I had just completed the benchwork in the first (and smaller) of the two rooms in my basement which will host my model railroad empire. I was about to start adding the subroadbed (1/2" ply) but first I decided to treat myself to a railroad video.
Not long ago I had bought a bunch of prototype railroad videos from an estate sale, I had not gotten around to viewing them and, I figured that now was the time. The one I chose was about the White Pass and Yukon Railroad in Alaska.
What can I say? I was totally blown away!
This is a wonderful little narrow gauge railroad that is still in operation! Diesels! COFC! Mine runs! Mixed freight and passenger service! Straight passenger service. Steep grades with helper service! Fantastic mountain scenery as well as a quaint port operation - this little 3 foot road has everything!
More specifically, it had many of the things (steep grades, helper service and traffic density) that were missing from my Port Able and Eastern.
So, I dug through my back issues of model railroad magazines and my track plan books to find everything I could on the WP&Y. In More Railroads You Can Model, I found a track plan for a steam era WP&R and I found that I had even bought a book years ago on the road. I searched the internet for everything I could find on the WP&Y.
All work on my layout stopped as I pulled down the track plan for the PA&ERR that I had taped to the wall of my layout room and attacked it with my eraser (thankful it was drawn in pencil). All I really had to do was make sure the new layout design fit the foot print of the finished benchwork in the first room, the rest was up for grabs.
When the dust (and eraser shavings settled) I had a plan for a prototype railroad with fantastic scenery and operating possiblities. No changes needed to be made to the existing benchwork and, thanks to the smaller radius curves, the rest of layout fit the space available much better.
Wife and I actually rode the white pass & yukon railroad during our Alaska cruise. It is beautiful scenery and was exciting to ride. I spent most of the time between cars taking pictures of the sights. If you get a chance to go there, I highly recommend the ride. Also check out their website www.whitepassrailroad.com
My wife and I were stationed in Alaska (NAS Adak) for 4 years in the early 90’s and I got to do some limited rail fanning of the standard gauge Alaska RR. Getting back to Alaska and riding both the WP&Y and ARR are definitely on our “to do” list.
Ironrooster,
I was (briefly) tempted to switch to Sn3 and if I had just a little more space, it would have been a no-brainer! However, I like the challenge of modelling the White Pass in HOn3 - and I want the mountains to dwarf the trains. (If my eyesight were a little better, I would have gone to N scale! LOL)
The WP&Y really is quite awe-inspiring. PBS runs a program on it quite often and as of yet I still haven’t tired of it. However, the program features speciifically on the passenger aspect, i’d heard nothing of the COFC. Best of luck, and I cannot wait to see pictures!
George,
Here’s a name and address that will come in handy:
Carl Mulvihill
P.O. Box 252
Skagway, Alaska 99840-0252
Carl used to work for the White Pass and still lives in the Skagway area. He has a collection of drawings for various WP&Y equipment, as well as having books and other stuff. Send a LSASE for his list. I met Carl at the NNGC in Durango in '96 and he’s a reall good fellow to know.
I suspect that if the upcoming RTR offerings in HOn3 sell well, we’ll likely see some WP&Y stuff eventually. With the market provided by the thousands of visitors the railroad gets yearly added to model railroaders, I suspect that models of such locos as the 90-class GEs will be a distinct possibility. Micro-Trains is likely to bring out container flats based on the underframes they already have from their C&S reefer project.
Now if I could just find the time to assemble the two PSC DL-535 kits sitting on my shelf.
The White Pass shut down for a brief time in the 80s (1982-88 I think) when it reopened it did so as a passenger only tourist type operation.
Prior to 1982 the White Pass was a common carrier. It was one of the pioneers in intermodal freight. It ran its own containers on COFC from the port of Skagway to the interior of the Yukon. It also ran mineral trains (lead, copper and zinc) from the interior to the port at Skagway. The mineral trains consisted of short open top containers which were set on the same type flat cars that carried the box containers - the flats had mounting points for both types of containers.
I have to say that I too have been tempted to change scales and start on the WP&Y. Love the videos I’ve seen, love visiting alaska and would love to have another reason to do so, and I always love the idea of trains barely clinging onto steep cliffs inching toward the next station/stop.
Since this is turning into the official White Pass Thread, let’s include this very important gateway site to all things WP&Y: http://www.whitepassfan.net/
This site is Boerries’s work of love. I’ve been a fan of his web work almost from the very beginning of his website. It has undergone several major changes over the years, but has always reflected his passion to provide a place where any White Pass fan will feel right at home. You can also find the latest news about the road there, as well as links to other WP&Y sites, the Yahoo email list, and lots of historic info.
Narrow Gauge Fever? It’s way too late to help me, although I’m more of a Colorado fan.
[:D]
I grew up a stone’s throw from Whitford Station on the PRR’s Philly to Harrisburg main. If tomorrow the White Pass were to string catenary and start running a narrow gauge version of the GG1 I’d think I had died and gone to heaven! [(-D]
I saw the PBS documentary recently (In HD!) and was similarly impressed. There’s an abundance of modeling potential, including a Willys railcar. Maybe Bachmann will release them in HOn3 as well. [:)]
WP&Y had quite a number of railcars & buses over the years.
Be sure and model the 90+inches of rain that Skagway gets each year. Funny, no one evermentions that when talking about Alaska. I lived in Sitka for 28 yrs and finally got tired of the rain. Also I believe the WP&Y also bought some of the earlier Rio Grande Narrow gauge equipment, but thats about all I know. I rode the RR to Whitehorse about 1975 and its still a great memory. Great scenery in a country of great scenery.
And it doesn’t stop there. It seems everytime I get a new video or read another book I find yet something else that seems it would be wonderful to model. To many wonderful train things out there, too many good ideas… sigh…
