White Pass Railway in Skagway Alaska

http://DestinationsInFlorida.com or call 877-918-8941 to book your Alaskan adventure or cruise.
While in Skagway, Alaska during our cruise, we decided to try the White Pass & Yukon Route railway to go up the mountain to White Pass. It was a really cool adventure that took us from Skagway up to the US/Canada border and back. We saw lots of beautiful, natural scenery, engineering wonders, and mountain goats!

Here's more info from the White Pass & Yukon Route Railroad Co.:
Take an unforgettable journey aboard the "Scenic Railway of the World" to the White Pass summit. Begin your excursion as you board the train in Skagway and travel 20 miles from tidewater, to the Summit of the White Pass -- a 2,865 foot elevation!
Relax in vintage passenger coaches as you retrace the original route to the White Pass summit, passing Bridal Veil Falls, Inspiration Point and Dead Horse Gulch. Enjoy a breathtaking panorama of mountains, glaciers, gorges, waterfalls, tunnels, trestles and historic sites. See the original Klondike Trail of '98 worn into the rocks, a permanent tribute to the thousands of souls who passed this way in search of fortune.
This 3 to 3.5 hour, forty mile round trip climbs from tidewater at Skagway to the summit of the White Pass - a 2,865 foot elevation. The fully narrated tour passes through two tunnels, over sky-high trestles and cascading waterfalls. It's our most popular excursion!
Built in 1898 during the Klondike Gold Rush, this narrow gauge railroad is an International Historic Civil Engineering Landmark, a designation shared with the Panama Canal, the Eiffel Tower and the Statue of Liberty.

The WP&YR railway was considered an impossible task but it was literally blasted through coastal mountains in only 26 months.

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."

The WP&YR climbs almost 3000 feet in just 20 miles and features steep grades of up to 3.9%, cliff-hanging turns of 16 degrees, two tunnels and numerous bridges and trestles. The steel cantilever bridge was the tallest of its kind in the world when it was constructed in 1901.

The 110 mile WP&YR Railroad was completed with the driving of the golden spike on July 29, 1900 in Carcross Yukon connecting the deep water port of Skagway Alaska to Whitehorse Yukon and beyond to northwest Canada and interior Alaska.

White Pass & Yukon Route became a fully integrated transportation company operating docks, trains, stage coaches, sleighs, buses, paddlewheelers, trucks, ships, airplanes, hotels and pipelines. It provided the essential infrastructure servicing the freight and passenger requirements of Yukon's population and mining industry. WP&YR proved to be a successful transportation innovator and pioneered the inter-modal (ship-train-truck) movement of containers.

The WP&YR suspended operations in 1982 when Yukon's mining industry collapsed due to low mineral prices. The railway was reopened in 1988 as a seasonal tourism operation and served 37,000 passengers. Today, the WP&YR is Alaska's most popular shore excursion carrying over 360,000 passengers during the 2010 May to September tourism season operating on the first 67.5 miles (Skagway, Alaska to Carcross, Yukon) of the original 110 mile line.

Category:

Travel & Events

Tags:

• white
• pass
• railway
• skagway
• alaska
• adventure
• travel
• tourism
• train
• events
• nature
• hiking
• destination
• mountain
• goats

[woodencoasterfan]

Great job though I'd include some shots of the steam engine if that's what was pulling your train. Were those restored Pullman rail cars you were in and did you see "The Stairway to Heaven" part of the trail? It's a long straight ascent up part of a mountain that's very steep.

[DestinationsFlorida]

@woodencoasterfan Thanks! Actually, they weren't steam, just standard diesels. We wanted to do the steam, but they were not currently operational...at least that's what we were told.

You see them in the shot across the canyon to the one that was in front of us and a quick shot of our own engines at one point. Don't remember the "Stairway" but that sounds pretty cool!

[emlovesbeauty]

are you on your way to hogwarts?

[stoopidtrooper]

been on that

[abcjack100]

2nd



[brucieclasper09]

1st