WP&Y, who rides this, among train buffs?

I was talking with a large group of train fans the other day, in the Pacific NW. I was wearing my White Pass cap (the one you can only buy on the train) and I was asked if I'd ridden it. Twice, I told them. A quick informal poll determined I was the only one. A few of them knew people who had ridden, but none were train fans (all had been on a cruise ship and rode it because it seemed like a cool shore excursion).
The last time I was there in September (my wife and I did a cruise for our honeymoon in 2000 and then for our 15th anniversary), I was buying RR swag in the depot gift shop and the girl at the register noticed I was wearing a cap for another railroad. "Train fan, huh?" she asked. I said yes, mentioning my lifelong quest to personally visit every non-park-train narrow gauge RR in the US (and being very close) and this being my second time there. She smiled and said, "Y'know, we just don't get a lot of people like you here," referring to the casual visitors they mostly get from the cruise ships.
So, it got me wondering how many dedicated train buffs ever get there. I now refer to the WP&Y as, "The most popular railroad in America that train fans never see".
There's no way to judge, but I really wonder how many railfans ever get there.
Frankly, between this line and other NG lines in the US, I've always been baffled why the focus from even NG fans has been almost 100% on the former D&GRW lines...

-Lee

Flickr photo set of my On30 layout