Welcome to the Farthest-North Publicly-Accessible Large-Scale (1:24 G-scale) Model
Garden Railway in the entire World !
The layout can be seen when the bar is open, 5PM daily.
Tours and demonstrations are sometimes available on Sundays.
Original indoor-outdoor model RR layout: CR&NW Chitina Local Railway, Chitina to McCarthy to Kennecott-Mother Lode & return as of 2001
The original layout was the "Chitina Local" section of the CRNW Railway--Chitina to Kennecott, featuring elements of Chitina; the Copper River steel bridge crossing at MP 132; the Gilahina trestle; McCarthy and Kennecott.
Kennecott was a mill town servicing five mines approximately 4000 feet above the mill along Bonanza Ridge. To this day it remains the richest copper ore ever found in commercial quantities. The CRNW ran the 196 mile line from Kennecott to the port of Cordova from 1911 until abandonment in 1938.
The layout you see is in 1:24 scale. It is run on no particular schedule during the summer months. The tracks and structures are left to winter it out while the rolling stock is brought indoors for winter storage.
Kennecott Copper mill
Ron Simpson designed the model layout. He is pictured here in 1997 with his newly-completed Kennecott mill structure.
Mother Lode (above) &
Kennecott mill site
circa 1920 as a 1:24 scale model can be seen from the bar.
Shown are elements of the 1:24 scale Kennecott mill layout, which is the centerpiece of the original model RR, as built in 2001.
The original line began overhead in the bar, starting at the Chitina RR depot. This is the first part of the layout that is visible as one enters the bar.
BNSF Dash 9s in tandem in the process of being recharged while in place on the overhead line.
From the original steam set-up of the Chitina Local Branch of the Copper River & Northwestern Railway and the White Pass & Yukon Railway to modern diesel engines as represented by the Alaska Railway, the Great Northern, BNSF and much more:
The existing line includes approximately 1500 feet of running track plus 200 feet of sidings. The latest track revision was just west of Cicely Town layout in 2022 to correct some sharp curves and add a much-needed wye to that segment
Drawing is not to scale
The model RR layout extends 280 feet end-to-end, consisting of 1500 feet of mainline track and another 200 feet of sidings.
A line-up of five Great Northern FA-FB units with AKRR SD Mac 70s: This, along with a huge passenger consist that lashes up to these locomotives provides the nucleus for the GREAT NORTHERN MAINLINE, which is in turn a part of the ALaska-CANada-EXtension Railway--ALCANEX.
Our modern fleet of locomotives is dominated by Dash 9 engines, of which the BNSF is a signficant part. But also represented are the Canadian Pacific, Canadian National, & B.C. Rail.
Soon to come: the proposed A2A: Alaska to Alberta Railway that would connect Alaska to stateside. These new engines should come on line in 2024.
We have three NS Dash 9s in storage in Oregon awaiting remote-control battery conversion in 2024. Once that task is completed, they will be shipped to Leland Allen's Vital Signs graphics shop for repainting and lettering to the proposed A2A design seen above for use in the 2024 season.
The AKRR SD Mac 70s at Cicely Junction mainline.