Engine No. 557 restoration steams ahead

WASILLA — Volunteers with Engine 557 Restoration Company rolled ever closer to their funding goal with a $10,000 grant from the Matanuska Electric Association Charitable Foundation’s “Operation Roundup” program.

The non-profit is more than half-way through a four-year effort to restore the Alaska Railroad’s last steam locomotive, according to Patrick Durand, Restoration Company President and Project Manager.

He said the effort is the most technically complex historic rail restoration project ever undertaken in Alaska.

Since Durand and other volunteers worked to establish the non-profit Engine 557 Restoration Company in 2012, volunteers have donated more than 15,000 hours of labor to restore Engine 557 at a Wasilla workshop.

When complete, the historic engine will be used for special weekly excursions from Anchorage and in special operations to other communities on the Alaska Railroad, Durand said.

To support the project, $100 raffle tickets also are being sold. The drawing is on May 1, or after all of the tickets are sold.

Tickets may be purchased from a 557 representative, or by contacting Durand at 350-4340, or sewtrain557@gmail.com.

For more information visit 557alaskarails.org.