Climax Class A - #313 - 36 inch Gauge - Locomotive

Howdy:

If you haven't heard, the Corry R.A.I.L.S. group from Corry, PA has successfully recovered the last remaining, mostly intact, 118 year old, Climax Class A - #313 geared locomotive from Alaska and is sending it back to Corry, PA for hopefully a full operational restoration. The locomotive was constructed by Climax and sent to Nome, Alaska and operated in the gold mining areas north of Nome during the early 1900's. Fortunately, the locomotive was safely stored in the Nome area after operations ceased and was moved to the Anchorage area by Keith Christenson in 1980. Unfortunately, Mr. Christenson passed away in 2014, prior to his dream of restoring the locomotive.

The Corry R.A.I.L.S group, with assistance from the ARR #557 Restoration Company and other local Alaska vendors, successfully inventoried and repackaged all the parts and pieces of #313 and it is now enroute back to Pennsylvania having completed the first portion of the trip via a barge trip between Anchorage and Seattle.

If you got any spare change laying around or recently won the Lottery; the Corry R.A.I.L.S. group would be appreciative of any financial support they could get. Same goes for the ARR #557 Restoration Company.

For more information take a look at the Corry R.A.I.L.S website. There is also an article in the Trains Magazine News Wire.

Dougwood1954
Anchorage, AK