Railroad Profile: White Pass & Yukon Route

Steven and I have been talking recently, and we had an idea for a model railroad, which I thought I would share.  The White Pass & Yukon Route offers some unique modeling possibilities, but is small enough to fit in a small to medium sized space.  If space allowed, it could also occupy a fairly large space.

The White Pass & Yukon Route is based in Skagway, Alaska, and runs from there, over the White Pass, to Fraser, British Columbia, and Carcross, Yukon Territory.  Eventually, it ends in downtown Whitehorse, YT.  The railroad is approximately 110 miles long, however trains do not regularly operate to Whitehorse.  Most trains do not go any farther than Carcross.

WP&YR Depot and Offices, Skagway, AK.
All photos by James Ogden.

The railroad is headquartered in Skagway, AK.  Skagway is a port town that serves the Yukon, and is a popular cruise ship destination.  Skagway came to be during the Klondike Gold Rush, in the late 1890's, and the railroad itself was founded in Skagway in 1898.  The plan was to build a railroad line all the way to Dawson City, YT, which is about 500 miles from Skagway.  During the Gold Rush, most of the prospectors were headed for Dawson City, to the Klondike River, where the gold was rumored to be.  Before the railroad was built, they would take a ship to either Skagway or Dyea, and then hike over the mountains.  From Skagway, many would go over the White Pass, to the Canadian border, and into the Yukon.  From Dyea, which does not exist today, prospectors would hike up the Chilkoot Trail, where they would cross into Canada and head for the Yukon.  Both passes were dangerous and difficult.  Some enterprising people in Skagway realized that there would be a market for a rail line to Dawson City, and so the White Pass & Yukon Route was founded, and construction began in Skagway.

A train arriving in Skagway.

The White Pass & Yukon Route, as its name implies, took the White Pass over the mountains into the Yukon.  While the White Pass was longer than the Chilkoot Pass, by the distance covered, the grades were less steep and the terrain was less rugged.  Despite the longer distance, that made it more ideal for building a railroad line.  The railroad was never completed to Dawson City, simply because the Gold Rush ended.  Since most of the customer base was to be gold miners, there was no sense in building beyond Whitehorse.  The gold rush was very short lived.  By the time all the prospectors arrived in Skagway or Dyea, got themselves and their gear over the mountains, and then traveled to Dawson City, all the residents of Dawson City had already staked claims where the gold was, and there was very little left.  The gold rush ended with very few of the prospectors ever finding any gold.  However, the railroad was there to stay, and it is because of the railroad that Skagway exists today.  Dyea had no railroad, and when the gold rush was over, the town was abandoned and has disappeared over the last century.

Despite the end of the Klondike Gold Rush, the railroad continued to be an important link from the Yukon to the Pacific Ocean.  For decades, there was no Alaska Highway, connecting Whitehorse to other parts of North America.  The most practical way to ship people and cargo to and from the Yukon was to use Skagway as the port town, and the railroad as the link.  In years since the gold rush, other metal ores have been found in the Yukon.  This lead to the railroad building an ore dock in Skagway, so that the ores, primarily lead ore, could be exported from the Yukon.  At one point the railroad owned ships, barges, tugboats, trucks and a shipping container company to move its cargo.

Car #328, Stewart River, and old wooden car.

As the cruise industry has grown, particularly in Alaska, the business of the railroad has shifted.  Years ago, the ocean going equipment was sold, the container division was absorbed into another company, and the ore cars were set aside.  The old wooden passenger cars were brought back into service, and cruise passengers began booking tours on the White Pass & Yukon Route.  The diesels that once pulled ore through the pass were put to work pulling tourists over the pass.  The tour industry has grown to make the White Pass & Yukon Route the busiest tourist railroad in North America.  It is also the only tourist railroad in the world which crosses an international boundary.  The railroad continues to employ its fleet of antique, wooden passenger cars, with wood stoves for heat.  It has expanded its fleet to include some newer, steel passenger cars, which were designed to be similar in appearance to the older wooden cars.  While tourist operations are currently the primary operations of the railroad, they have recently talked about expanding to haul ore again.

Class 90 diesel locomotive.

The White Pass & Yukon Route is unique for a variety of reasons.  Due to the terrain, it was built at a three foot narrow gauge, rather than the standard, 4' 8.5" gauge of most of North America.  This allowed the railroad to build smaller bridges and tunnels, tighter turns, and lighter equipment.  The railroad still runs two steam locomotives, as well as a rotary snow plow.  The railroad does not run regularly during the winter, but every spring, they do take out the rotary plow for a railfan weekend.  Usually that is in April.  The railroad also has a number of diesel locomotives that they operate, including their famous Class 90 diesels.  Besides the Class 90's, they have several ALCo units, built by Montreal Locomotive Works, and one more modern wide cab locomotive, built by Bombardier.

ALCo diesel locomotive, coupled
between two Class 90's.

Most of the action on the railroad can be found in Skagway, which is convenient for modelling.  Skagway is a small town.  The entire town is four blocks wide by about twenty blocks long.  At one end of town is the waterfront, with the docks. The ore dock still has railroad tracks to it.  The Broadway dock is often used by cruise ships, and there is also a railroad track to that dock.  The railroad dock has tracks out on the dock, and that is also used by cruise ships.  Just north of the docks is the railroad offices, the depot, and the downtown Skagway area.  Skagway, to this day, still has wooden sidewalks and false fronted buildings, just as it did during the gold rush.

The railroad runs up the east side of town, and the railroad shops and yard are at the north end of town, between the mountains and the Skagway River.  Just beyond the shops is the gold rush cemetery, where noteworthy locals, such as Jefferson "Soapy" Smith and Frank Reid.  From there, the railroad continues north into the White Pass.  The Canadian border is at the top of the pass, less than 20 miles from Skagway, but the next town the railroad gets to is Fraser, BC.  From there it continues on to Carcross, and the tracks run all the way to Whitehorse.

Map from www.skagway.com.

A small model railroad could model Just Skagway.  As I mentioned, that is where most of the action is.  Depending on the space available, a model railroad could include just the depot and docks area, with the main line running off to a staging area.  A slightly larger model could also include the yard and shops, again, with the main line running off to a staging area.  In a large space, a portion of the main line could also be built over the White Pass, to Fraser or beyond.  The area the railroad occupies in Skagway actually lends itself to an L or U shaped model railroad quite well.  Such a model could be built and quite accurately represent Skagway.

Bombardier DL-535E(W) diesel locomotive, at the shops.

As far as the railroad goes, the White Pass & Yukon Route is would be a unique and interesting railroad to model.  Because it is not too large, it could be modeled accurately in a fairly small to medium sized space.  The only place where a modeler might run into problems is with the locomotives.  Finding appropriate wooden passenger cars commercially available is fairly easy.  Standard gauge cars could be purchased, and then have new trucks installed.  Even model narrow gauge steam locomotives are common enough.  They can be a little tricker to find, but there have been enough narrow gauge rail lines in the past that steam locomotives are generally pretty easy to find.  The challenge is going to be in finding narrow gauge diesel locomotives.  I know that the Class 90's have been commercially manufactures, in brass, but they are quite rare, and being brass models, they can be quite expensive.  Kits have been offered off and on for the ALCo locomotives, and those are usually affordable.  Finding a narrow gauge ALCo fully assembled is also tricky.  As far as the Bombardier locomotive goes, that would almost certainly need to be scratchbuilt.  The railroad only owns one though, so a modeler could even leave it out of their fleet.  Of course, choosing to model the railroad when they only operated steam locomotives would eliminate the need for any of the rare and unique diesel locomotives.  Overall, I think the White Pass & Yukon Route lends itself quite well to model railroading, and with its history, there are a lot of modeling possibilities.