Editing Fairbanks, Alaska (section)

===Railroad history===
{{multiple image
| footer            = The Alaska Railroad provides regular freight and passenger service between Fairbanks and [[Southcentral Alaska]] towns. Shown on the left is the railroad's Fairbanks depot, off the [[Johansen Expressway]] on the northern edge of the railroad yards. It opened in 2005, replacing the depot in downtown Fairbanks (right) which opened in 1960.
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| image1            = Fairbanks AK train station.jpg
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| image2            = Old Alaska Railroad Depot Fairbanks Alaska.jpg
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[[File:Alaska_Railroad_train_arrives_at_Fairbanks_station.jpg|thumb|An Alaska Railroad train arrives at Fairbanks station.]]
After large-scale gold mining began north of Fairbanks, miners wanted to build a railroad from the steamboat docks on the Chena River to the mine sites in the hills north of the city. The result was the Tanana Mines Railroad, which started operations in September 1905, using what had been the first steam locomotive in the Yukon Territory.<ref name="TVRRhistory">{{cite web |url=http://www.fairnet.org/agencies/tvrr/history.html |title=History of the Tanana Valley Railroad |website=Fairnet.org |date=May 15, 1907 |access-date=November 19, 2015 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20160117131848/http://www.fairnet.org/agencies/tvrr/history.html |archive-date=January 17, 2016 |url-status=dead }}</ref> In 1907, the railroad was reorganized and named the [[Tanana Valley Railroad]]. The railroad continued expanding until 1910, when the first gold boom began to falter and the introduction of automobiles into Fairbanks took business away from the railroad.<ref name="TVRRhistory" /> Despite these problems, railroad backers envisioned a rail line extending from Fairbanks to [[Seward, Alaska|Seward]] on the Gulf of Alaska, home to the [[Alaska Railroad|Alaska Central Railway]].<ref>Clifford, Howard. ''Rails North: The railroads of Alaska and the Yukon''. Superior Publishing Co., 1981. P. 76.</ref>

In 1914, the U.S. Congress appropriated $35&nbsp;million for construction of the Alaska Railroad system, but work was delayed by the outbreak of World War I.<ref name="RRhistory">{{cite web|title=The Alaska Railroad – History |url=http://www.akrr.com/ARRC119.html |website=Akrr.com |access-date=August 9, 2009 |url-status=dead |archive-url=https://archive.today/20070105190545/http://www.akrr.com/arrc119.html |archive-date=January 5, 2007  }}</ref> Three years later, the Alaska Railroad purchased the Tanana Valley Railroad, which had suffered from the wartime economic problems.<ref name="RRhistory"/> Rail workers built a line extending northwest from Fairbanks, then south to [[Nenana, Alaska|Nenana]], where President [[Warren G. Harding]] hammered in the ceremonial final spike in 1923.<ref name="RRhistory"/> The rail yards of the Tanana Valley Railroad were converted for use by the Alaska Railroad, and Fairbanks became the northern end of the line and its second-largest depot.<ref name="RRhistory"/>

From 1923 to 2004, the Alaska Railroad's Fairbanks terminal was in downtown Fairbanks, just north of the Chena River. In May 2005, the Alaska Railroad opened a new terminal northwest of downtown, and that terminal is in operation today.<ref>{{cite web|title=Railroad facilities|url=http://www.akrr.com/arrc281.html|website=akrr|publisher=The Alaska Railroad|url-status=dead|archive-url=https://archive.today/20120731133403/http://www.akrr.com/arrc281.html|archive-date=July 31, 2012|access-date=October 7, 2009}}</ref> In summer, the railroad operates tourist trains to and from Fairbanks, and it operates occasional passenger trains throughout the year. The majority of its business through Fairbanks is freight.<ref>{{cite web|title=Report to the state of Alaska|url=http://www.akrr.com/pdf/PR_2335%20January%202009%20Report%20to%20State.pdf|date=January 2009|website=akrr|publisher=he Alaska Railroad|url-status=dead|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20110707103659/http://www.akrr.com/pdf/PR_2335%20January%202009%20Report%20to%20State.pdf|archive-date=July 7, 2011|access-date=October 7, 2009}}</ref> The railroad is planning an expansion of the rail line from Fairbanks to connect the city via rail with [[Delta Junction, Alaska|Delta Junction]], about {{convert|100|mi|km}} southeast.<ref>{{cite web|title=Northern rail extension project|url=http://www.northernrailextension.com/|website=northernrailextension|publisher=The Alaska Railroad|url-status=usurped|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20061118072950/http://www.northernrailextension.com/|archive-date=November 18, 2006|access-date=October 7, 2009}}</ref>