White Pass possibly acquiring new GE Locomotives

Rader Sidetrack · **Joined:** Sat Jan 21, 2017 11:43 am **Posts:** 54

Meghan wrote:

Crescent-Zephyr wrote:

Nova55 wrote:

Also rumors popping up today that Durango & Silverton has in turn bought a pair of the DL535's from WP&Y.

No longer a rumor.

Okay, I'll bite - Does that statement mean that Mr. Harper has acknowledged the purchase or does it mean the rumor has been debunked?

You can read a D&SRR press release here:
http://ngdiscussion.net/phorum/read.php?1,393177

PMC · **Joined:** Sat Oct 17, 2015 5:55 pm **Posts:** 2295

Here they are being loaded for transport along with a tie crane, Matt Cunningham photos. Two other units are going to D&S but have not yet been selected. I think D&S will be happier with 900 RPM Alco engines so long as they completely go through all of them.

Overmod · **Joined:** Thu May 24, 2012 1:37 pm **Posts:** 2230

Note that as of the time I wrote this, one of the posts on NGDF indicated it was a response from the D&S CMO confirming the details.

M Secco · **Joined:** Sun May 12, 2013 2:46 pm **Posts:** 245

Love these Alco's . Notice the rigging used to lift the locomotives? Absolutely superb. One longitudinal spreader bar attached to two crosswise spreaders with rigging from the ends down to the locomotive for a one crane pick . All of the wire rope ends have thimbles in them which is what you're supposed to have to get maximum safe lifting capacity. Without the wire rope thimbles ,you may lose up to 50% of capacity.

BTW - What do they weigh?

PMC · **Joined:** Sat Oct 17, 2015 5:55 pm **Posts:** 2295

M Secco wrote:

Love these Alco's . Notice the rigging used to lift the locomotives? Absolutely superb. One longitudinal spreader bar attached to two crosswise spreaders with rigging from the ends down to the locomotive for a one crane pick . All of the wire rope ends have thimbles in them which is what you're supposed to have to get maximum safe lifting capacity. Without the wire rope thimbles ,you may lose up to 50% of capacity.

BTW - What do they weigh?

Here is one in the air, Randy Babcock photo. They weigh 167k lbs. according to this: https://oldeastie.com/compare.html

buzz_morris · **Joined:** Thu Feb 03, 2005 9:32 pm **Posts:** 344

Wish it was a warm here in Illinois as it is in Alaska now.

p51 · **Posted:** Thu Apr 16, 2020 11:30 am

They officially shut down all cruise, railroad, and bus activities for tourists for the entire year in Alaska.
This is going to be a pretty bad year for the White Pass.

M Secco · **Joined:** Sun May 12, 2013 2:46 pm **Posts:** 245

Hey PMC,
I'm more informed now because of the list you supplied and that last picture . Thanks. Without trucks ,107 may shed 60,000 ish lbs but guessing will get you in trouble. That crane is equipped with an integrated load cell system which not only tells the operator the weight being lifted but also keeps it from being overloaded.
1:20 AM, don't you sleep ?

Crescent-Zephyr · **Joined:** Wed Jan 20, 2016 1:15 pm **Posts:** 1497

p51 wrote:

They officially shut down all cruise, railroad, and bus activities for tourists for the entire year in Alaska.
This is going to be a pretty bad year for the White Pass.

Do you have a link? Or what I should search for? That’s Terrible news :(

p51 · **Posted:** Thu Apr 16, 2020 4:18 pm

Crescent-Zephyr wrote:

p51 wrote:

They officially shut down all cruise, railroad, and bus activities for tourists for the entire year in Alaska.
This is going to be a pretty bad year for the White Pass.

Do you have a link? Or what I should search for? That’s Terrible news :(

Plenty of stuff online about it, but I've seen it mentioned in multiple message boards.

Chris Webster · **Joined:** Sat Aug 25, 2007 12:45 am **Posts:** 1010

Crescent-Zephyr wrote:

Do you have a link? Or what I should search for? That’s Terrible news :(

From an April 16, 2020 Travel Weekly article:

Quote:

Princess Cruises and Holland America Line have canceled most of their 2020 Alaska sailings and all land products.

also

Quote:

Several factors played into why such a hot market became one of the first to see major cruise reductions this summer.

The biggest might be that because of the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention’s no-sail order from U.S. ports until mid-July, combined with Canada’s restrictions on cruising through June, half of the Alaska cruise season was already lost. This has an outsize impact on Holland America and Princess because so much of their business includes land and cruise combinations.

“The shortened summer season has made it simply not viable to operate our [lodges, trains and buses] throughout Alaska,” Swartz said.

Holland America also cited the “complexities of starting up hotels, rail operations and motorcoach fleets for what is at best a mid-to-late restart of travel to Alaska.”

Link: Cruise ship exodus from Alaska cuts very deeply

Crescent-Zephyr · **Joined:** Wed Jan 20, 2016 1:15 pm **Posts:** 1497

Oh I think I misunderstood... “they” are the cruise lines. I thought the state had closed down all railroad, motorcoach Tours, etc. that’s why I was asking for a link or how to search for it.

PMC · **Joined:** Sat Oct 17, 2015 5:55 pm **Posts:** 2295

#3001 arrived Monday, this will apparently be the last unit in green and yellow as the WP&Y is switching to a black and red scheme, according to Trains Magazine (no paywall) https://trn.trains.com/news/news-wire/2 ... locomotive. Both images WP&Y RR:

Brian Norden · **Posted:** Tue May 19, 2020 7:02 pm

A different view from the White Pass & Yukon Route Facebook page:

Attachment:

File comment: Another view of the unloading process.

WP&YR_3001.jpg [ 107.2 KiB | Viewed 7602 times ]

PS Yes, that does seem to be a GATX tank car on the barge; probably going to the Alaska RR.

PMC · **Joined:** Sat Oct 17, 2015 5:55 pm **Posts:** 2295

WP&Y 107, which was sold to the Durango and Silverton, was lowered onto its trucks today in Colorado: (here's the location of a video http://ngdiscussion.net/phorum/read.php?1,403050)

White Pass possibly acquiring new GE Locomotives

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