I corresponded with J.D. True before he passed away. From what he could recall, the counterweights would hit the ice ledges and lift the locomotives up and then drop them. Had to be an unpleasant experience.
There were lots of places where streams would run under the snow both by and under the track, forming ice ledges. The White Pass did not run drag flangers like the Rio Grande.
Since almost all of the White Pass locomotives were inside frame locomotives, they did not see any reason to worry about these conditions.
I also think that part of why the K-28s were not "popular" with the White Pass crews had a great deal to do with the U.S. Army. The Army ignored the advice of the White Pass employees on how to operate the railroad, almost always to the detriment of operations, the physical plant or the equipment. There was a great deal of "I told you so" that went on.
Mr. True indicated that from all accounts the K-28s were good locomotives, they just weren't a 70 Class and in the eyes of the White Pass engine crews, the 70s were as good as it got. This leads me to believe that the popularity of hte 70s combined with the attitude of the Army and the fact that the K-28s were "Army locomotives," combined with the few operational problems led to the attitude of the White Pass crews towards the K-28s. The outside frames may have also had something to do with the perceptions of the K-28s.
The White Pass, despite the need for large narrow gauge power given the terrain in which it operated, never had many outside frame locomotives. They had one outside frame 4-6-0 and a pair of Baldwin OF 2-8-0s in the entire fleet. One of those 2-8-0s, the 69 is back in Skagway. The 68 was destroyed in a rock slide.
The socalled "MacArthur" 2-8-2s were reasonably popular with the White Pass crews. In fact, despite the significantly lower tractive effort of the "190s", the White Pass purchased a bunch of these from the Army. It would make sense to have purchased the K-28s due to the larger TE. But the 190s were inside frame locomotives. So perhaps there was a bias against outside frame locomotives.
Hope this is all of interest. Please keep in mind other than the comments from Mr. True, a lot of this is reasoned speculation on my part based on reading, research, observation, and other correspondence.
