White Pass and Yukon Route Railway Is One of Alaska"s Most Popular Cruise Vacation Shore Excursions
Imagine riding the engineering marvel of the historic White Pass & Yukon Route (WPYR) wooden railroad through the wilderness and over the White Pass Summit.
Cliff-hanging turns will have you holding on to your breath as the train pulls you up 3,000 feet in only 26 miles.
You can explore the wild west of Alaska and, if you opt for the Bennett Scenic Journey, Canada's Yukon.
Be sure to reserve this shore excursion with your Alaskan cruise.
The WPYR is included on several Alaska cruisetours, including Holland America's Yukon+Double Denali Journey.
This train ride can be added as a shore excursion during your port stop in Skagway or as a cruisetour to Whitehorse and Denali before or after your cruise.
Depending on the itinerary you choose, the cruise portion of your trip is between 3-5 days and the land tour is 7-8 days, for a total Alaskan vacation that lasts 10-13 days.
This is the best train ride EVER The railway starts or ends at the cruise port in Skagway and heads west to cross over the Canadian border.
On the WPYR, you'll enjoy the spectacular view from your vintage parlor car as you climb 50 miles up, over, down and through the White Pass Summit from a slow 5 mph up to speeds of 25 mph on the same route built during the Klondike Gold Rush.
The train follows the path of the infamous Yukon River.
You'll see the notorious Five Finger Rapids, which put fear in the eyes of the Klondike Stampeders who tried to maneuver it.
The railroad was actually built as a result of the treacherous rapids during the Klondike Gold Rush in 1898.
The $10 million project was considered an impossible task but it was literally blasted through coastal mountains in only 26 months.
Thousands of men and nearly 500 tons of explosives overcame difficult weather and terrain conditions to produce "the railway built of gold.
" The train became the safest way to cross the White Pass Summit to get to Whitehorse--the center of the gold rush.
The WPYR was designated an International Historic Civil Engineering Landmark in 1994.
It shared this honor with such engineering marvels as the Eiffel Tower, Statue of Liberty and the Panama Canal.
The WPYR has enjoyed a rich and vivid history throughout its 100 years of operation.
The Klondike has gone from the gold mining operations of the first stampeders to large corporations now controlling the mining in the region.
During World War II, the WPYR was the main transportation route for bringing in supplies for the US Army's Alaska Highway construction project.
The railway was closed in 1982 during the mining collapse.
It was restored and reopened in 1988 with cruise tourists in mind.
Today it is Alaska's most popular shore excursion carrying nearly 400,000 passengers during the tourism season of May to September.
Cliff-hanging turns will have you holding on to your breath as the train pulls you up 3,000 feet in only 26 miles.
You can explore the wild west of Alaska and, if you opt for the Bennett Scenic Journey, Canada's Yukon.
Be sure to reserve this shore excursion with your Alaskan cruise.
The WPYR is included on several Alaska cruisetours, including Holland America's Yukon+Double Denali Journey.
This train ride can be added as a shore excursion during your port stop in Skagway or as a cruisetour to Whitehorse and Denali before or after your cruise.
Depending on the itinerary you choose, the cruise portion of your trip is between 3-5 days and the land tour is 7-8 days, for a total Alaskan vacation that lasts 10-13 days.
This is the best train ride EVER The railway starts or ends at the cruise port in Skagway and heads west to cross over the Canadian border.
On the WPYR, you'll enjoy the spectacular view from your vintage parlor car as you climb 50 miles up, over, down and through the White Pass Summit from a slow 5 mph up to speeds of 25 mph on the same route built during the Klondike Gold Rush.
The train follows the path of the infamous Yukon River.
You'll see the notorious Five Finger Rapids, which put fear in the eyes of the Klondike Stampeders who tried to maneuver it.
The railroad was actually built as a result of the treacherous rapids during the Klondike Gold Rush in 1898.
The $10 million project was considered an impossible task but it was literally blasted through coastal mountains in only 26 months.
Thousands of men and nearly 500 tons of explosives overcame difficult weather and terrain conditions to produce "the railway built of gold.
" The train became the safest way to cross the White Pass Summit to get to Whitehorse--the center of the gold rush.
The WPYR was designated an International Historic Civil Engineering Landmark in 1994.
It shared this honor with such engineering marvels as the Eiffel Tower, Statue of Liberty and the Panama Canal.
The WPYR has enjoyed a rich and vivid history throughout its 100 years of operation.
The Klondike has gone from the gold mining operations of the first stampeders to large corporations now controlling the mining in the region.
During World War II, the WPYR was the main transportation route for bringing in supplies for the US Army's Alaska Highway construction project.
The railway was closed in 1982 during the mining collapse.
It was restored and reopened in 1988 with cruise tourists in mind.
Today it is Alaska's most popular shore excursion carrying nearly 400,000 passengers during the tourism season of May to September.
Source...