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White Pass & Yukon Railroad

  photo gallery from our trip on the railway

"Scenic Railway of the World"

Built in 1898 during the Klondike Gold Rush, this narrow gauge railroad is an International Historic Civil Engineering Landmark - a designation shared with the Panama Canal, the Eiffel Tower and the Statue of Liberty..

The WP&YR climbs nearly 3000 feet in just 20 miles and features steep grades of up to 3.9%, cliff-hanging turns of 16 degrees, two tunnels and numerous bridges and trestles. See the steel cantilever bridge which was the tallest of its kind in the world when it was constructed in 1901.Experience the breathtaking panorama of mountains, glaciers, gorges, waterfalls, tunnels, trestles and historic sites from the comfort of our vintage passenger coaches. Tens of thousands of men and 450 tons of explosives overcame harsh climate and challenging geography to create “the railway built of gold.”

The White Pass was originally a 177-kilometre line between Skagway and Whitehorse, but it now runs 110 kilometers and terminates at Carcross, a little town just inside the Yukon border. Close to half a million people ride the train every year, and it must occur to each and every one of them how staggering an achievement it was for its time.

In the 26 months it took to complete the rail line, 3,500 men worked on it and 35 died.

The ride is uniformly majestic, the views so absurdly stunning (and, in some cases not a little terrifying) they almost seem computer-generated.

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