White Pass and Yukon Route

The Holland America tour bus picked us up at our RV park at 8:30 AM and we headed for Fraser, Y.T. to board the train to Skagway, AK. Our driver, Lorne, was a great source of history and other bits of trivia regarding not only the railroad but of the area and some of the interesting characters in the area.

Note: remember you can click on pictures to enlarge them.

Our first stop was in Carcross, Y.T. at the Matthew Watson General Store. Carcross was is the site of the last spike ceremony upon completion of the White Pass route.

From there it was nothing but fantastic scenery and curved roads to Fraser to catch our train for the 2 hour ride to Skagway.

A little history: (from All Aboard, onboard magazine)

The White Pass and Yukon Route c;imbs from sea level in Skagway to almost 3000 feet at the summit in just 20 miles and features steep grades of almost 3.9%. The tight curves of the White Pass called for a narrow gauge railroad. The rails were three feet apart on a 10-foot-wide road bed and meant lower construction costs.

On July 21, 1898, two months after construction began, the railroad’s first engine went into service over the first four miles of completed tracks. The WP&YR was the northernmost railroad in the Western Hemisphere.

Building the 110 miles of track was a challenge in every way, Construction required cliff hanging turns of 16 degrees, building 2 tunnels and numerous bridges and trestles. Work on the tunnel at Mile 16 took place in the dead of winter with heavy snow and temperatures as low as 60 below slowed the work. The workers reached the summit of White Pass on February 20, 1889 and by July 6, 1899 construction reached Lake Bennett and the beginning of the river and lakes route.

While construction crews battles their way north laying rail, another crew came from the north heading south and together they met on July 29, 1900 in Carcross where a ceremonial golden spike was driven by Samual H. Graves, President of the railroad. Thirty-five thousand men worked on the construction of the railroad – some for a day and some for a longer period, but all shared in the dream and the hardship.

The $10 million project was the product of British financing, American engineering and Canadian contracting. Tens of thousands of men and 450 tons of explosives overcame harsh and challenging climate and geography to create the “Railway Built of Gold”.

Each car had a guide…….

The scenery was spectacular…………

passing by rushing rivers and creeks…….

and frozen rivers…………….

and waterfalls, near and far………………….

through tunnels………………….

and along seemingly impossible ledges.

We stood on the platforms most of the trip to get lots of pictures.

We spent 2 hours in Skagway, had lunch and did a lot of walking around checking out the town.

A rotary snowplow for clearing the tracks in winter.

A few pictures of the City of Skagway, AK…….

Lilacs were in bloom all over town and they smell so sweet……..

A few signs from Skagway……………….

This one I’m going to have made and posted outside the door of our coach!!!!!

Then it was back on the bus for the trip back up the highway to Whitehorse, Y.T……………….that’s right, we left Canada for a day trip into the USA and then back to Canada again.

Just us kids………..having a good time on the road!!!