Train Engine 556

Train Engine five fifty-six is a massive black steam locomotive resting on a short stretch of track. Built in nineteen forty-three, this workhorse pulled heavy freight across the Alaska Railroad during the rush of the Second World War. When the tracks were being cleared for newer diesel engines in the fifties, the railroad gifted the machine to the city of Anchorage. It sat for decades in a park, slowly rusting, until local volunteers spent years meticulously stripping and repainting every inch of steel.