(Click on the pictures below to obtain larger images, which take longer to download.) Photographs © George P. Landow may be copied without written permission for any noncommercial use — for hobbies, education, and so on. If you have any additional information on the locomotives or rolling stock in these pictures, please feel free to send it along to me at george@landow.com; pictures are welcome, too. GPL)
Although the scenery on the run from Carcross to Sagway several times changes dramatically, this photo presents a typical sight, since it contains the three elements one wants a picture of this railroad: the train curving along the side of a hill or mountain, the lake or river at one side, and in the distance the mountains and clouds, which are hard to capture without bright sunlight. This photograph, for instance, really doesn’t capture the beauty of the scene.
Left: A map of the trip available both outside the station in Carcross and on postcards. Right: The train pulled by two Alco diesels slows down as it pulls across this iron truss bridge and into the tiny town.
Left: The old depot which now functions primarily as a store with high quality tourist goods. Right: Our car the no. 344 Lake Munroe. Although clearly modernized inside with sets of comfortable, recently upholstered seats that flank tables, the cars externally look like they come from the 1890s, resembling, in fact, the cars represented by the old TYCO HO passenger cars.
Along the Route from Carcross to Bennett and ending at Skagway
Left: As the locomotives approached station, this conductor or train main jumped off the still rolling train and sprinted ahead to switch the turnout to the right — the first leg of the Y used to reverse directions for the return South. Middle: Now turned around and facing the bridge over which it entered into town, the double-headed train, the approaches the turnout seen in the previous picture. The train master, who is standing on the second diesel, waves at the camera. Right: The train master, David Downes, later approached George, saying, “I can see you know your way around trains” and took him on a tour of the now-closed portions of the Bennett station (see below).
The train stopped at Bennett for a 30 minute break. The mostly closed station now exists only as a museum, but Train Master David showed George around the still fully furnished kitchen and dining room where passengers on the train excursions would eat a meal of stew and fixings — a lot better than the cold sandwich now! As part of the behind-the-scenes tour, David showed some of the railroad calendars with specially commissioned scenes.
Although as the trip begins in Carcross, the train passes scenes dominated by bare grey granite mountains, the scenery later has more green.
The right picture shows a scene in the South when the train passes close to a fast-moving river with an unnavigable class-6 rapids.
Left: The train at rest at Bennett. Right: The train crossing a combination steel deck bridge and wooden trestle.
