"I've driven to the former D&RGW locations as well as going to the WP&Y twice, and I contend that they're not that much easier to get to than getting to the WP&Y, at least to merit the heavily leaning percentage that goes to the D&S/C&TS as opposed to the WP&Y."
Thanks for the follow up. I appreciate that the WP&Y is a very scenic and historic piece of railroad. But, I can understand the difference in time to get there can work against it. For myself, living in Washington State, I compared travel times from both Seattle (west side) and Cheney (east side) of the state to Skagway and to Chama.
Seattle - Skagway is 1,608 miles and about 31 hours driving time.
Cheney - Skagway is 1712 miles and 32 - 33 hours driving time.
Seattle - Chama is 1,329 miles and 20:30 hours driving time.
Cheney - Chama is 1,233 miles and 19:02 hours driving time.
Also consider the lack of needing to carry a passport when considering going to Colorado / NM vs driving through Canada to reach Skagway from the lower 48 states.
I agree, a lot of enthusiasts are missing a very worthwhile railroad by not visiting the WP&Y, but I can also see where people with travel time constraints or a family that doesn't enjoy camping out could limit the appeal of driving to Alaska to ride the WP&Y.
Again, thanks for responding.
CVM
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Edited 2 time(s). Last edit at 07/13/2016 10:55PM by Charlie Mutschler.