Jerry,
From experience I believe almost nothing published in newspapers, and when politicians get involved I believe even less. Congress critters are well known to bend any facts to suit their personal agendas.
Someone sitting behind a desk in a warm office in the Lower 48 has no concept of what it's like to work with anything mechanical at -30 to -40 or colder, especially when one considers that we've only got about 7 or 8 hours of daylight at the time of the year when it gets that cold.
The Army treated the equipment on the WP&YR no differently than they treated equipment anywhere during WWII. Long term maintenance and preservation were never priorities -- there was a war to be won and nothing else mattered.
I'm glad my dad and my uncles kept that in mind, otherwise we would be living in a far different world today.
Mike
Whitehorse Yukon