White Pass & Yukon shops and engine terminal in Skagway
General view of the shops and engine terminal in Skagway.
The White Pass & Yukon shops and engine terminal are located in the northern outskirts of Skagway, along the mainline. This is where about twenty diesel engines, two steam engines (as of 2001) and the large fleet of passenger cars of the WP&YR are maintained. The engine terminal includes a large yard where locomotives, speeders and MOW equipment are parked, as well as a scrap yard full of unused and derelicted equipment.
The shop complex is a large modern sheet metal building, built in 1969 on the site of the former roundhouse destroyed by a fire (as well as several locomotives inside). The maintenance shop is large and well equiped, allowing the WP&YR to be almost autonomous for the maintenance of its diesels. The large fleet keeps the shops busy during the short operating season in summer, but also during winter for heavy overhauls when the trains are not running.
Inside the WP&YR main locomotive shop.
The coach yard of the White Pass & Yukon is located beside the engine terminal, along the mainline further south. About sixty passenger cars are in use for the excursion trains. Some of these cars, bought by the WP&YR when it was incorporated in 1898, are still in use today, after several rebuildings. The rest of the fleet is composed of wooden and more recent steel cars, either bought new by the railroad or built in the WP&YR shops. As the ridership figures keep increasing, the WP&YR ordered again new passenger cars in 1998. The passenger area inside the cars is typically arranged in a large single room and includes a stove because of the harsh climate.
