Skagway's White Pass & Yukon Railroad

[Anonymous]

Don--
Super photos. Although we have not taken the Alaskan cruise yet we did take the last circle rail tour offered by BC Rail about 2 years ago before they discontinued passenger service. The second day we rode the Skeena from Prince George to Prince Rupert. We were in the dome car the whole way and the scenery was wonderful. The hotel that you photographed from the ship is where we stayed. The American bald eagle is plentiful in Prince Rupert. We saw one tree htat hat atleast 20 eagles perched in it. There is a great First Citizens (Canadian for Native American) museum near the hotel. Found a great coffee shop near Cow Bay for breakfast. CN is planning to build a large intermodal terminal in Prince Rupert so we may see more trains along the Skeena river. Great town to visit. Glad you enjoyed it.

[espeefoamer]

WOW!!! Awesome pictures[:)].I have never been to Skagway,but the pictures reminded me of Silverton CO.This looks like a more scenic trip than the Durango to Silverton line,and that's hard to beat.I have ridden the Alaska Railroad and that was a wonderful trip[:D][8D].

[Anonymous]

We got back from Alaska about a month ago. We did the cruise out of Vancouver, B.C. up the inside passage including Skagway. We did the trip up to Fraser, B.C. and back. It was a beautiful train ride all the way back to Skagway. Also did the Alaska Railroad Denali Express from Anchorage to Fairbanks which was also beautiful country. Would love to go back again someday and ride them again.

[morseman]

my wife and i took a royal caribbean cruise to Alaska five years ago. The train trip from Skagway was the greatest. We were wearing our summer clothes as it was quite warm. When we got to the summit the snow banks were over five feet high and it was freezing, could only stay outside for a few minutes. they use a rotary snow blower to clear the tracks starting about a month before the cruise ships arrive. It was great to get back on the train where they had a pot bellied stove in the middle of the car. The toilet at the end of the car had a handle you had to pump to flush. When we got back to Skagway I went into the disp'rs officew to pick up an employees timetable, which indicated that halfway up the line there were two box cars and a flat car on a siding whick is kept there all season and contains stretchers and first aid eqpt just in case of emergencies. Hope to take another trip up to Alaska in a few years.

[MP57313]

Don,
Mark,
Thanks for the explanations. And, I forgot to say...great pictures!
MP

[Grinandbearit]

The Skeena runs from Jasper to Prince Rupert and back with VIA Hep-2 Club Cars and a Park obs/lounge/Sleeper. Apparently very popular.

[Anonymous]

Great photos!

The Skeena cars are generally ex-Canadian. That's a Park car on the rear.

[athelney]

QUOTE: Originally posted by donclark

The passenger trains go to the summit, one of the trains go to Lake Catherine, but only freight trains go to Whitehorse....the short distances because the passenger trains needing to get back to the cruise ships before they leave port....

They have one Mikado that runs up to the summit in the afternoon, in the morning they run their diesels, I believe they're Alcos.... This year they built 3 more passenger cars, as they sell out with the cruise ships coming from Mid May to Mid September....

While I have ridden some of the Colorado narrow track railroads, none in Colorado had hanging glaciers to view....

On the cruise there was also another train I could have ridden at Prince Rupert, the CN passenger train going 20 or so miles alongside the Skeena River.... If you look at the bottom right of one of the photos at Prince Rupert I snapped its photo....well. the last few cars one being an observation car.....

Think you may have photographed the rear of VIA's passenger train the" Skeena" . It appears to have stainless cars , but the Rocky Mounaineer / West coast railway excursion uses cars from the Rocky Mountaineer Train hauled by our 2 F units CP 4069 & 1404 . But glad you were able to see it anyway. .

[eolafan]

Don, thanks for bringing back pleasant memories for my wife and me. We took the same cruise (also NCL but a different ship) out of Seattle as you did about two years ago, and we also rode the White Pass & Yukon. WOW, what a nail biting and sometimes scary ride up those cliffs, glad to see they still have good brakes (including dynamics) on those diesel-electric units. Thanks again. Jim Shaw, Aurora, IL

[Anonymous]

The passenger trains go to the summit, one of the trains go to Lake Catherine, but only freight trains go to Whitehorse....the short distances because the passenger trains needing to get back to the cruise ships before they leave port....

They have one Mikado that runs up to the summit in the afternoon, in the morning they run their diesels, I believe they're Alcos.... This year they built 3 more passenger cars, as they sell out with the cruise ships coming from Mid May to Mid September....

While I have ridden some of the Colorado narrow track railroads, none in Colorado had hanging glaciers to view....

On the cruise there was also another train I could have ridden at Prince Rupert, the CN passenger train going 20 or so miles alongside the Skeena River.... If you look at the bottom right of one of the photos at Prince Rupert I snapped its photo....well. the last few cars one being an observation car.....

[locomutt]

Don,
Those are great shots.
As CW just said, we would love to go to Alaska.

[cherokee woman]

Don, you've got some fantastic shots there! Those pictures make my mouth water:
locomutt and I would LOVE to visit Alaska!! [angel]

[Big_Boy_4005]

Neat pictures. I was up there in the mid 80's, and everything was mothballed in Skagway. My father and I took the "poor man's cruise" and rode the ferry from Prince Rupert up to Skagway then back down to Juneau. I wandered around the yard and took a bunch of photos. One of these days, I should get the slides transfered to digital. Did you get up to Anchorage to see the Alaska railroad?

[MP57313]

Is the northern end of the WP&Y (beyond B.C.) still in place?

[Anonymous]

I finished my Alaskan cruise, and rode the White Pass railroad all the way to the Summit on the British Columbia border.... Hanging glaciers, white water rapids, along with some wonderful scenery can be seen..... Some pictures of my vacation can be seen at

http://homepage.mac.com/donclark