arched roof that raised it about four inches in the middle. In the process the cab roof hatch was made to hinge up replacing the sliders that did not work in the winter.

In passenger service, a steam heat line extended out the rear of the tender. This model was completed on commission in June 2005 by Pat Durand