Re: White Pass and Yukon Route

The White Pass purchased several of the locomotives for post-war use.

The White Pass crews were NOT fans of the K-28s. The #69 was one of the very few outside frame locomotives the White Pass owned. It was used mainly only in summer months. The White Pass is plagued by springs that will allow water to run under the snow, forming ice ledges. The counterweights would strike these ice ledges causing issues with staying on the rails.

Unlike the Rio Grande, the White Pass did not use drag flangers of a type similar to the Rio Grande and RGS. The flangers they did use were locomotive mounted or mounted on a rotary caboose and about the same size as those mounted on a locomotive.

If you examine the entire steam locomotive fleet, I believe the White Pass only owned four outside frame locomotives. The rest were all inside frames.

They purchased a couple of the Silverton locomotives and a few of the other imports. The ET&WNC 4-6-0s were supposedly well liked by White Pass, not U.S. Army crews, and might explain the desire to buy them. The fire unfortunately destroyed them.

The White Pass was on its last legs with tons of deferred maintenance when WW II started. The Army turned the line back over in worn out condition.

If you read the late J.D. True's two books, the general consensus of the White Pass hands was the southern railroaders had no clue about running a mountain railroad that was largely a winter operation. They knew when to leave things alone and not run trains. The Army insisted on trying to clear the line and run trains. The result was lots of stranded trains and wasted snow clearing operations.