Here’s a true rail fan, working on a tourist railway on his holidays…
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Welsh tourist stoked to be part of Puffing Billy preservation https://www.theage.com.au/national/victoria/welsh-tourist-stoked-to-be-part-of-puffing-billy-preservation-20230102-p5c9ve.html

#HeritageRailway #TouristRailway #Melbourne

People seem to be enjoying my train posts, so here’s another one.

This time we journey to Alaska, USA. I arrived there in 2017 after catching two trains through the Rocky Mountains from Vancouver to coastal Prince Rupert, then two ferries through the Inside Passage to Skagway.

Then I boarded a train along the White Pass & Yukon Route Railway. This railway was built around 1900, in response to the Klondike gold rush in Yukon. Before it existed, gold prospectors would arrive in Skagway by ship, then have to journey overland with their supplies on a horse or mule. The railway lasted as a commercial operation until the late 20th century, but was then resurrected for the benefit of cruise ship passengers, who visit Skagway in large numbers in summer.

Not every train along the railway crosses the international border between the USA and Canada, but the one I was on did! It ascended slowly up 900 metres of altitude along a narrow-gauge track into the mountains between the two countries – spectacular scenery – then eventually crossed the Canadian border and terminated at Carcross, Yukon. From there we were bused the short distance down to Whitehorse, which was the original terminus of the line.

I highly recommend this journey to you, but you have to do it in summer! Memorable experience.

#RailTravel #Railway #Train #Trains #Alaska #Canada #Yukon #TouristRailway