Tanana Valley Railroad

From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

The Tanana Valley Railroad was a narrow-gauge railroad that operated in the Tanana Valley of Alaska from 1905 to about 1917, when it was purchased by the government and began to be converted to standard gauge as the Chatanika Branch of the Alaska Engineering Commission Railroad, which became the Alaska Railroad in 1923. The TVRR originated as the Tanana Mines Railway in 1905 and was renamed the Tanana Valley Railroad in 1907.

In 1922, the railroad's Engine No. 1, the first steam locomotive in Fairbanks and the Yukon Territory, was retired. Its restoration was begun in 1997 and completed in 2000. A small museum for the engine was built in 2005 in Pioneer Park.