The White Pass and Yukon Railroad

The train that climbs the mountains
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This area can only be reached by boat or plane, normally on an Alaskan cruise. This is one of the most remarkable railroads ever built. It crosses the mountains from Skagway, in the Alaska Panhandle, to Dawson City, in the Yukon Territory, Canada. In 1998-9, gold  had been discovered in the Yukon and the  railroad was built to take it out, and bring supplies in. A surprising number of the workers were professional men, doctors and the like who hired on to earn their passage home when they realized that the best gold discoveries were already claimed. The railroad climbs up mountains, across trestles and through tunnels, and if you are on one of two or perhaps three trains doing the run, look up at the train before, or down at the train behind, and you will be amazed at how far you have yet to go up, or have already climbed. When the train reaches the top of its run, you can see along the side of the track the path taken in 1898-1899 by the actual miners who flooded into the Yukon to discover gold. The area is so remote and the climb so difficult no one has used the trail since, so that what you see has been worn down by the gold seekers themselves over 100 years ago. Bring a camera, take pictures, but be careful, this is a train going up mountains.

A remarkable railroad climbing Alaskan mountains