Anchorage Depot - Anchorage, Alaska
N 61° 13.295 W 149° 53.411
6V E 344807 N 6790900
A handsome white building located in Alaska's largest city.
Waymark Code: WM3HTX
Location: Alaska, United States
Date Posted: 04/08/2008
Views: 55
The Anchorage passenger depot was completed in December, 1943. Rebuilt and improved in 1997, the first floor is designated for passenger ticketing and tour information, and has historical photos of the Railroad's development dating back to 1914 when the construction of the Alaska Railroad began.
The Alaska Railroad [from the sign at the front door to the depot]
Steel gangs, railroad crews, gandy dancers, laborers, surveyors, engineers, explosives experts, military men, and the federal government joined forces to build a railroad in 1915 that is exceptional in the history of the United States. Apart from the Panama Railway, the Alaska Railroad was the only railroad ever built, owned, and operated by the United States government.
The laying of the steel tracks which snake through the formidable wilderness of the subarctic presented logistical nightmares. Yet in 1923, eight years after construction began, the rails were joined from north to south and the great project was finished. Trains with cargoes of passengers, mail, freight, coal, and gold began to roll up and down the line. Tracks stretched from Seward on the coast of the Pacific Ocean along Turnagain Arm of Cook Inlet across Potter Marsh over Ship Creek past the frontier town of Anchorage and through the Nenana River Valley into the interior gold rush town of Fairbanks for a total of 478 miles of track.
Is the station/depot currently used for railroad purposes?: Yes
Is the station/depot open to the public?: Yes
If the station/depot is not being used for railroad purposes, what is it currently used for?:
n/a
What rail lines does/did the station/depot serve?: The Alaska Railroad
Station/Depot Web Site: [Web Link]
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Visit Instructions:
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