White Pass & Yukon-Skagway 41 years ago (4)

Thanks for the info on the tender, Bob! I hadn't known up till now... Rader, at the time I took the photo, I was irritated that the VW pickup was in the way of the roster shot I wanted; now I wish I'd turned the camera a little and snapped again.... Patience, Ralph, I have to fit in scanning time.

I snapped a scrap tender photo and heard the distinctive "blatting" of an air horn and turned. At last!


Looking at my photos, Olaf's Colorado pictures come to mind. There is a lot of "top". The contrast of "high" mountains and the small trains in comparison was too good to pass up. I smile now but then I had difficulty taking them out of my photos.

I grew up a mile from (and in plain sight of) the SP mainline. But I was a steam fan and diesels were only interesting if there was nothing else. I would come to be nostalgic over the sound of an Alco (I remember being disappointed my first WP&Y train was not led by one of the famous GE's). A future Colorado resident needing a wash, :


The White Pass was famous as a pioneer of containers. In 1979 it was still making its living hauling them. This train had the craziest containers I'd seen:


The National Park Service had come in and started a Klondike Gold Rush operation, but it was early days and a lot of Skagway was in disrepair. The building on the left, I recall, was the old depot which had then become the Park headquarters. The tracks had been moved one street towards the water so the photo looks at the building rear (we had an appointment with that flatcar early the next morning, it would carry our vehicle):




Edited 4 time(s). Last edit at 05/22/2020 10:28AM by heatermason.