This was Day 5 of my 2007 Alaska Adventure. We stopped in Skagway, and took a train trip to the top of White Pass on a narrow gauge railway, “The Railway Built of Gold.”
It was a thrilling ride. You can’t really relate to just how steep the railway is until you’re riding along and looking waaaaayyyyyyy down. A 10’ roadbed doesn’t seem very wide when a fall would be so far!
I took a lot of pictures. The good news is the ones on the way up to White Pass turned out pretty well. The bad news is the ones I took from White Pass back down to Skagway were messed up, and every file read “Error”. That’s the first time I’ve had that happen in all the years I’ve been using digital cameras. And it's the last time I buy a memory card from some unknown on eBay!
Oh well! If I’d known, I wouldn’t have stayed out on that little platform outside the car freezing my fingers and other parts of my anatomy. I’d have sat in the much warmer coach car and just watched the sights go by.
It’s another trip I’d do again in a heartbeat.
{ 4 comments… read them below or add one }
We took a three hour steam train ride in Colorado a couple years ago (during summer) from Durango to Silverton. It was amazing and beautiful. I actually found the extreme drop-offs to be wonderful. You could see forever! We rode in the enclosed car, but not the fancy “hot chocolate” car.
Wow, that sounds like a lot of fun! I’d love to see Colorado. We love going on train rides. We’ve got a day trip scheduled in October up in West Virginia – hopefully the leaves will have their fall color.
I have dreamed of an adventure like this for years. Maybe one day I’ll get to fullfill that dream. Thank you for sharing those amazing photos with your readers. It’s just the way I dreamed it to be.
I hope you get the chance to go on your adventure Kimmy! I waited … uh, lots of years.
My dad was over 80 years old when we took the trip! Just so ya know, it’s worth the wait! Glad you enjoyed the photos!