1942 Yukon Nuggets
The Americans & White Pass
The American military took over operation of the White Pass railroad on October 1st, 1942. The toy railroad, as the troops called it, was a vital transportation link in building the Alaska Highway. Little did they realize, however, that the line was old and in bad shape.
The White Pass railroad was 42 years old that winter of '42. The track was fine, but washouts and snow storms were a constant threat. The rail cars were vintage in 1900, complete with the original wood-burning stoves. The winter of '42-43 was one of the coldest on record, but nothing compared to the warmer winter of '43-44.
That was the year of the big blizzards. At one point that winter, traffic was stalled for 15 days and more than 30 derailments were caused by heavy snow. One military crew worked for 36 hours, straight trying to free 11 engines and scores of cars trapped along the route.
Rotary plows eventually broke through drifts up to 20 feet high. The snow was rock-hard, having fallen wet only to freeze when the temperatures dropped. The large plows were damaged in the effort.
Then the big blizzard hit, dumping 30 feet of snow in the mountain passes where the railroad ran. About 30 miles from Skagway, a train was smothered under huge snowdrifts. Then a huge snowslide occurred behind the trapped train, cutting off communications in all directions.
The train ran out of water and had to shutdown the boilers to prevent the tanks from burning. Coal for the stoves in the passenger cars ran out. The passengers - mostly American servicemen - smashed the furniture to burn in the pot bellied stoves on board. The supplies of food, consisting of sandwiches and fruit, ran out. It was a precarious situation.
Rescue trains could not make it through the tons of snow covering the line. It was decided to send a tractor train over the snow-covered passes. It consisted of a heavy-duty tractor and three huge sleds. It reached the trapped train before any serious casualties occurred. Finally, many days later, the rescue trains with their huge rotary snow plows, working from both ends of the line, broke through and train traffic was able to continue. A near disaster had been averted, but the American military had been taught a valuable lesson from Yukon's mother nature.
A CKRW Yukon Nugget by Les McLaughlin.