Mile 132 Chitina

Chitina was the major intermediate station on the CR&NW and was meant to be the junction with a continuation of the main line up the Copper River to Fairbanks and Eagle, which was never built and probably never seriously contemplated. It was a commercial center for the surrounding area and an outfitting point for expeditions farther north up the Copper River. A road connected it with Fairbanks and Valdez. Native people in the area were able to find employment with the railroad until it closed.

I found an early drawing of the Chitina townsite with two later CR&NW routes drawn in:

The route drawn in black was a balloon track that presumably served as a way to reverse locos and plows at this point. In addition, a switchback route in brown is shown over the low mountain spur in order to reach the Copper River trestle at Chitina for construction before the tunnel was completed.

Here is a photo which is described as being the first train to arrive in Chitina. There is an interesting collection of equipment, including several outfit cars, a caboose, two of the Western 12-yard dumps, and one of the 100-class 2-6-0s.

Here is a somewhat later photo showing the snowshed leading to the tunnel drawn on the map above. The snowshed may have been shortened soon after construction was completed.

A view from around 1912 shows the shorter snowshed, looking from the town toward the tunnel:

Here is a closer view of the tunnel and snowshed:

Here is an early panorama view looking southwest from a mountainside across Trout Lake in the map above.

Visible are a large station, a freight house, and a water tank. Here is a closer view of the station, freight house, and water tank:

Here are views of the station itself. The first shows the rear of the station as seen from the town:

Here is the north end of the depot showing the end of a southbound train:

Here is a view looking at an eastbound train in the station. The inscription says it's an inspection train for the Alaska Engineering Commission as part of its 1914 investigation. The water tank and part of a cattle chute are visible. The chute was probably used for loading horses onto and from boxcars.

The loco is one of the three 2-6-0s in the 100 class. Here is a construction-era view of Chitina's main street viewed from the station, showing two hotels and some other businesses:

This video gives a very brief glimpse of an early hi-rail bus at Chitina. While the description of the video gives its time frame as 1928 to 1932, this document says the service began after 1938 as a replacement for the railroad. This seems more credible, since a rail-mounted vehicle operating on an active railroad without a dispatcher's control is an invitation to disaster.

Although the video shows the auto-railer being put on the track in Chitina itself, if it was meant to run to McCarthy-Kennicott, this probably wouldn't have been possible after the winter of 1938-39, since the bridge over the Copper River at mile 133 would have washed out then. The document linked above says the auto-railer was taken across the river and probably connected with the cable tram to Chitina after that.

The auto-railer itself has survived to be preserved at the Museum of Alaska Transportation & Industry in Wasilla:

It doesn't appear that much is left of the railroad in Chitina. Here are two photos of what is described as a restored railroad bunkhouse, now a bed and breakfast. I haven't been able to locate it in construction era photos, so I'm assuming it's a later addition to the railroad facilities:


Here is a decaying CR&NW boxcar:

As always, insights and information from visitors are most welcome. There is a great deal I don't know about the railroad here.