Equipment: The 2-6-0s

The CR&NW had three Alco 2-6-0s built about 1907, numbered 100-102. They were the smallest modern locos on the railroad and seem mostly to have been used on construction trains, passenger excursions, specials, and rotary outfits. Almost no photos show them on the line beyond Chitina. The first photo is of a very early excursion in Cordova in 1909, clearly not yet converted to oil:

Here is 102 about 1911 in snowy conditions with canvas stretched over the cab and tender:

An early photo of one at Bridge 27A. Given its condition and the low maintenance apparent in later photos, it's probably almost new here, and the train may be made up for the camera:

One of the class on the inspection train carrying then-Lieutenant Frederick Mears on a 1914 Alaska Engineering Commission inspection of the CR&NW:

One of the class pulling the first train into Chitina in 1910. It looks like it is still a coal burner at this time.

Here is Loco 101 at the Bridge 49 construction camp in 1910, also still a coal burner:

Here is Loco 101, according to the caption in use by the US Army in Cordova following abandonment:

However, the last car in the train appears to be the CR&NW's "dining car", which makes me wonder if it is actually a late-period excursion run in connection with a steamship arrival in Cordova.

The 2-6-0s turned up frequently on rotary outfits; the standard assignment was four locos, with the 2-8-2s apparently least used in this service. The first two locos on this outfit appear to be 2-6-0s:

The loco in the foreground is a 2-6-0:

Regarding disposition, as I mentioned earlier with the 2-8-0s, the Alaska Rails site has pointed out that what we have for the CR&NW is largely misinformation. Lone Janson says that at least one, and possibly all three, of the 2-6-0s went to the Alaska Railroad, but the Alaska Rails roster of ARR steam locos does not list any from the CR&NW. While the ARR had many 2-6-0s, these came from the Panama Canal via the AEC, and the ARR was beginning to scrap them when the CR&NW put its locos on the market in 1938. It did not take any from the CR&NW.

For anyone who might consider modeling the CR&NW or some of its equipment, the Bachmann HO 2-6-0 is reasonably close to the CR&NW locos.