Stumbled on this while googling the White Pass.
http://www.whitepassfan.net/whitepass/home/html/modules.php?op=modload&name=News&file=article&sid=103
Got anymore pix’s, Mike?
j
By golly , those were the days , up to our necks in muck and bullets ,I could …oh , wrong place . Hrrmph .
Yes , we did go there , and we took loads of film on digital movie cameras . Those photos are actually stills from my camera , So , yes ,we potentially have thousands of pics . Damn good ones , too .
Anything in particular anyone want ? We went the first week of the season and stayed in Whitepass and Skagway for 10 days , taking day trips on the train , including cab rides (filmed ) and into the surrounding
area , down to Haines and up back along the Alaska Highway . Stayed three nights in Vancouver-nice place .
Mike
ps there is an interesting little story attached to the loading of the carriages onto their bogies . Must tell anyone interested .
…And the interesting little story is???..
OK , you may notice a truck in the background . This was used to move the carriage body from the enclosed yard on the dockside to the siding , one of several WPYR ones around the dock area . Nothing magic in that you may say , but wait .
The carriage bodies arrive from down Vancouver way by coastal barge . They are rolled off the barges by loading onto an Artic Truck --big rig if you will . The Artic takes them all of 40 yards to the enclosure , goes through a narrow gate and the carriage body on its container flat is left there awaiting fitting . The bogies are trundled off the barge by the large fork lift you see on the photo ., and parked with the bodies .
Ok , the day arrives when the loco runs all of a mile from the Depot , the ground crew turning up in an asortment of pickups .
Also , the Artic Truck turns up --why , you may well ask , the rails are mere feet from the resting place of the
carriages . If the fork lift is going to lift the carriages onto the bogies , why does he not drive them across the yard straight into the mating position .?He’s going to lift them onto the truck instead , because the gate of the yard is not wide enough to fit the carriage body across it . It’s too high to lift the body over because of power cables . So the body is put on the Artic , he drives through the gate , then the fork lift picks the body off again and then swings 90 deg to perform the loading . Now , at this stage , the loco stooges past the fork lift , and parks down line a bit . A small fork lift then lands the bogies on the track . The big fork lift now mates the body with the bogies , and the engine is now in the right position to push (not pull ) the carriage to the depot .
Why push ? Because he wants to leave the track clear to return for the next carriage .
So , that big rig driver does what must be the shortest haul of a large load in history–and he does it regularly , those carriages were a batch of six , and regrettably , a further six were needed fairly soon after-last year in fact , when a runaway train demolished six carriages in the sidings at the foot of the Pass .
The public wander freely around the carriage sidings–we did and took loads of pictures with a view to making detailed models . I amuse myself by imagining how much skin I’d burn off my hands accelerating the manual wheelchair out of the way if I had been there when the runaway happened . Fortunately , nobody was .
Hey , it’s half past midnight , and my glass slipper has turned into a frog . so must fly , dears .
Mike
michael… we be amazed in the manner which you seem to amuse yourself… and US… 
… but… the fact remains… you gots way too much free time on yer hands…
Yeah , dammit , it’s a shame someone don’t employ the undoubted talent I got .
Sett’n doin’ nutt’n is an art . Yuh gotta work at it .
Mike
…The IPP&W Railroad officially offers you a job, Mike…as one of many VP’s…VP of "Twist Caps is already filled…
You can start tomorrow…another “Official Photographer” can always be used…“Snortin’ Norton” sleeps in too often, so you can relieve him…
Fr.Fred
Chief Clerk
Fred,
You just missed a chance for appointing a Vice President in charge of “Safety”. We all know Mike has experience in safety procedures and first aid.
Hehehehehe,you guys !!
It’s Monday morning ,0850 , and like most of us , I need a bit of cheering up .Mondays is bad noos ,so I need a boost . So this morning , as soon as I woke up almost , I leaned over and hit my favourite website . And there you were . By gum lads , we’re lucky to share such a friendly gathering place .
So I shall accept the kind offer of Official Photographer , I now need to get a very long lens . I shall do so in the knowledge of my other new responsibility of Health and Safety Executive . Unlike most HSE officers , I shall be notable by my absence ,thus not forcing you to wear hard hats and safety harnesses when workin’ on the railroad .
My experience of accidents is wide , and I could regale you with lots of stories about some I have seen ,usually immediately prior to going to hospital . But one that I witnessed did not involve me , but I witnessed it at an RAF base some time ago .
You will all , no doubt , be familiar with the NAAFI van . For those who aren’t , it’s the van which travels around military establishments bringing tea and provender to the troops .
'Twas a cold and icy morn , and as 1000 came , so did the Naafi van . As usual , we all rushed out to form an orderly queue , and not wanting to be left out , my pal Frenchie (also known as Durex ) came round the corner on an aircraft tug --a bit too fast it seems , for he slid on the ice into the back of the naafi van .
A tremendous crash of crockery ensued as it hit the floor along with the lady who ran the van .
As her terrified head appeared above the serving hatch , Frenchie said
" A mug of tea and a bun ,please love "
believe it , it happened .
Mike
NAAFI must be your equivalent to our USO…bisquit bitches, donut dollies, etc…
Thanx for the story…
Mike Morgan said:
Hehehehehe,you guys !! It's Monday morning ,0850 , and like most of us , I need a bit of cheering up .Mondays is bad noos ,so I need a boost . So this morning , as soon as I woke up almost , I leaned over and hit my favourite website . And there you were . By gum lads , we're lucky to share such a friendly gathering place . So I shall accept the kind offer of Official Photographer , I now need to get a very long lens . I shall do so in the knowledge of my other new responsibility of Health and Safety Executive . Unlike most HSE officers , I shall be notable by my absence ,thus not forcing you to wear hard hats and safety harnesses when workin' on the railroad . My experience of accidents is wide , and I could regale you with lots of stories about some I have seen ,usually immediately prior to going to hospital . But one that I witnessed did not involve me , but I witnessed it at an RAF base some time ago . You will all , no doubt , be familiar with the NAAFI van . For those who aren't , it's the van which travels around military establishments bringing tea and provender to the troops . 'Twas a cold and icy morn , and as 1000 came , so did the Naafi van . As usual , we all rushed out to form an orderly queue , and not wanting to be left out , my pal Frenchie (also known as Durex ) came round the corner on an aircraft tug --a bit too fast it seems , for he slid on the ice into the back of the naafi van . A tremendous crash of crockery ensued as it hit the floor along with the lady who ran the van . As her terrified head appeared above the serving hatch , Frenchie said " A mug of tea and a bun ,please love "believe it , it happened .
Mike
We heard that the NAAFI had advanced as far as Brussels once and that back there were uniformed hostesses who weren’t actually NAAFI but something called EFI’s who presumably served up the standard ‘tea and a wad’ to those fortunates who bludgeoned both a 48 hour pass and transport from the nearest WO2. The general opinion then was that the acronym stood for “No ambition and eff-all interest” which the EFI bit seemed to endorse. Turned out that these were ‘overseas’ volunteers who had to join the Territorials and ‘train’ before being issued with a uniform, a tea urn, and price list. I suppose the training was in self-defence against the licentious soldiery for whom tea/cakes were low on the list of priorities once out of the line.
When I did find a NAAFI finally-months later- the beer was terrible.
Deryck
Deryck Coleman said:Mike Morgan said:
Hehehehehe,you guys !! It's Monday morning ,0850 , and like most of us , I need a bit of cheering up .Mondays is bad noos ,so I need a boost . So this morning , as soon as I woke up almost , I leaned over and hit my favourite website . And there you were . By gum lads , we're lucky to share such a friendly gathering place . So I shall accept the kind offer of Official Photographer , I now need to get a very long lens . I shall do so in the knowledge of my other new responsibility of Health and Safety Executive . Unlike most HSE officers , I shall be notable by my absence ,thus not forcing you to wear hard hats and safety harnesses when workin' on the railroad . My experience of accidents is wide , and I could regale you with lots of stories about some I have seen ,usually immediately prior to going to hospital . But one that I witnessed did not involve me , but I witnessed it at an RAF base some time ago . You will all , no doubt , be familiar with the NAAFI van . For those who aren't , it's the van which travels around military establishments bringing tea and provender to the troops . 'Twas a cold and icy morn , and as 1000 came , so did the Naafi van . As usual , we all rushed out to form an orderly queue , and not wanting to be left out , my pal Frenchie (also known as Durex ) came round the corner on an aircraft tug --a bit too fast it seems , for he slid on the ice into the back of the naafi van . A tremendous crash of crockery ensued as it hit the floor along with the lady who ran the van . As her terrified head appeared above the serving hatch , Frenchie said " A mug of tea and a bun ,please love "believe it , it happened .
Mike
We heard that the NAAFI had advanced as far as Brussels once and that back there were uniformed hostesses who weren’t actually NAAFI but something called EFI’s who presumably served up the standard ‘tea and a wad’ to those fortunates who bludgeoned both a 48 hour pass and transport from the nearest WO2. The general opinion then was that the acronym stood for “No ambition and eff-all interest” which the EFI bit seemed to endorse. Turned out that these were ‘overseas’ volunteers who had to join the Territorials and ‘train’ before being issued with a uniform, a tea urn, and price list. I suppose the training was in self-defence against the licentious soldiery for whom tea/cakes were low on the list of priorities once out of the line.When I did find a NAAFI finally-months later- the beer was terrible.
Deryck
Now it occurs to me that the references to ‘Frenchie’ linked to that of ‘Durex’ might be lost on some. The first is an abbreviation of ‘French Letter’ Nobody seems to know where this slang term for a condom came from (anymore than the word ‘condom’ itself) The French had/have their revenge since their term for the same item is ‘Cap Anglais’ or ‘English hat’ I can only add that once -in a pub called ‘The Railway’ (what else?) I saw one of those condom vending machines - manufactured by ‘Durex’ -(the best kown Brit brand) in the ‘Mens’ Printed on the machine in large blue letters was the manufacturers proud boast >British Throughout< Underneath which someone had added in felt tipped marker pen “So was the Titanic”
Yes , I remembere un French homme at a Factory in gay Paree laughingly telling us that they called condoms "lettres anglais " . He was prenant le pis . His smile disappeared abruptly when we tactfully told him they were known as “lettres francais” where we come from . Ah , mon dieu , catastrophe , les relations anglais /francais were encore une fois a bit strained . Quelle , vous may ask , was I doing at un atelerie parisian ? Je was doing mon best pour taking un equipment francais into service wiz ze RAF . Do you all speak franglais ? C’est tres useful when parlant avec la crumpette francaise . Anycomme , we 'ad a bon temps la .
Beaucoup de vin , et much dallying wiz ze jolie birds . L’equipment entreed dans service a leetle peesed . But we found lots of submarines with it --usually American ones .
Meek .
Wir konn hier auch die deutsch sprechen , aber der grammar ist schlect .
ps the poor bloke in the above epistle was actually named Jerry French ,universally referred to as shown above .
Mike,
That’s good.
In the same vein, I was always puzzled by the expression/term “Engländer” (Englishman) applied to an adjustable wrench in Switzerland.
It took emigrating to Canada to open my eyes, the first half year of working in the machine tool maintenance field, did the trick. Very little that couldn’t be “adjusted” with an “Engländer” , I was truly amazed. In some cases I still am!
Only the foolish (like myself) would have a set of metric wrenches, sockets etc. etc. to go along with the Imperial stuff. 
…ahhhhh, so the “Great Pumkin” does live…I told you guys he was coming…many a day I sat up waiting and listened to your cries of disinterest and unbelief…he does exist…Young Deryck does exist…he posted…he even posted twice…it even says that he has a total of 8 posting…see, you non-believers…I’m not always dreaming…only some of the time…
Mike; you and Deryck should easily be able to take over as perveyers of humour over here on LSC…along with young Gary, and a host of others; this should become the place of choice for Large Scale Modellers who are craftsmen with great enjoyment of humour…no thin skins are needed…
A great welcome to Deryck; and a great toast to Mike…
Now to get Deryck on to the chat in the early North American afternoon.....Hans ,
that is most interesting , and I shall add it to my list of “things named after countries”. In another post here , I asked for other people to come up with such expressions , but someone thought it racist . Being racist is a bit difficult to define , and I think we should accept that using such terms is only racist if intended at the time of use to demean . And no deliberate misunderstandings , either . If I say it’s a black day , it has nothing to do with afro carribbeans . If I say I’m feeling blue , it’s nothing to do with the people from Venus . So , that’s all white then . So , to sum up so far on this site , we have :
Birmingham Screwdriver --hammer --------------------------------------------------- Used in UK
Mexican screwdriver -------hammer --------------------------------------------------- Used in USA
Mexican Wrench ------------adjustable wrench (or substitute spanner for wrench )-Used in USA
English wrench--------------ditto ditto -Used in Canada
Birmingham G-Clamp------precision micrometer ------------------------------------- Used in UK
and incidentally , Yankee Screwdriver , the name given to the ingenious pump handled driver, not derogatory , so any of those descriptions welcome too .
Come on chaps , Hans has shown the way , let’s pool our vast experience and come up with a defiitive list .
Mike
Fred Mills said:
......ahhhhh, so the "Great Pumkin" does live......I told you guys he was coming....many a day I sat up waiting and listened to your cries of disinterest and unbelief......he does exist........Young Deryck does exist......he posted.....he even posted twice.......it even says that he has a total of 8 posting......see, you non-believers.......I'm not always dreaming....only some of the time....Mike; you and Deryck should easily be able to take over as perveyers of humour over here on LSC…along with young Gary, and a host of others; this should become the place of choice for Large Scale Modellers who are craftsmen with great enjoyment of humour…no thin skins are needed…
A great welcome to Deryck; and a great toast to Mike…
Now to get Deryck on to the chat in the early North American afternoon.....</blockquote>Ah Fred,
It's less a 'Great Pumpkin' and more of a shrunken household gourd that blinks back at me from the mirror each morning. I look not to find Narcissus ( there are maybe one or two in the garden) but more to discover which of the complex network of wrinkle & crease indicates that there yet remains enough left of the enquiring mind to actually stand there and look to see (a) Am I still standing? And (b) Whaffor? The other supreme intellectual test of 'what day is it?' and 'who am I-what dis place?' has to wait until the sun is either over or under the yardarm-or armpit-whatever. (It's said to be a naval term but whether this is the sort people sit and contemplate remains unclear) Three streams of blood are racing each other down one leg-this means that at least one of the Pride has thanked me for breakfast....I shall try to recover in time for the early North American afternoon. There is a question related to B'mann Porters, DCC and sound decoders that needs asking-but possibly a controlled stagger over to the 0n30 section would be more appropriate.
Mike Morgan said:
Hans , that is most interesting , and I shall add it to my list of "things named after countries". In another post here , I asked for other people to come up with such expressions , but someone thought it racist . Being racist is a bit difficult to define , and I think we should accept that using such terms is only racist if intended at the time of use to demean . And no deliberate misunderstandings , either . If I say it's a black day , it has nothing to do with afro carribbeans . If I say I'm feeling blue , it's nothing to do with the people from Venus . So , that's all white then . So , to sum up so far on this site , we have :Birmingham Screwdriver --hammer --------------------------------------------------- Used in UK
Mexican screwdriver -------hammer --------------------------------------------------- Used in USA
Mexican Wrench ------------adjustable wrench (or substitute spanner for wrench )-Used in USA
English wrench--------------ditto ditto -Used in Canada
Birmingham G-Clamp------precision micrometer ------------------------------------- Used in UKand incidentally , Yankee Screwdriver , the name given to the ingenious pump handled driver, not derogatory , so any of those descriptions welcome too .
Come on chaps , Hans has shown the way , let’s pool our vast experience and come up with a defiitive list .
Mike
Mike,
If that's alwhite with you then-bear in mind if you go East, that two wongs don't make a white ;-) Conversely two whites are incapable of making a wong. Have I got the balance right or wrong?
Deryck…there is the “Bastard File”…but then most children born these days would not appreciate the connection, or notice whether their parents are married or not…
Fred Mills said:Freddy,
.....there is the "Bastard File"....but then most children born these days would not appreciate the connection, or notice whether their parents are married or not......
That is without doubt an Australian file where 'bastard' is a term of endearment. I remember a troop sargeant from Oz who would address everybody in exactly the same way.........anyone that he regarded as unfriendly were left in no doubt about their status by the addition of several other fruity words. Yep...this should be filed under 'Country of Origin "Oz"
Deryck