Things to do / Travel Guide
Address:231 Second Avenue
Skagway, Alaska
Tel:
(800) 343-7373
All aboard and welcome to the White Pass & Yukon Route Railroad, an International Historic Civil Engineering Landmark made famous by the Klondike Gold Rush in 1898! At the WP&YR Railroad, you'll climb almost 3000 feet in just 20 minutes on a narrow gauge railway, go through tunnels, turn at 16 degree cliff hanging grades, and go over numerous bridges—all this through beautiful Skagway, Alaska, northern British Columbia, and the Yukon Territory. Along the way you'll learn about the Klondike Gold Rush and the development of the area that remains mostly comprised of untouched glaciers, mountains, and gorges.
The White Pass & Yukon Route Railroad has now been in existence for over a hundred years. Mainly serving the mining industry and the small communities in Alaska, British Columbia, and the Yukon Territory, when the mining industry collapsed in the early 1980s, the railroad no longer had the means to subsist. Mineral prices became too low to support the WP&YR. It was only in 1988 that the tourist industry revived the railroad, at that time serving 37,000 passengers. Today, the WP&YR is Alaska's most popular shore excursion and carries over 430,000 passengers in the May to September tourist season. It has once again become a huge success!
The train that once started as a single line with a single route (from Skagway, Alaska to Whitehorse in the Yukon Territory) now offers fully narrated tours that range from three to six hours and depart from either Skagway, Fraser (British Columbia), Carcross (Yukon), or Whitehorse. Many of the trips include comfortable rides in either restored or replica passenger coaches that are pulled by vintage diesel locomotives. NOTE: Some day trips require a passport or proof of citizenship.
The White Pass & Yukon Route Railway may seem out of the way, but in the end, that is what adds to the train ride's majesty, excitement, and beauty. Riding a comfortable train through clouds and up against glaciers in a wide expanse of beauty an experience you won't find anywhere else in the country, so bring the whole family along to ride the "railway built of gold."