Alaska
DHHS Clinic Car digital image ASL-P-143-0731
John - Remember the article I mentioned sometime about the ARR railcar used for a clinic in the summers at villages on the ARR, roughly 1947-1954. Focus of care would have been TB prevention, STDs and other communicable diseases for the BIA as the "Indian Health Service" was not created until 1955. My search started about 10 years ago with an article in a 1967 Alaska Centennial pamphlet published by the Alaska Nurses Association . Prince's "The Alaska RR in Pictures" is mute on the equipment and the operation.
Found it today in the Alaska State digital archives under "Public Health"!!!!, using Ask Jeeves! Google was a bust. Previous searches last summer were without success.
Have you ever seen this before? Not sure of its origins other than a Pullman heavyweight, but obviously streamlined, painted for the Streamliner AuRoRa consist and has a roof antenna.
Not a WWII hospital car from this side view? There appears to be an italicized name ending in "dio" behind the ladder? Background is reminiscent of the structures on the north of the Alaska yards near the engine servicing facilities in Fairbanks. Since the AK NA article described a 5 man crew including an engineer, and the possibility of a trailer car (Power car/stores car?), a GE-44 Ton equivalent and a converted Troop Car might be the balance of the consist? The Army Railway Operating Battalion would still have been in the state when operations started. Pictures of the waterborne clinics are much easier to find.
A recent publication by a Dr. Fortuine and published by the University of Alaska press sponsored by the Commission Officers of the USPHS Foundation proved to be a bust - just mentioned a railcar while the AK NA pamphlet included almost half a chapter. However, the USPHS article did mention 2 medical journals as footnotes and reported from the Governor of Alaska to the Department of the Interior in the early 1950's.
Any thoughts?
- Dan Napoliello 2/8/07
I have some information on the Clinic car.
I believe it is car # A-7, the "Arctic" I think the "dio" is
really a very scrolled tic, and it looks like a c preceding the t. Under the
ladder appears to be a cursive A, and the spacing looks correct. It also
appears to have a number under the first full side window from the end. The
last digit looks to be a 2 or 7 to me.
The car was acquired by the ARR in 1946 to be converted to a baggage car,
but was rebuilt as shown. The car was obtained from the U.S. Bureau of Mines.
Before that it probably started life as a Heavyweight Pullman car. It would
have been used in the lower 48, in a similar capacity as BofM car #5 (at
the museum in Wasilla). The BofM acquired a number of Pullmans to rebuild,
but It could be a very different Pullman from #5.
It went in ARR service in late 1947. I don't know when it was retired or
it's disposition.
That rounded end sure is interesting !!!
I had read/heard of the car, but had never seen a picture of it. Great find
!!!
This type of health car was also used fairly late in Canada: they had medical,
dental and school cars.
- Don Marenzi 2/13/07
The car did not operate on the ARR until 1947 at the earliest. Prior to the first streamlined "AuRoRa" of that time frame there was no "streamlined" equipment on the Alaska Railroad and all passenger cars were painted "Pullman green" with "Dulux gold" lettering.
I have talked to Bob Barrett several times about this car. We have virtually every ARR equipment roster from the forties to the early sixties but this car NEVER shows on any roster we have seen. Likewise, we know of no other photos, plans, or equipment diagrams of the car. I seem to remember a few mentions of annual mileage for the car in annual reports of the ARR but that is about it.
I would guess the origin of the car to be built by Pullman. It was definitely built as a "heavy weight" car with clerestory roof rather that the roof and configuration that appears in the photo. The frame and running gear confirm that much. There is a lot of passenger car information around but I am not familiar with it. At one point I know there was a passenger car topic e-mail list going but it was not through my "dear friends" at Yehoo! If you can find such a list someone might be able to help.
Working from memory and making a big guess here, I assume the car started life as a Bureau of Mines Safety Car. Memory tells me there was one of the cars the ARR got that Bob and I never figured out what became of it. That would be my best guess as to the origin of the car but even that gets complicated as most of the Bureau of Mines cars were built as different orders and were slightly different. I am not aware of any literature on the Bureau of Mines cars that might be helpful.
If I were modeling the car I would start with something like an AHM underframe and go from there.
- John Henderson 2/23/07