After a full day of plowing between White Pass and Canadian Shed, White Pass Rotary #1 and her consort, Locomotive #73 sit on one of the shop tracks at the Skagway Shops (MP 2), being fueled and watered for the next day’s activities. Each day, when the plowing operation was completed, the Rotary Fleet backed the entire 20 miles to Skagway. One of the 90-class diesel locomotives typically coupled onto the downhill end of the train to provide extra braking. Once back in Skagway, the train was split into two sections for servicing. The rotary plow stayed coupled to the 73, partly because there was were water transfer lines between the two that were not easy to remove. Locomotive #69 stayed with Combine #211. When servicing was completed on both, the two halves of the train were turned to face uphill and parked on the two parallel tracks that you see here for the night.
By my count, White Pass Rotary #1 made three appearances between 2001 and 2011. The first time, she ran with Steam Locomotive #73 and the #40, which was being leased at the time from the Georgetown Loop. In the mid-2000s, she ran again with a pair of 90-class diesels….no steam locomotives that year. And then of course, there was the big spectacular you see in my photos in 2011. Sadly, that was the last time she ran. At the time, I asked the railroad officials if they were going to do it again at some point and they said "probably, but not anytime soon." Since then, most of the senior management folks who planned and executed this event are no longer there. The ownership of the railway has changed as well. Today, Rotary #1 sits on an insular piece of track in front of the Skagway Depot, as a static display. On their social media sites, the railroad refers to her as "the retired #1." Will she ever run again? Never say never. She was retired a long time before she ran in 2001. If it ever happens again and I’m still around, I want to be there.
