Truemors
We left Whitehorse (Yukon, Canada) at 1.30pm Saturday July 12 2008 by bus to go to Fraser, (BC, Canada) from there to Skagway (Alaska) we were on the White Pass Railway.
In the first 20 miles from Skagway the diesel-powered train climbs from sea level to nearly 3,000 feet. En route you will see scenic spectaculars which most people seldom witness in a lifetime: panoramic view of Skagway and the head of Lynn Canal. Bridal Veil Falls with as many as 22 cataracts tumbling into a gorge. Tunnel Mountain-a tunnel 1,000 feet above the gulch floor with its southern portal on a sheer cliff, Dead Horse Gulch-named for 3,000 pack animals which perished there during the gold rush. The railroad reaches White Pass Summit at Mile 20.4 (this is where the Summit Excursion trains reverse directions to go back down to Skagway). Through trains continue across the barren rock-strewn Pass to Fraser, BC (also Canadian Customs & Immigration). Through passengers change over to motorcoaches here to continue on north over the Klondike Highway. Rails are in place through to Whitehorse, but there are no rail operations over this section of the railroad. Old No. 73, the railroad's 1947 Baldwin 2-8-2 steam engine, is used in town for show only. Regular road diesels handle the trip up the mountain grade. (we did the same trip, though in reverse)
"Scenic Railway of the World" on the Trail of '98. Passengers travel across the White Pass on a narrow-gauge railway that parallels the trail followed by the frantic gold seekers in 1898. The railroad operates only in the summer, and often makes connections with Alaska Marine Highway ferryliners at Skagway; daily service May 6 through September 21. Passengers travel by narrow gauge train between Skagway and Fraser, where they transfer to motorcoaches, which continue on up the Klondike Highway to Whitehorse.
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