This is by far the most outstanding job of vidioing a senic train ride I have ever seen. Fantastic work. You really feel like you are there. Nice for anyone who can't make it there in person. Thanks
I've watched hundreds, if not thousands, of RU-vid videos, and this one is in the top three. I've been to Skagway a couple of times, but was on the highway wondering what the rail route was like. Now I know. Thanks for posting this excellent piece of work.
This video brings back memories! I rode behind No. 73 in September 1982. It was part of a special charter that the BBC happened to document in a TV series.
Here I am in Launceston Tasmania in Lockdown, enjoying the most spectaular vidio clip Ive ever come across, totally amazed at the grandeur of the Yukon! Our tiny 3'6" guage and distances by rail has NOTHING on what rail has achieved through your beautiful landscape, and I might not have the finances to experience personnally what Ive just put in my bucket list, but I so appreciate what you have done to share Loco 73 and its amazing route. Thankyou!
Michael Jessup Thank you very much, I’m glad you enjoyed it. Like you, I have toured the world by video, there are amazing places everywhere. But Alaska is unique by its huge vastness of of rugged beauty..
One of my favorite films is Breakheart Pass with Charles Bronson. Partly because Bronson is too cool and partly because of the train scenes. I do believe you have far exceeded the train part of Breakheart Pass. Can't give this enough thumbs up.
Spectacular video! My wife and I traveled on this incredible route back in August of 2016!!! We started way up in Frazier, making the run down to Skagway on a beautiful day just like this! Your sweeping distance shots are so much different than a lot of other videos on RU-vid ! One really gets a visual sense of the immense grandeur of the Alaskan wilderness from the beautiful vistas as viewed from the opposite side of the valley! The added beauty of the steam locomotive pulling the White Pass Yukon train through the scenic wonders of the mountains and forests really accents the feeling of 'being there!' Gorgeous definition and color put your video at the top of the BEST of the White Pass Railroad videos that I've seen! I have to save a copy of this one! Thank You for a memorable, return excursion on the most beautiful train ride I've ever experienced!
Titan52berg : thank you very much, I did this over 2 trips to Alaska, the first trip was on the train and the next year I rented a car and chased it up to the Canadian border. I really love the area, It feels like Skagway has stopped in time.
Locomotive # 73 was rebuilt by my familys shop, it came to us as a bunch of rusted out un matched parts that were remanufactured to it's original state maybe even better!
watched the film to the end. very impressive. everything is impressive, mountains, bridges, view, road. I have a few questions: 1) how many kilometers are the road? 2) how many years was it under construction? 3) to what height above sea level does it rise? thanks for the answer. then I would write in Russian for Russian viewers. это просто охренеть! я такого ещё не видел. железная дорога прямо по горе. вокруг горы и пропасти. сколько труда затрачено. как всё грамотно продумано. и как снято.
Thanks, I’m glad you enjoyed it. The railroad construction was started in 1898 and completed in 1900. It main purpose was to transport people and mining equipment to Whitehorse, Yukon in Canada for the Gold Rush of 1898. The railroad went from Skagway Alaska 172 kilometers to Whitehorse, Yukon. In the first 32 kilometers it climbed 3.9% grades to White Pass at an elevation of 883 meters. The line was mainly a freight hauling railroad until it closed in 1982. In 1989 it was reopened as a tourist attraction, today it runs from Skagway to Carcross, Yukon at a distance of 107 kilometers. The equipment roster is 2 steam locomotives, 20 diesels and 79 passenger cars, some are original from the early days of the railroad. Let me know if you need more information on any of my videos.
No nada más es de tener trenes de mucho Lugo hay que darle mantenimiento porque por eso hay accidentes y se dañan los trenes y vidas humanas no nada mas en México en todo el mundo
Definitely the road isn’t the same, both steam engines are oil fired, they only run certain days so you need to check with the office to find out what days they run. When I went they only had one engine in operation. But I think they have both running now.
@@Tshasta4449 Most people will tell you that CN was running it into the ground on purpose. The kicker is Terra Transport was a highly viable solution to keeping the railway open if they had put more effort into attracting new customers.
@@Tshasta4449 The EMD's they used were NF110 and NF210 models, which were the long hood of an SD7 with an SW cab on the back. Most of the equipment was scrapped, some of NF's were sold to Chile and Nicaragua. There are a few displays of old equipment in Newfoundland, sadly most of them have been vandalized but a few are still in good shape. The G8's they used for branchline service were export models riding on A1A trucks. The diesels arrived in the mid-50's, in the mid-60's they started running standard gauge equipment on narrow gauge trucks, in '79 they reincorporated as Terra Transport in an effort to containerize traffic which worked very well. CN really screwed Newfoundland over, after the railway was torn out they discontinued the bus service and their segment of the Trans-Canadian Highway is no better than a state highway here in America. I think they were WAY too focused on making the entirety of CN profitable to entice private investors to take over in 1995 when the government got out of the railway business. There are a lot more details, I got a little carried away with this response but it's a very interesting railroads so I've tried to learn everything I can.
Rode this train several times as a kid to go shopping in the big town of Whitehorse. This was before the road was built between Skagway and Whitehorse. Winter-time for the train could be interesting, depending on the snowfall in the pass. Lots of memories in this video. Thanks.
@@Tshasta4449 We were fortunate to have the steam in service that day, plus the climb to the Canadian boarder above low storm clouds was a ride of a lifetime!
It definitely is a unique bridge. At the time it was built it was the tallest cantilever bridge in the world. I have a feeling that they wouldn’t spend the money rebuilding, but one can always hope.
WOW! Fantastic drone footage! Scenery defies description! Ferroequinologists' nirvana! To all railfans and those who are into train operations: Was the Skagway-bound return leg "meet" a double saw-by move with 4 trains? 3 paired sets of diesels (#95 & #96, #92 & #93, #94 & #99) and #73? Was there a 5th train? And why were 3 coaches and an observation car left on the main without an engine at 35:10? #95 leads #96 pointed towards Skagway at 33:03 whereas #96 leads #95 at 38:35 (also Skagway-bound). Since paired diesels back-to-back don't need to go around the balloon track (whereas #73 must), was this "second appearance" actually a different day?
I went on the White Pass train ride, back in 1992. There was a car on that train, the last car. It was kinda like a porch, on wheels, open air. I rode on that car, with 10-12 other passengers as the train was starting it's climb over, the White Pass. I filmed the entire trip going up. Every once in awhile, I hook the old 8mm ( not a Mauser ) up to the TV, and re-live that train ride. They didn't have the #73 pulling the train that day, however they pulled it out of the shop so as we passed by it, we could all get some shots of it. Fun trip, I'd do it again.
Great work with this video combining behind the 73 with the drone shots. It's a fantastic scenic train ride. I was fortunate to have had a few footplate rides on the 73 back in 1988 when I was driving my 1969 VW campervan around the world and as I sat in my van I heard a steam train whistle which led me to where it was at the engine shed. Keith the train driver invited me onto the footplate taking passengers from the cruise ships. I did this a few times and he organised for me to go on the diesels (which were painted blue at the time) in the cab up to the top of the pass. Great memories, unforgettable experience which your video has brought back. In addition just three weeks ago I was videoing RX207 Port Elliott to Victor Harbor along the coast in South Australia if you care to look. I just subscribed to your channel and please do the same for me Train Lord. Cheers for a job well done.
Thanks for the kind words. Your cab ride would have been awesome, nothing like seeing the view from the head end. I will definitely check out your RU-vid and subscribe. 👍
@@Tshasta4449 great I will definitely take a look. I certainly remember seeing a few videos of the 4449 some years ago. Pity it's not doing much at the moment. As a Dutch Australian driving my VW campervan through Oregon and Washington I wasn't aware in those days of all the steam engines running at the time so I missed out. But I film here in South Australia and I have my own HO scale train layout and I am a member of an HO scale train club layout which helps keep the interest up.
unglaubich uberlieber I did it by taking a Princess cruise to Alaska. I have taken them from San Francisco and Seattle. They also leave Vancouver Canada an cruise the inside passage. The cruises from Vancouver and Seattle are 7 nights, the San Francisco cruise is 10 nights. Most of the train trips are powered by diesel. The steam engine was only operated 2 times a week. You can Google the White Pass & Yukon railroad in Skagway Alaska for information , although with all the crazy things going on with the virus a lot has changed.
thanks so much for an absolutely superb job of capturing the sights and sounds of a great railway and steam locomotive. this video is head and shoulders above the rest!
Thrilling and exotic scenic wonders, but some commentary on the stop to take on water and the reason on the back up etc would have been the icing on the cake. Also how come no shots inside the cab?
Thanks, I wish I knew someone on the railroad that I could have gotten a cabride, nowadays you need management permission and that is almost impossible without some pull.
My wife and I rode the WP & Y RR in 2010 from Skagway to the White Pass and back. The engine was a diesel, but the cars looked like those in this video. We traveled in October and got to see snow up high, which we don't get too often in SC. The only trip we've ever take on a steam train was in Scotland in 2012, when we took the Jacobite from Ft. William to Malaigh and back. Both were great experiences.
Really good video, wondefull scenery and fantastic steam engine.What I don't understand is why it takes 2 enormous diesels to do the same job ? It would make sense to me to save the diesels for freight work and restore another steam engine as a spare. I can't abide diesels. When modernising railways in the UK, it was a mistake, in my opinion to use diesels as a half way house between steam and electric,
Steam is my favorite also, unfortunately the high expense of maintenance doomed them compared to diesels and electrics. Every 5 years a steam engine is required by law to have a complete boiler rebuild even if it only operated 10 times. Plus most parts aren’t available anymore and you have to start from scratch
First heard about this Railway in a documentary that my grandmother brought back in 2003 and 13 years later she and I got to go to this Railroad and I got to ride behind steam locomotive number 73 and I tell you it was worth it although I wish I had have done a better job at filming the ride
the only problem with this video is the whistle was only blown for a short burst in town before leaving a short burst getting water and 2 short burst while meeting the other train. maybe there was more and you did not catch them in time but would love too hear more whistle that is why people also love steam trains. or the engineer just did not blow it . but i have watched this video a couple times and love it.
Robert Rockwell Unfortunately there aren’t any highway crossings, that is why the whistle is hardly heard, they would use it when they backed up, but only 2 short blasts. What you heard was pretty much everything.
D Moore No, they use a heavy crude, there is a steam heating coil in the tender that keeps the oil liquid so it can be pumped into an atomizing nozzle in the firebox.
It definitely was built in extreme conditions, considering the terrain, and harsh winter weather. Hats off to the men that did the back breaking work by hand and when they could use mules. The track gauge North American 3 foot 6 inch, Which is 1.0668 meters.
No, I took the drone shots a year later, I had to fly it 2 miles to where tunnel #1 is. I found a safe place to land it and waited for the train. It would have been too difficult to try and recover the drone from the train.
