photo by megyn greider 
No. 556
Over a week ago I traveled to Anchorage for a little winter shopping. Along the way I noticed an old train on the side of the road. I HAD to stop. My dad served many years as a train engineer for Norfolk Southern Railways and is now retired. Growing up we always heard stories of how trains work, where they go, and what they haul. Over the years my siblings and I have acquired a small, but notable, collection of memorabilia...most of it is coal and rail spikes. Still, they go great with my camera collection! And so it was on this day (because of Dad) that I stopped and admired No. 556. An American made Baldwin Locomotive built for war use in 1943. The trains were "stripped down" for war action and were nicknamed Gypsy Rose Lee, after the American Burlesque entertainer. How funny. So the story goes...this engine was spared war and sent instead to Alaska. Plowing through a ton of ice and snow, Number 556 carried passengers and freight from Seward through Anchorage and onto Fairbanks. She now resides in downtown Anchorage, acting as part playground and part history.
Over a week ago I traveled to Anchorage for a little winter shopping. Along the way I noticed an old train on the side of the road. I HAD to stop. My dad served many years as a train engineer for Norfolk Southern Railways and is now retired. Growing up we always heard stories of how trains work, where they go, and what they haul. Over the years my siblings and I have acquired a small, but notable, collection of memorabilia...most of it is coal and rail spikes. Still, they go great with my camera collection! And so it was on this day (because of Dad) that I stopped and admired No. 556. An American made Baldwin Locomotive built for war use in 1943. The trains were "stripped down" for war action and were nicknamed Gypsy Rose Lee, after the American Burlesque entertainer. How funny. So the story goes...this engine was spared war and sent instead to Alaska. Plowing through a ton of ice and snow, Number 556 carried passengers and freight from Seward through Anchorage and onto Fairbanks. She now resides in downtown Anchorage, acting as part playground and part history.
2 comments:
I love the pictures and the story. It's really touching and beautiful.
Wow! Traveling with you Rho would be like seeing everything, even the ordinary, in its first and most original state with the tales of years wound around it!
Mrs. Decker :)
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