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Miscellaneous items

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	The pre-WP&YR gold rush building, the Saint James Hotel, can still be seen in Skagway. It's currently a storage area for the city's hardware store but is often a stop for the National Park Service walking tours and is mentioned often on the WP&YR excursions since a chance meeting of contractor Michael J. Heney and representatives of the Close Bros. financial house from Great Britain in the hotel bar in early 1898 resulted in the creation of the WP&YR, the "railroad built of gold".
	One of many WP&YR buildings in town, this is along the Railroad dock's tracks heading into town. Originally called the Standard Four building, it was more often called the White Building by employees up through 1999. It's a storage area for gift shop items and snacks for train passengers and is visited often by staff members. In early 2000, the building was painted red, so a competition was held to rename it—few remember it as the Standard Four building and calling it the White Building seemed pretty inappropriate. The winning entry was to call it the BFKAW, the "Building formerly known as White".
	An interior view of the Shops in early April 1999, part of the special Rotary #1 railfan groups program.
	The Trail of '98 as seen from the train. Historically, I feel the view of the Deadhorse Gulch is very important to understanding what went on during the 1897-98 Klondike Gold Rush. This view is one of several that is seen by the rail passenger but not seen by Skagway visitors who opt to take other tours. It's an important part of the Klondike Gold Rush and one that a small percentage of visitors wish we'd not mention. Jack London wrote of this trail in a very compelling fashion. Use your browser's Back* button to return after visiting the London link.*
	The railbus arrived in 1998 and was put into service in 1999 transporting Chilkoot Trail hikers from Bennett to Fraser on the weekdays when the Lake Bennett Adventure was not running. This 1999 photo is of the railbus at Fraser BC with (appropriately, since Lake Bennett is the destination of the short train) coach Lake Bennett, #240.
	A view of the cab of Railbus 5 from the passenger compartment.
	The railbus seating area filled with the 2000 Trains Unlimited railfan tour members.
	A Casey Car, one of the WP&YR's speeders in Carcross in 1999, supports the section crew's work preparing the rails for the 2000 Golden Spike Centennial.
	During the Golden Spike Centennial July 29, 2000, a Casey was placed on a small section of track and opened to the visitors. With the beeping of the Casey's horn by the kids throughout the day, I'm amazed the battery lasted all day long.
	Engine 114, most often used by work trains of the WP&YR rather than put into passenger service, is seen here in 1999 as it pushes one the the returned "Colombian Alcos" back towards the Shops.
	"That'll do" A Railroad Dock scene repeated hundreds of times each summer—a brakeman signaling the engineer and conductor that the returning morning Summit Excursion can come to a stop, offload passengers, and get ready to start all over again for the afternoon run. Typically, however, hand signals are used here rather than radio communication. Even with four large ships in port simultaneously, for the most part each ship has its own dedicated train.
	There are no functioning, and only a couple remaining water tanks from the WP&YR. One is in Fraser BC but this one is above Carcross on Montana Mountain. Bought and brought here by the Karma Kargyu Society of Whitehorse as a meditation site, it can only be seen by those who drive up the old mine road above Carcross!
	On most days in the busy tourist season, there will be three Summit Excursions on the rails simultaneously. Here we see the arrival of the second Summit train on the right. The first train with its locomotives moved to the other side of the train has backed up on the main line. When the second train's engines are run around to the opposite end of its train, the first will pull into the lakeside siding, the second will back up on the main line and both will await the arrival of the third Summit train. [1200-pixel wide image]
	As the third Summit train arrives on the right, the first train is able to leave the siding and begin the downhill run back to Skagway. [1200-pixel wide image]
	The White Pass summit from Alaska looking into British Columbia. Until service is restored to Carcross, no scheduled passenger train service extends into Yukon Territory. Like Amtrak, however, through service to Whitehorse, Yukon is provided by a rail-motorcoach combination. This through service to Whitehorse makes the WP&YR a true Common Carrier narrow gauge railway, unlike the other purely tourist excursion narrow gauge railways running today.