They Share the Rockies; They Share the Appreciation!

There is a train on the left side of the loop at the bottom of this post card. It takes a magnifying glass to see it, but it is there. This loop is part of what helped the Alaska Railroad overcome several obstacles in order to get from Seward to Fairbanks, Alaska in the very early 1900s. Wikipedia tells us that the Alaska Railroad is a Class II railroad that operates freight and passenger trains in the state of Alaska. The railroad's mainline is over 470 miles (760 km) long and runs between Seward on the southern coast and Fairbanks, near the center of the state and the Arctic Circle, passing through Anchorage and Denali National Park. This is the website of the Alaska Railroad, itself: https://www.alaskarailroad.com/corporate/history Here is part of the history one can find there: 1903: Alaska Central Railway (later renamed "The Alaska Railroad") built the first railroad in Alaska. It started in Seward and extended 50 miles north. 1910: Alaska Central Railway reorganized as the Alaska Northern Railway Co., later extending the railroad to Kern Creek - 71 miles from Seward. 1914: The US Congress agrees to fund construction and operation of a railroad from Seward to Fairbanks. Estimated construction cost - $35 million. 1915: Anchorage starts off as a tent town and serves as a railroad construction community along Ship Creek. Railroad headquarters are moved here from Seward. 1923: President Warren G. Harding drives the golden spike in the ground at Nenana, marking the completion of the Alaska Railroad. On his return trip to San Francisco, President Harding died. 1930: With a combined population of just 5,400 people, Seward, Anchorage, and Fairbanks - the only sizable towns along the rail belt - are unable to generate enough business to make the railroad profitable. 1938: Under the management of Col. Otto F. Ohlson, the Alaska Railroad operates its first profitable year. 1940-43: World War II brings large profits from hauling military and civilian supplies and materials. 1943: Two tunnels are built through the Chugach Mountains to allow rail access to Whittier, a military port and fuel depot necessary to support the war effort. A new Anchorage passenger depot is completed in December. 1944: Whittier opens as a second railroad port. Diesel locomotives begin to replace steam engines, a process completed in 1966 when the last steam engine was sold. 1947: The inaugural run of the Aurora, a blue and gold steamliner, marks a new level of passenger service between Anchorage and Fairbanks.

The post card was published by the H.H. Tammen Company out of Denver, Colorado. Both states have a lot of Rocky Mountain train tracks, so I can see why a Denver company could appreciate what an Alaskan railroad was able to accomplish. The H. H. Tammen Company was a novelty dealer and important publisher of national view-cards and Western themes in continuous tone and halftone lithography. Their logo does not appear on all their cards but other graphic elements are often remain the same. H. H. Tammen (1856-1924) Harry Heye Tammen was born in Baltimore, Maryland on March 6, 1856, the son of a German immigrant pharmacist. He attended Knapps Academy in Baltimore, then worked in Philadelphia before moving to Denver in 1880. With his partner Charles A. Stuart he worked as a Denver bartender in 1880, and in 1881 they established the firm of H.H. Tammen & Co. (which in 1896 became the H.H. Tammen Curio Co., with partners Carl Litzenberger and Joseph Cox ) in Denver, Colorado. In 1895 Tammen formed a partnership with F.G. Bonfils (whom he had met at the Chicago World's Fair) and they became co-owners and co-editors of the Denver Post. Their publishing business flourished, and Tammen's business successes made him a wealthy man. In 1917 Buffalo Bill Cody happened to die while in Denver, and Tammen (one of the city's biggest boosters) offered Cody's widow $10,000 if she would allow Cody to be buried in Denver; she accepted, and the ensuing funeral procession drew 50,000 people. He established the H.H. Tammen Trust in 1924, providing essential health care for children of families who cannot afford to pay. Tammen died July 19, 1924. The H.H. Tammen Curio Co. was in business until 1953, and possibly as late as 1962.

Today in history: the picture on this post card's date

The engine on the front of this post card is an EMD FP7A. The EMD means that it was manufactured by the Electro-Motive Division of General Motors. The FP7A is the model of engine. The FP7A model was designed to be a diesel engine that carried a steam generator as part of the cab. This allowed the engine to pull and heat passenger trains. This model was also an improvement over the previous EMD E-units because the company changed the wheel configuration to give the engine better traction pulling up grades. The engine was rated for 1,500 horsepower.

The company started building the FP7A units in June of 1949 and the final one rolled out of the factory in December of 1953 after about 380 of these engines were built. This particular engine on the post card was one of the last ones. It was built in December of 1953 as part of order number 3169-A2. Its serial number is 19065. Originally built for the Alaskan Railroad as number 1512, this picture shows it as part of the Wyoming & Colorado Railroad on September 23, 1989 – 28 years ago today and almost 64 years after it rolled into service.

I have looked on the internet and I can find a picture of the same engine in service. The picture is dated January 1, 1996. The engine was serving the Wyoming Scenic Railroad in that picture. Let’s hope that it has had a long and fruitful life and that someone is still enjoying it today.

I found this information about the publishing company on their website: Founded in 1964 by the late Carl H. Sturner, Audio-Visual Designs has been a leader in providing high quality railroad images products for over 4 decades. The business was originally located in Earlton, NY. The name was derived by the products sold at the time – audio soundtracks of trains well as visual items (post cards, books, & calendars). The first All Pennsy Calendar was published in 1966 and for many years used exclusively the photos of Don Wood, a long time friend of Carl's. In the late 80's, Carl started showcasing other photographer's work as well.

Railroad Christmas cards were added to the line of products early on and with a few exceptions have featured real photos of trains in action. Three railroad books have been published by Audio-Visual Designs: I Remember Pennsy, Locomotives in My Life, and The Unique New York and Long Branch: all of which were projects worked on by Carl and Mr. Wood. Audio-Visual Designs has also published books for other non-railroad related organizations. By the time of his untimely passing in 1995, Carl had grown Audio-Visual Designs into an established icon in the railfan community - providing an enjoyable aspect of both the railfanning and model railroading hobbies. We serve many excursion railroads, museums, and hobby shops with stock post card images, greeting cards, custom products and the All Pennsy Calendar.