Engine 557 Restoration receives $2,000 grant

The Engine 557 Restoration Company has received a $2,000 competitive grant from the Tom E. Dailey Foundation of Chicago.

Pat Durand, Restoration Company president and project manager, said the funds will assist with major boiler repairs required to return ex-Alaska Railroad steam locomotive number 557 to operation.

“The unexpected boiler repairs extended our restoration schedule by over a year, but the old firebox has now been removed, replacement parts were fabricated by a steam locomotive repair firm in North Carolina, and the new firebox is in the process of being installed,” Durand said.

The non-profit Engine 557 Restoration Company was established in 2012 and has passed the halfway point of a four-year-long major overhaul and restoration of Engine 557.

The Wasilla restoration project is the most complex historic railroad equipment preservation project ever undertaken in Alaska, Durand said.

Financial supporters include the Tom E. Dailey, Rasmuson, Atwood, MEA, and Usibelli Foundations, numerous area businesses and individual donors. Financial support has been supplemented by more than 20,000 hours of volunteer labor and generous in-kind donations from dozens of businesses and individuals throughout Anchorage and the Mat-Su area.

Upon completion, Engine 557 will provide scheduled and special passenger trains on the Alaska Railroad.

For more information, visit 557alaskarails.org.