Alaskan Alco?

While the Alaska Railroad’s one time Alco fleet is long relegated to the history books with the last MRS1s leaving the roster in 1984, there is one Alco (sort of) still plying the rails in 49th state. This little unnumbered unit was working for Flint Hills Resources in Anchorage at the time as the only industrial locomotive in the state and the only non-ARR owned unit excepting the US Air Force owned units at Eielson and Clear AFBs. But by this late date this little switcher was far from a true Alco anymore having been gutted and completely rebuilt into a remote control unit with a Caterpillar engine by Chattahoochee Locomotive Works around 2002. From what I can discern this she was originally an Alco S4 built. August 1952 as South Buffalo 99, and Bethlehem Steel later sold her to the Laurinburg and Southern Railroad where she became their number 112 before being rebuilt. The unit was originally purchased by Oklahoma based Williams Alaska Petroleum that at the time owned the big (and now closed and demolished) North Pole Refinery, a 3% interest in the Trans Alaska Pipeline, the 580,000 bbl tank farm in Anchorage, and the 22,500 bbl jet fuel terminal at Fairbanks International Airport. At the time the Anchorage Terminal was massively expanding including a three track balloon loop and twin unloading racks, and the future looked bright when Flint Hills Resources purchased Williams’ assets in 2004. With an average of 90 tank cars a day arriving from the north full of Jet Fuel for the airport, naphtha for export, and other refined products for the south central Alaska market this little switcher was kept very busy.

But when it needed service the ARR would haul it the quarter mile over from the port to their locomotive shops where it can be seen inside on Backshop 1 and then being pulled out to the north by a hostler crew on this nice spring day. More than a decade after taking these shots I’m told that this little ‘fake Alco’ is still employed in Anchorage now on its fourth owner since rebuild having been passed from Flint Hills to successors Tesoro and now Marathon. The latter continues to operate the tank farm and rail terminal but now instead of unloading car they actually load tanks with fuel from Anchorage to ship north to Fairbanks for distribution.

Anchorage, Alaska
Friday May 27, 2011

Hostling A Visitor

While the Alaska Railroad’s one time Alco fleet is long relegated to the history books with the last MRS1s leaving the roster in 1984, there is one Alco (sort of) still plying the rails in 49th state. This little unnumbered unit was working for Flint Hills Resources in Anchorage at the time as the only industrial locomotive in the state and the only non-ARR owned unit excepting the US Air Force owned units at Eielson and Clear AFBs. But by this late date this little switcher was far from a true Alco anymore having been gutted and completely rebuilt into a remote control unit with a Caterpillar engine by Chattahoochee Locomotive Works around 2002. From what I can discern this she was originally an Alco S4 built August 1952 as South Buffalo 99, and Bethlehem Steel later sold her to the Laurinburg and Southern Railroad where she became their number 112 before being rebuilt. The unit was originally purchased by Oklahoma based Williams Alaska Petroleum that at the time owned the big (and now closed and demolished) North Pole Refinery, a 3% interest in the Trans Alaska Pipeline, the 580,000 bbl tank farm in Anchorage, and the 22,500 bbl jet fuel terminal at Fairbanks International Airport. At the time the Anchorage Terminal was massively expanding including a three track balloon loop and twin unloading racks, and the future looked bright when Flint Hills Resources purchased Williams’ assets in 2004. With an average of 90 tank cars a day arriving from the north full of Jet Fuel for the airport, naphtha for export, and other refined products for the south central Alaska market this little switcher was kept very busy.

But when it needed service the ARR would haul it the quarter mile over from the port to their locomotive shops where it can be seen inside on Backshop 1 and then being pulled out to the north by a hostler crew on this nice spring day. More than a decade after taking these shots I’m told that this little ‘fake Alco’ is still employed in Anchorage now on its fourth owner since rebuild having been passed from Flint Hills to successors Tesoro and now Marathon. The latter continues to operate the tank farm and rail terminal but now instead of unloading car they actually load tanks with fuel from Anchorage to ship north to Fairbanks for distribution.

Anchorage, Alaska
Friday May 27, 2011