Re: Actually

"The White Pass avoided using #69 and its sisters in the winter on the US side of the pass."
The Engine House Register shows that #69 was used as a helper engine on almost every train up the hill out of Skagway, winter and summer.
As for the K-28s, WP&Y engineer JD True had this to say about them.
"There were seven of them which were re-numbered 250 through 256 on the White Pass. They arrived in Skagway in November or December 1942 while I was on vacation just before my induction into the Army. I worked only a couple of months after my return and before entering the Army so I had a chance to work two or three times on them.
On the Rio Grande they were called mudhens. During the winter with ice and snow build up along side the track the mainrod crank would lift the engine slightly from side to side creating a movement something like a duck waddling. I guess that's where they got the name mudhen.
They were rated for a little more tonnage up the hill than the 70 class, but certainly weren't near the locomotive. They must have been tough old girls in order to waddle through the ice without damaging anything. The couple of times I fired them I think they were free enough steamers. All things considered, I guess they were pretty good narrow gauge steam engines."
It would appear that the nickname "sports model" never made it to the WP&Y.
The EHR shows that they received a lot of use.