In 1956, the Alaska Railroad still had trains called the Aurora (now spelled AuRoRa to emphasize the railroad’s initials) and Midnight Sun, but they operated on very different schedules than in 1931. In the earlier year, both trains went from Seward to Fairbanks on the same schedules but different days of the week and seasons of the year. In 1956, the trains went from Anchorage to Fairbanks with the Midnight Special, appropriately enough, going overnight while the AuRoRa was the day train. Mixed trains to Seward were nameless, suggesting most tourists were arriving by air rather than steamship.
Click image to download a 2.2-MB PDF of this brochure.
Trains no longer spent the night in Curry, but this brochure still promoted the Curry Hotel as being in “one of the most scenic spots on the Alaska Railroad.” In fact, while it was less expensive than the McKinley Hotel, it was nowhere near as scenic and anyone who stopped was probably disappointed that they didn’t instead spend another day in the park. The hotel burned to the ground in 1957 and was not rebuilt.
In 1931, the Alaska Railroad didn’t operate either sleeping or dining cars, which is why the trains spent the night at Curry. By 1956, the Midnight Special had sleeping cars with sections, compartments, and drawing rooms. Both trains had club-buffet cars serving “wholesome and reasonably priced meals” as well as sandwiches and snacks.