NSA and P 2-8-4

In the early 1930s, the Nome, Seattle, Anchorage and Pacific placed an order for 70 2-8-4 Berkshires from Lima Locomotive Works to haul freight trains across the snowy plains of Alaska at high speeds. These were one of the odd looking locomotives on the entire railroad's roster. Normally the headlight would be placed in the center of the smokebox like most NSA&P steamers, but for reasons unknown, these 2-8-4s had their headlights placed on their pilot beams. I guess they were placed there just for better vision or something.

In the 1940s when WWll ended, a few 2-8-4s were transferred to Nome, Alaska to haul express mail trains and freight trains to Senana and across the frozen waters to the peaceful village of Slippery Foot on the "Mountain Pass Route" (the same route Aleu and Balto went on in Balto ll: Wolf Quest). As time went on, the railroad was starting to lose money and the board of directors decided to sell some of their 2-8-4s to other railroads. Some went to the Big City Railroad in Pennsylvania, while others were sold to the Highland Valley Railroad, leaving only 10 Berks on the NSA&P. The last Berkshires were retired in January of 1961 and only 2 survived from the scrapper's torch.

#6604 is one of the last 2 survivors. She is part of the NSA&P's historical collection and is often seen on mainline excursions all over the railroad, such as pulling the first passenger train to run on the Mountain Pass Line since the last regularly scheduled passenger train ran on that line in 1967, which is now owned by the North Pole Railroad.

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