Some steam locomotives enjoy extended lives in museums or tourist railroads. I enjoy retirement while celebrating the history of The Alaska Railroad Corp. Visitors take my photo several times a day and I do like posing just for them. Volunteers keep me presentable with fresh paint, spit, polish and elbow grease. They keep coming back year after year because they believe I "talk to them". If you can hear a whistle blow, you can hear me too.

My life began at the Davenport Locomotive Works, in Davenport, Ohio back in 1907. There were so many Davenports that they just gave us builders numbers. I still wear #763 on the side of my smoke box. You can just call me Dave. I was delivered as a small "narrow gauge" locomotive with my wheels spaced just 36 inches between the rails. My coal bunker is inside the cab and the water tank rides above my boiler. While I may be a Dinky, I am powerful, with all my weight on drivers. The United States Government put me to work in the giant Calebra Cut in the Panama Canal. Chugging about day and night pulling dump cars loaded with rock. Giant steam shovels and hundreds of my kin moved mountains. Lt. Fredrick Mears was in charge of building Panama Railroads in support of the Canal Project. Finally in 1914 ships could sail from the Gulf of Mexico, across the isthmus of Panama and out into the Pacific Ocean. After a job well done, locomotive fires were pulled and we were sent into hot, humid tropical jungle for storage.

The Alaska Engineering Commission was charged with building a railroad in Alaska. My old boss, Col. Fredrick Mears was put in charge and he did not forget the faithful locomotives stored in Panama. In 1915 he shipped us from the Panamanian broiler up to the Alaskan ice box to help build 473 miles of railroad from Seward to Fairbanks. Our ship landed at the mouth of Ship Creek in a brand new railroad town on Cook Inlet which had just been named Anchorage. I went right to work with the dump cars and steam shovel, again moving mountains. The larger 200 class and 600 class Panama locomotives were broad gauge, measuring 5 Foot between the rails. They all received new wide tires on their drivers which converted them to "standard gauge" of 4' 8 1/2" to operate on the Alaska Railroad. These locomotives were the 2-6-0 Moguls and served the railroad during construction and for many years after.

President Warren G. Harding, got to pull the throttle on Mogul #601 when he came to Alaska in 1923 to drive the "Gold Spike" in ceremonies at Nenana, Alaska. On completion of construction there was no need for us 3 foot narrow gauge dinkys except on the Moose Creek coal branch and some of my Baldwin cousins got that job. So back to the storage line for ol' Dave.

Steam engines depend on a lot of people in order to get their work done. Waking up from a rest, the Fireman or Hostler needs to get the water up to proper level in the boiler. Then rake the fire in the firebox and remove any clinkers before adding coal to our fire. Only with a hot fire can we make enough steam to do real work. It will take a few hours to get up steam if the boiler was cold, so grab the oil can and we will do a "walk around". Check the lubricator and top it off with Steam Cylinder Oil. Put some bearing oil in the valve gear cups, a little more on the cross head guides and Axle journals. Keep an eye out for any loose bolts, pipe fittings and hoses. When the safety valve releases steam, we are ready to move out of the engine facility and on to the line. The regular train crew of Engineer, Fireman and Conductor and Brakemen take over and connect to the train.

When locomotives are out of steam and cold they need help moving around the Round House. A short locomotive called a Yard Goat must be able to fit on the turn table bridge along with the cold locomotive when moving in or out of the Round House. In 1930 the Anchorage Shops converted me to standard gauge, so I became Yard Goat #6. Ol' Dave is back to work again! Now that I could get around the yard, I got to work with the big locomotives. There were three Mikes, so we just called em by the numbers 701, 702 or 703. They handled the biggest of trains both freight and passengers. While setting in the Round House, I heard a lot of gossip, some tall stories, real whoppers and amazing true stories.

Snow slides between Seward and Anchorage got so deep that the Rotary Snow Plow could only work through them after hundreds of men hand shoveled the snow down to 13 ft deep. The rotary would make a cut just wide enough for the train and then another avalanche would bury the tracks again. When a steam ship came into Seward the train would take passengers to the first blockage. Passengers would then carry their baggage over the avalanche zone to another train on the other side of the slide and continue their train trip to Anchorage.

I saw my first diesel electric Locomotives when #1000 and 1001 arrived in Anchorage for training in 1944. Brand new from American Locomotive Co. the RS-1 locos were purchased for use through the two long tunnels on the new Whittier Branch Line. Crews on the steamers complained about all the smoke in the tunnels and soon more ALCO locomotives arrived to help. 1000 men from United States Army 714th Military Railway Operating Battalion came to operate the Railroad during World War II.

The 550 Class S-160 series Consolidations arrived in 1944. Coal fired locomotives with 2-8-0 wheel arrangement, they were known as Connies for short. Built for the U.S. Army Transportation Corp, to narrow European standards the engineer and fireman could not see around a box car or coach right behind the engine. There were over 2100 Connies shipped off to Europe and Asia during the war and many stayed on to serve their adopted countries in peace. Only 12 came to Alaska but they served well even after the diesels took over regular service. The Tanana and Nenana Rivers often flooded at the railroad town of Nenana. Diesel/electric locomotives with electric traction motors could not get their feet wet for fear of shorting out in the water. locomotives 557 and 556 got the assignment to meet the north and south bound trains on either side of the flood waters and replace the diesel locomotives for the trip through the Nenana floods. Those proud steamers were the last in regular service while wading in water right up to the bottom of the firebox.

About that time I was retired, again, replaced by #51, a small four wheel General Electric diesel switcher. The railroad was taking on a new image with Blue and Gold paint on all the diesel locomotives and passenger cars. New Streamliner passenger service was planned between Anchorage and Fairbanks. A competition was held in the Railbelt communities to name the new train. The winning entry was "AuRoRa" . I was pulled over to the engine house, got new pilot beams, a boiler check, a coat of paint, a new bell and a lot of attention. With a fire in my belly and a full head of steam the crew ran me back and forth and declared me fit for service. Out of retirement again, but for what service? Then they changed my number from #6 to #1, a real honor. Come to find out I had seniority on the railroad, being the oldest operational standard gauge locomotive. The big day came, October 18, 1947 was Alaska Day, when they coupled me up to some canteen cars and whistled off toward the Anchorage Depot where the new streamliner AuRoRa Passenger train stood on track two. The crew rang my bell, tooted my whistle with one long blast and rolled me right up on track one. When I was alongside the AuRoRa all the flash bulbs went off! After the speeches were done, Dignitaries and special guests boarded the AuRoRa, for the inaugural run to Mt. McKinley Park. Blat Blat on the diesel horn and they were gone at 10 AM. Then came the best part of my day, as all the kids left on the platform got to ride back and forth on my little train for the rest of the afternoon.

I thought for sure my days were done when on a cold February day in 1948 I was loaded on a truck. The Kiwanis club had laid track down the middle of 5th Avenue from C street to L street. The Moose Gooser Railroad was operated from 7 am to 11 pm each day of the 1948 Fur Rendezvous. All 2400 school children got free rides, and the fare was 10 cents for kids and 25 cents for adults. What a hoot or should I say Toot Toot! My last revenue runs were in Passenger Service! Once again it was off to the storage track with a cold boiler. Talk about depression, after all that action.

In 1952 the railroad was just completing a 5 year renovation of the entire Alaska Railroad system. The contractors working for the railroad thought they needed to do something really special for the dedication ceremony. So they built a nice stone pedestal across the street from the Anchorage Depot and insisted that Davenport #1 take the position of honor. Draped under a tarp atop the pedestal, with a locomotive engineer at the controls, a smoke bomb was lit in my fire box. A crane lifted the tarp and I was revealed, bell ringing with white smoke pouring from my stack. Flash bulbs again.

Just when I thought life was past and I was feeling lonely, tourist began to drop by and take my picture. After all I was #1. I had a good vantage point from which to see all the train traffic. #557 was rewarded for her flood duties by being assigned the Fair Passenger Special going to the Alaska State Fair in Palmer. The new EMD Streamlined 1500 series F7 units arrived and took over regular passenger trains. By 1956 all my other steamer buddies from the Round House days were gone. The Mountains 4-8-2 steamers, I knew as the McKinley Brothers, #801 and #802 were the largest locomotives to ever operate on the Alaska Railroad, both gone to scrap. The graceful Pacifics, 4-6-2, #901 and #902 , both fast ladies who drew passenger trains, were now gone. All the 550 class GI Connies were destined for scrap, when #556 was hauled up to the Delaney Park Strip. She still entertains people in the park. All her sisters but for one went to scrap. All the unused coaling stations and water towers were removed to mark the end of the Steam Era. A generous Hobo, Monte Holm, who made it big in the recycling business purchased #557 for scrap. Instead of cutting her up, she was installed in his personal museum in Moses Lake, Washington where you could visit with the Fair Queen who waded the flood waters. On his passing some of Monte’s friends purchased No. 557 and sent her back to Alaska where she will steam again.

At first those diesels on parade looked all alike and sounded alike. GP7, GP30, GP38, GP49 all General Purpose Diesel Electric Locomotives. They arrived in Black and Yellow paint schemes and later in Blue and Gold. Built by Electro Motive Division they varied in horsepower as indicated by their assigned numbers. They had their troubles with snow too, and they never have learned how to wade in water. They are capable of pulling 80 car coal trains, 90 car oil trains and the ever present gravel trains that pass my inspection each day. Starting a new century of service, the Alaska Railroad now calls on the SD70 MAC locomotives. Built by EMD and equipped with GPS and all the latest PTC gizmos they easily take on the most severe tasks in both passenger and freight service. 4000 class Locomotives with 12 wheels on the rail, weigh 210 tons compared to my 6 tons. They weigh less than Steamers #801 and #802 but pull four times as much tonnage. I am taking more interest in the diesels every day. They have been named for communities along the railbelt such as "Spirit of Anchorage" The latest "Big Macs" are the 4300 class with special HEP (Head End Power) to supply heat and air conditioning for passenger trains. They can also divert all that extra power to traction motors for fright service. Where were they when I needed them in Panama for the big dig?

Express trains, Boat trains, Gravel trains, Ski trains, Coal trains, Oil trains and work trains all pass by on a more and more scheduled basis. I expect any day to see commuters coming and going from the depot. I suspect those locomotives are sounding their air horns just to keep me awake! Having passed my 100th birthday, I, David Davenport #763, feel privileged to be one of the survivors representing the heritage of the Alaska Railroad. My seniority is not taken for granted, and I hope to carry #1 for many years. After all, we also serve, who only stand and wait, and watch and listen and tell stories. Toot!

Click here for the Patrick Durand's audio commentary of Just Call Me Dave.