Hey everyone Several months ago I watched this great film on the WP&Y and absolutly fell in love. I deceided then and there I would do a layout deplicting the rail at its earliest time because I thought of how much fun it would be to set up mining camps etc. Now that my Husband and I are in the process of puchasing a new home with plenty of room for what I have in mind I have begun the the planning stage of a project that may take me until retirement to finish(not that I’m worried about that) and I am trying to gather as much info as I can, I really want to keep this as true to life as I can. My biggest problem is the peopled areas I have found two great sites thanks to a couple of members here but I am looking for adivice as well there are some pretty daunting areas I want to model so if anyone is willing to lend me your expertise I would really be greatful.
Hi Lisa,
The two best White Pass websites (other than the railroad itself) I’ve found are Bruce Pryor’s and Boerries Burkhardt .
If you are modeling in HOn3 you will have trouble finding models of the White Pass’ destinctive diesels, and steam locomotives are only a little easier to find. It seems if its not Colorado or Pennsylvania narrow gauge, it isn’t modeled.
Cars are a little easier to find as alot of the rolling stock from closed narrow gauge lines in the lower 48 found their way North to Alaska during and after WWII.
Hope this helps.
-George
Don’t know if this will help, but if you’d like a look at the scenery and terrain the WP&Y travels, check out my video I shot last summer on a trip. I spent the whole trip to the summit and back on the rear platform, shooting video and stills to show the great countryside:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=e2Ew97jY_mM
Might as well turn down the volume, as the wind noise is most of the sound. I was just using a small hand held digtial still camera with video capabilites to do the shooting.
Howdy, Lisa,
John Armstrong to the rescue!!! Kalmbach’s The Classic Layout Designs of John Armstrong features a WP&Y layout originally designed for On3 but loaded with ideas useable in any scale.
One fun feature of the prototype WP&Y is that most of the turnouts have stub switches, not points. While it’s possible to cut the point ends off commercial turnouts and convert them to stub operation, it’s almost worthwhile to learn how to build specialwork from scratch to really catch the flavor (says he, who’s now in the process of assembling a puzzle palace of 3-way switches from raw rail.)
I got a ride behind an ex-WP&Y mike at the Tweetsy Railroad in North Carolina a couple of years ago. Impressive loco!
Chuck (modeling Central Japan in September, 1964)
I’ve been modeling HO and I think I can find all I need as far as the train it’s self(I hope) I’m toying with the posssibility of switching to N in oder to fit more into my space but I should have enough room even with HO,I’ll have a space about 14x20 to use but the room I’ll be building in is 14x40 so I can always take over more room if I need it(by the time I finish my boys won’t be needing the space for their pay room).
That video was very well done, some day that’s a trip I want to take myself ,I have a video called The Worlds Scenic Railway about The WP&Y and that’s where I’m getting alot of my inspiration.
http://groups.yahoo.com/group/whitepassfanlist/?yguid=21405251
another source check and ask questions
I owned 2 of the DL-535 diesels…then sold them :mad: they didnt fit the era I will model
nice models.
keep checking ebay, the steam shows up every so often as do the diesels (more rare)
PSC had a kit for that diesel and has or had parts for it.
There’s not a lot of us modeling the turn of the century. Due to the fact that we face special challenges, I started a thread, for just us. Come by, ask your question, post your successes and let’s help each other.
PBS stations aired a one-hour show about the WP&Y a couple of years ago entitled, “Alaska’s Gold Rush Train,” that shows a lot of the scenery along the route. You should still be able to purchase a copy of the show from the PBS web site.
Thanks Chip I’ll be coming over!