© 2002 Steve Barry steve@daylightimages.com
This section is divided into four pages to provide quick loading
This section was set up on January 7, 2002.
The White Pass & Yukon Route in Skagway, Alaska, has had boom times and has had lean times. Thanks to cruise ships, these are indeed boom times on the White Pass. As many as three trains depart Skagway at ten minute intervals, heading for Lake Bennett and Fraser, British Columbia, and White Pass Summit in Alaska. Tracks run all the way to Whitehorse, Yukon Territory, but passengers are not carried on the northern-most portion of the line. The railroad was completely closed between 1982 and 1988, but the tourist boom in Alaska has sparked such a revival that the WP&YR is continuously buying new passenger cars to expand the fleet, with over 60 cars now in service. The trains are all powered by either 80-Ton GE diesels built between 1954 and 1966 or by Montreal Locomotive Works DL535E diesels acquired between 1969 and 1971. Five of these locomotives had left Alaska, but were repatriated in 1999. All the photos in this section were taken on June 19, 2001.
We'll start our tour directly on the cruise ship dock at Skagway as DL535E No.108 sits next to Royal Caribbean's Rhapsody of the Seas.
TT3801
Another view of the 108 on the dock shows the "artwork" left on the rocks by visiting groups over the years. No longer "graffiti," these markings are now tolerated as a Skagway tradition.
TT3802
Our next view is near the Skagway shop as a northbound train behind GE No.94 meets No.100 doing some switching.
TT3803
A quick check at the shop shows White Pass 2-8-0 No.40 sitting outside. The locomotive was built by Baldwin in 1921 for service in Guatemala. It was repatriated in 1968 when it went to work in Colorado, primarily for the Georgetown Loop Railroad.
TT3804
Click here for White Pass & Yukon Route page 2
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