Rode it in June, 2012. Great railroad & great ride. Hiked down to the shops and asked for and got a tour. Took the steam special with #73 to Fraser Meadows. Spent two nights in Skagway. I think I was the only railfan there. The town has a modest population of about 600-1200 at night, but early each morning HUGE cruise ships dock and disgorge over 8000 combined passengers. That is where the majority of the WP&Y's passengers come from. It is pretty amazing to see the town transformed everyday into a tourist mecca. One very strange sight was around 8 pm all of the Cruise ships begin blowing their whistles or horns. This is the warning that it is time to return to the ships. All of the tourists begin heading back to the ships (It kind of reminded me of the scene in "The Time Machine" when the Morlocks would sound the air raid sirens and the Eloy would march like sheep into the underground caverns to be slaughtered by the Morlocks).
By 9 pm the ships are pulling out and the town looks deserted. Restaurants and bars that were totally packed an hour earlier now only have locals who show up after the tourists depart.
Since it is pretty remote (and expensive) to get to Skagway, not many of the lower 48 rail fans get up there. Hope to someday go back and ride all the way to Carcross...
BTW-I wasn't on a cruise ship. I flew in to Juneau and took the inland passage ferry Malaspina (fantastic voyage!) from there to Skagway. When I left I chartered a small airplane back to Juneau.
Edited 1 time(s). Last edit at 07/11/2016 12:15PM by Dave Peterson.