Carcross to Bennett on the WP&YR “Washout Special”
On May 13, 2009, the White Pass & Yukon Route announced that the seasonal rail service from Skagway to Carcross which was scheduled to begin on May 22 had been suspended due to a major washout of the rail line 4 miles south of Bennett. Although only a small percentage of the 437,660 passengers who experienced the WP&YR in 2008 went all the way to Carcross, it’s a growing market and Holland America uses the Carcross train to bring their Yukon/Alaska cruisetour passengers up from Skagway en route to Whitehorse, so repairing the damage is a high priority.
On May 26, two passenger cars were trucked from Skagway to Carcross and the “Washout Special” was initiated using locomotive 95, which had been used to haul work trains south from Carcross for the past few years. When I went down to Skagway on June 3rd I got “train fever” and bought tickets on the Washout Special for Cathy and I to celebrate the incredible weather we’ve been having in recent weeks. For $126 US total, we got an incredible day!
While I usually post the photos from my trips here on the blog, there are too many for this format today, so I’ve posted the album over at my RailsNorth.com site. There’s more commentary to be added as time permits today, but I just had to show you the photos 🙂 The 3 below are samples of the 22 photos posted there…
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