Copied from the White Pass Fan List, posted by Boerries Burkhardt
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OFFICAL PRESS RELASE FROM THE WHITE PASS & YUKON RAILROAD
Railroad Prepares Three Steam Locomotives for Operation or Display
"WE ALWAYS want to keep steam on the White Pass."
Gary Danielson, vice president of the White Pass & Yukon Route, is dispelling rumors that steam operations on the narrow gauge railroad out of Skagway, Alaska, has been slowed or terminated. He asserts that steam locomotive operation and restoration on the WP&Y are alive and well-and growing.
Appearances may have been deceiving over the past year. The railroad's celebrity steam locomotive, 1947 Baldwin 2-8-2 No. 73, has been cold. No. 40 was returned to its owner, the Georgetown Loop Railroad, well before the expiration of its lease to the WP&Y. No. 40 was the 1920 Baldwin 2-8-0 borrowed from Colorado primarily to share the spotlight with No. 73 in the gala centennial celebration on July 29, 2000, of the WP&Y's memorable golden spike ceremony at Carcross, Yukon Territory.
The famous "Gold Rush Narrow Gauge" railroad, a favorite with Alaska cruise ship passengers, was opened in 1900 between Skagway, Alaska, and Whitehorse, Yukon Territory. Today, the WP&Y regularly runs diesel-equipped tourist trains up to spectacular White Pass Summit, along with daily service to Fraser, B. C., and Saturday service to Lake Bennett, B. C.
The steam action has been behind the scenes. The White Pass & Yukon has quietly been working to bring three steam locomotives-Nos. 52, 69 and 73-back on its tracks. All if them have long historic ties to the railroad.
First is No. 73, the last narrow gauge steamer built by Baldwin for an American railroad. Work is well underway in the shops at Skagway to thoroughly overhaul the oil-burning Mikado for many more years of dependable service. Once again, it will lead trains out of the depot at Skagway to the summit of White Pass and on to Bennett.
"Right now, we are in the process of removing all tubes and flues for inspection of the bottom and side sheets of No. 73," Danielson said. "We had a new crown sheet made for it by the Grand Canyon Railway and it needed new flues."
The vice president said No. 40 was returned to Colorado only two years into its five-year lease when plans to run the small 2-8-0 between Bennett and Carcross were delayed by the need to do additional trackwork. Instead, Consolidation No. 69 is returning to the White Pass after 46 years in the "Lower 48." The outside frame 2-8-0 first arrived on the White Pass in 1908, and saw extensive use in freight service between Skagway and Carcross, Yukon, before serving out the 1940s and early 1950s as the railroad's yard goat. It went to the Black Hills Central Railroad, one of America's first tourist or recreational railroads, in Hill City, South Dakota, in 1956. From 1973 to 2001, it operated and was then stored on the Nebraska Midland Railroad. It had been repurchased by the WP&Y in late 2001, and is now in Colorado-and is expected to return to Skagway in 2003. "We are limited on how much steam work we can do at one time," Danielson explained. "Our hope is to bring No. 69 into our shops for evaluation. We would like to run it, but if not, we will cosmetically restore it. We estimate it will cost $300,000 to put it back in operating condition."
Most surprising of all is the White Pass's No. 52-a small 2-6-0 and the first locomotive to operate on the railroad in 1899 when the track was being pushed out of Skagway. The 1881 Brooks Mogul was purchased third hand in 1898. It was the railroad's No. 2 until it was renumbered in 1900. Sister 2-6-0 No. 51, formerly No. 1, is on display at the McBride Museum at Whitehorse.
Since shortly after a disastrous roundhouse fire at Skagway in 1969, No. 52 had been displayed beside the United Transportation Union Hall opposite the Skagway depot. It was the deterioration of this locomotive from neglect and the harsh Alaska weather that prompted its return to the rails of the WP&Y and protective indoor storage, asbestos removal, and evaluation for operating or cosmetic restoration.
"We have leased No. 52 from the group in Skagway that owns it," Danielson said. "It is at our shops. The asbestos has been removed. We have determined it is restorable. The boiler needs some work, but is essentially sound. It would be nice to run it around Skagway-but more likely we will cosmetically restore it."
Much more unusual is the odyssey of No. 69. The outside frame of this locomotive, a pioneering concept in locomotive design at the time, proved to be a problem for No. 69. The counterweights of the driving wheels had to be placed outside the frame-where they tended to strike the frozen ice along the track during the winter and lift the locomotive off the rails. As a result, it was often restricted to non-winter operation.
In 1956, No. 69 was sold by the WP&Y and shipped to South Dakota, where it was christened "Klondike Casey" and ran on the Black Hills Central Railroad from 1958 to 1964, and was then placed in storage until 1973. In that year, it was sold and restored by the Nebraska Midland Railroad, which initially operated at North Platte, Nebraska, in 1973 and 1974 before the entire railroad and its equipment moved over 100 miles east to Grand Island, Nebraska, to become part of the Stuhr Museum of the Prairie Pioneer. No. 69 operated at Grand Island until the early 1990s.
A revival of steam locomotive operations has been a key element of its White Pass. From 1968 to 1979, No. 73 was on display at Bennett. In 1979, it was taken to Whitehorse and restored in 1982 just before the railroad closed down. Operation of the locomotive resumed shortly after the railroad reopened in 1988.
Success brought a pressing need for additional steam power. Fortunately, because of its remote location and use of steam locomotives years after other railroads had dumped their fires in favor of diesels, numerous former WP&Y steamers are still in existence. Some had been dumped into the Skagway River as riprap and were beyond redemption-except as sources of parts. A few are on display. Other WP&Y steam locomotives had been sold to various tourist railways in the Lower 48-but getting one of the subsequent owners to consider reselling a locomotive, even if it was not being used, back to its original owner proved to be a formidable task. The Dollywood Railroad at Pigeon Forge, Tennessee, has three of the White Pass's Mikados, but reportedly did not want to part company with them.
"We also looked at other locomotives such as the former Army 2-8-2, No. 195, that is on display in Skagway," Danielson continued. "It is a heavy locomotive, and not the type of engine we could use. It does not have much pulling power on our grades. It was designed for running on flat terrain in Iran.
"We are definitely trying to upgrade our steam program within budget," he emphasized. Steam or no steam, the White Pass & Yukon Route is a tourist train success story, thanks mostly to the passengers who arrive via cruise ships daily during the summer months. The WP&YR carried 318,993 passengers during its 2001 season.
