White Pass & Yukon travel options

“Narrow Gauge History, Ready to Ride” on pages 40-47 of Trains Magazine’s May 2016 issue explores the 85-car treasure trove of 3-foot gauge passenger cars that Alaska’s White Pass & Yukon Route deploys during its summer excursion season.

The most popular way visitors experience the railroad is by signing up for a shore excursion on one of the many cruise ships that call at Skagway, the line’s headquarters and southern terminus. They can also be booked in advance directly with the railroad. With few exceptions, however, the big boats all arrive in the morning and leave the same evening, leaving precious little time to take in more than one White Pass adventure.

If a (highly recommended) ride behind steam is on your wish list for 2016, you need to select a ship that is scheduled to be in port on Mondays, Thursdays, or Fridays (except July 1) from May 20 through Sept. 9. The round trips those days operate just over the Canadian border to a loop turnaround just south of Fraser, where the locomotive also takes on water for the return journey. Passengers are not allowed to get off, but there is plenty of opportunity to enjoy stack music on the challenging uphill grades from open platforms at the ends of each car.

In addition to diesel-powered runs to White Pass Summit that depart every morning and afternoon, one-day cruise visitors can also opt for a longer journey along the shores of scenic Lake Bennett to Carcross, Yukon Territory, over the entire 67-mile operable segment. Those trains run Tuesday through Thursday, May 31 through Sept. 3. Friday northbound and Saturday southbound excursions also operate with same-day bus connections at Carcross to both Whitehorse and Skagway.

But what if you want to hike the rugged Chillkoot Trail and other forested pathways around Skagway or just hang out for a few days at a bed-and-breakfast or downtown hotel watching and listening to the White Pass narrow gauge cavalcade? The Whitehorse airport is served by Air Canada jets from Vancouver, B.C., and once-weekly Condor Air round trips from Frankfort, Germany; WP&YR motor coaches connect from the Alaska Highway outpost with the Carcross and Fraser trains. At Skagway, the waterfront air facility accommodates float-equipped commuter planes from nearby Juneau, which has direct flights from other Alaska cities and “the Lower 48.”

A more interesting way to get to Skagway is the Alaska Marine Highway System of carferries. The M.V. Matanuska and M.V. Columbia provide weekly sailings to and from Prince Rupert, B.C., and Bellingham, Wash., respectively; those ships and two smaller vessels together offer daily passage between Skagway and Juneau, the nearby state capital. They certainly don’t provide as many creature comforts that cruise ship passengers enjoy, but staterooms are comfortable, the food in the cafeteria is hearty and varied, and there is ample deck space to take in gobs of fresh air as the ferry slips between islands along the Inside Passage.

However, coordinating Marine Highway schedules, limited Skagway lodging availability, and train departure dates can be a daunting exercise even for knowledgeable travel agents, so expect to spend plenty of time planning logistics. Marine Highway reservations can be made weekdays by calling 800-642-0066 or anytime online at www.dot.state.ak.us/amhs, although the website is not easily navigated unless you specify the name of the ship. Schedules change depending upon the day of departure and advance stateroom bookings for overnight trips are essential.

For instance, there were only a handful of August 2015 dates in which traveling by rail and sea from Vancouver could be accomplished without staying more than one night in Jasper, Alta., Prince George, B.C., and Prince Rupert hotels between riding VIA Rail Canada’s tri-weekly Canadian, VIA’s now-unnamed, tri-weekly Jasper-Prince George-Prince Rupert train (which does not make a same-day connection with either the eastbound or westbound Canadian), and the Marine Highway’s once-weekly Matanuska out of Prince Rupert.

Planning gets still more complicated if opting for VIA’s “Touring Class” with at-seat meals in a full-length, single level dome between Jasper and Prince Rupert because the one car assigned to the tri-weekly service only runs every other trip in each direction from June 15 through the end of September. Given this year’s connections, that means travelers wishing to duplicate in 2016 the Vancouver-Skagway rail-water journey Trains took last year would have to leave Vancouver every other Friday beginning June 17. Good luck!