Large Scale Central

Alaskan Rails - lots of pictures

Prototypes
#1

We were in Anchorage this morning, now it’s back to the heat of Virginia. What a trip! We rode the White Pass and Yukon Route in Skagway. The weather wasn’t great, but it was a lot better than the rest of Alaska was getting. Still we did have some nice scenery.

We were triple headed out of Skagway.

…with a long string of coaches. Not much freight hauled on this line anymore.

I had a blast riding out on the platform…but it sure got cold after not too long. Luckily, the stove was burning inside, so I could go warm my hands. We encountered some long tunnels - and they were certainly dark.

As we got to the high points, the clouds settled around us. I barely had time to get a shot of this bridge that is no longer used. Sort of a “ghost” bridge in this shot…

At the end of the run in Fraser, British Columbia, Jean and I went kayaking in a COLD glacier lake.

A few days later, we boarded these private cars in Whittier for a trip to Denali.

This time, we had a great day for some nice shots.

The glass made for easy viewing, but we spent a lot of time out on the platform getting unobstructed shots. Unfortunately, the central part of Alaska had flooded, so we spent a LOT of time on the sidings, waiting for trains - they had not run for 2 or 3 days. Lots of washouts and the main highway bridge was out as well.

It did make for some interesting meets and some great photo opportunities. One such meet had us meeting the southbound train to pass over lunch food!

And since we were the last car, we could get some nice shots from the platform in back.

All in all, just a whole lot of fun. The downside was that it was a 9 hour train ride…that turned into 16 hous with all the waiting. Luckily they served food and BEER on board. The dining section was on the first level, so it was a quick trip down a circular staircase. The food was surprisingly good and they had a nice selection of several Alaskan beers.

Still, the WP&YR stole my heart. I really enjoyed riding the old narrow gauge and the spectacular scenery. If you ever want to go, you should choose SUMMER. August apparently means Autumn and we experienced temperatures very similar to November in these parts. Denali was fascinating. They don’t have snow days there…they have COLD days. Anytime the temperature falls to 50 below they don’t have to attend school. I think they get as many COLD days as we get SNOW days here in Virginia. We spoke with Jeff King (winner of the last Iditarod) and saw all his dogs and puppies. Neat stuff! Dress warmly. :wink:

#2

Bruce and Jean,

Jan said you guys were talking about that trip. Wow, looks like you had a great time. Did you got through a travel agency or just set your own itinerary? Glad to hear it was so much fun.

#3

Great shots, Bruce.

It appears from the big smile on your wife’s face that you had a great time…:wink:

#4

It was fun!

Ric, the trip was mostly set up by Princess Cruises. We took their 12 day heart of Alaska tour. 7 days were on the ship, and it stopped in a number of towns. The White Pass & Yukon Route was one of the optional tours they offerred in Skagway. The Alaskan Railroad was not an option, it was how we got up to Denali.

#5

Nice pictures bringing happy memories .
I have no wish to be disagreeable , but when my son decided to surprise me by taking me to the WPYR , both ends , WhitehorseBC and Skagway Alaska , he was advised to go in May , in the opening week of the WP season . The reasoning behind this is that there are not so many tourists there then , the weather is not too hot , and if you are a real railfan , there is more chance of seeing things which are off limits later on .
So , from London , me laddo booked 2 overnights in Vancouver (get there via Air Canada ) timed to let us tour the city , 6 overnights in Whitehorse and 6 in Skagway . Dealing with people on the phone was a delight , they agreed that a once in a lifetime trip should be flexible , and if we chose to decrease time booked , they didn’t mind . We took advantage of this generosity at Skagway and took the Ferry on the coast route down to Haynes , overnighted then drove back to Skagway via the Alaska Highway and Haynes Junction . A memorable trip because there was still snow in the passes and the glaciers were magnificent .
The early railfan idea worked , because as the Crews of the WP said
"We knew you were real railfans because you were there all day in various parts of the track filming over a couple of days " So we were , we toured the whole thing end to end where possible . Bears included for colour . We , as a result , have some delightful film of a trip from the top taken in the cab ,top to bottom of the trip . The conductor even looked after me while me laddo was in the cab .
Lovely people , lovely holiday , even Air Canada did us proud , "Disabled ? No problem "
So , though I envy you your trip–I want to go back–I would arrange off–peak . Car hire at Whitehorse was no problem , though they were amused that we cleaned the car like it said on the hire agreement .
Whatever you do , any of you , try to get to The White Pass . We even had fun --really-- with Customs at the borders . They got to know us criss-crossing and played a couple of jokes on us , even alerting a customs post way over on the road from Haynes when they found we were going there .
Nice people , nice place , I wanna go again .
Try it , you will not be sorry .
Mike
ps The trains were good too .

#6

Mike,
I’m not sure how that is being disagreeable! That sure sounds like a great trip to me. Though I always thought that spring in Alaska meant it had warmed up to 40 below? (Sorry, it’s an old Johnny Horton song :wink: ). We loved Vancouver and wished we were there longer. I’m not sure about 6 nights in Skagway (population 862), but at least you got to tour the railroad a lot more than we did. We were obviously limited by the cruise as well as other attractions and didn’t have the time to bond with the crew like you!

I know I want to go back as well, but I’m not sure when. If I do, I suspect it will be something more like the trip you arranged - as well as the season.

#7

Bruce

Very nice pictures and description…

Now to win the lottery and ride all of the trains around the world would be the ultimate goal to accomplish. Oh yeah !!!

Cheers,

#8

Wow, great pics! Wish I could go there someday.

Do they ever run steam there?

#9

Here’s mine from the WP&Y, from June 2002:

Matthew (OV)

#10

Bruce,

Thanks for sharing the pictures and story. Looks like you an Jean had a great time.

WP&Y is on my short list of must-see railroads, along with Cass and the Conway Scenic. I’d also like to get back to Colorado again, see the Loop and do D&S and C&TS again. Finding the time is the difficult part. With all of the regular annual trips; York for ECLSTS, Ottawa for the Invasion, and Orbisonia PA for the EBT Fall Spectacular, that just about eats up my vacation time and definitely exhausts my funds. I can only hope to live long enough to be able to afford retirement :slight_smile:

Fortunately we get to share trips like this with great stories and pictures.

Jon

#11

Matt, that’s a cool picture. I could have sworn they told us to stay in the train, though. :wink:

Man, that track looks just like my AMS track!

#12

That’s what happens when your engine crew gets carried away and has one of the three engines shut down because it went into overspeed… They gave the train behind us permission to close up, originally, I think, in case they couldn’t restart it, and had to have them push. As it turned out, they did manage to get it restarted again, and we made it to the top unassisted. The photo was taken from the rear platform of the last car as the following train arrived … Here’s another taken from an interesting location as well, on my SECOND trip to the pass in a day (can you have that much fun?) I found the view a lot better on that trip:

Matthew (OV)

#13

Cool pics! My parents did the same (or strikingly similar) cruise in June. They didn’t get to the White Pass, unfortunately. (and they call themselves “railfans…”) I’m looking forward to getting up there at some point. It’s like Colorado without the Californians. :wink: Hawaii, first, though.

Later,

K

#14

Sept 14th, 2006. After returning from the trip to the top being pulled by 3 diesels as we approached the siding for our ship at (RAIL ROAD PIER) the diesels were cut off & we were pushed in to the siding by #73. Later we toured the shop’s. The Shop foreman (Mr. Dominuez) told us #69 had gone to the top the day before on a shake down run, the first time in many years. with very few small items wrong for a final shopping. [center]

[/center] Here’s #73s steamy side rods to look at. [center]

[/center] Just got home & we are ready to go back. The weather was beautiful, nice & cool. Appreciated after our long “HOT” summer here in Missouri. See ya’all later Larry Herget [center]

[/center]“ol Smokey” run’s again.