"One thing that seems to get missed is that the ARR put the track and barge slip at Valdez in service in 1965. It was put in at the location of "old"Valdez, after the 1964 earthquake. It's purpose was to make it easier to bring building materials in, for use in building the "new" Valdez. The slip there was served by the Puget Sound - Alaska Van Lines (Hydro-Trains) barges, from Seattle. PSAVL had seven barges in 1966.(remember it was only in 1963 that the ARR started interchange via Whittier).
"The ARR assigned a small Whiting trackmobile there as a car mover. After the reconstruction of Valdez was done, it was served "as needed". When pipeline construction was started, they used the existing barge slip, and extended the tracks. Valdez was the large storage yard for the pipe, Pipe was also stored at Prudhoe Bay, and Fairbanks. Remember that the pipe for the pipeline had been purchased before final approval of the pipeline, it was stored for a few years before construction started. When construction started, it was moved. The pipe going north on the ARR was loaded on flatcars at Valdez, put on a railbarge, sent to Whittier, and then up the ARR.
"Pipe was in 40' lengths, most pre welded into 80' sections. Welding was done at Valdez. There were also some 60' sections(? not many ?); and some special bends, etc.
"The pipe was loaded on 52' or 60' flatcars, 6 to a car;( 3 high, 2 across). Idler flatcars (50' or longer) were placed between the loads, and at the ends of the loads.
--Don Marenzi, Alaska Railroad historian
"The ARR assigned a small Whiting trackmobile there as a car mover. After the reconstruction of Valdez was done, it was served "as needed". When pipeline construction was started, they used the existing barge slip, and extended the tracks. Valdez was the large storage yard for the pipe, Pipe was also stored at Prudhoe Bay, and Fairbanks. Remember that the pipe for the pipeline had been purchased before final approval of the pipeline, it was stored for a few years before construction started. When construction started, it was moved. The pipe going north on the ARR was loaded on flatcars at Valdez, put on a railbarge, sent to Whittier, and then up the ARR.
"Pipe was in 40' lengths, most pre welded into 80' sections. Welding was done at Valdez. There were also some 60' sections(? not many ?); and some special bends, etc.
"The pipe was loaded on 52' or 60' flatcars, 6 to a car;( 3 high, 2 across). Idler flatcars (50' or longer) were placed between the loads, and at the ends of the loads.
--Don Marenzi, Alaska Railroad historian
"I've found some info on the two engines that were here . Right now the best guess when they arrived is late 1974 or early 1975. No pictures as of yet. However, in going through old boxes we came across some material that identified them as G.E. Locomotive, Diesel Electric 45 Ton Reg. No. 7249 Ser. No.15713 and Reg No. 7324 Ser. No. 15244 (see image below--RS), and shipped from Defense Depot Ogden,Utah, Julian date of 4330. I've also found a few more photos to send. Our photos only seem to go to early '70s, I guess this is because my father and his partners sold to a larger company about June 1974.
"I'm still going through old paper and found some more interesting items - stack of account billing records that are fairly complete spanning time frame of 8/15/66 to 12/23/68. These are from Slim Blood and Sons [my father's company] to The Alaska Railroad. They show date, trip number [starts at 46-N to 126-N] Consignee, Car No., also van numbers W.B. n.o. and dollar amounts. I don't have an accurate total of cars handled but seems to be approximately 250 or so. This may also include some loaded southbound.
"Here's a somewhat random listing of car numbers. It is interesting to note some of the railroads and types of
equipment represented:
GATX 54402
UTLX 51297
TCX 3206
ARR 415
ARR 10817
NP 97804
GN 37503
SP 330016
MILW 66423
PRR 612395
ARCX 2021
AT 66705
UP 112663
ATSF 75924
CNW 39071
SOO 5823
C&O 80565"
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