1971

    More efficient, warmer during the cold winter season, easier to maintain, and safer, is the new White Pass Car and Locomotive Repair Shop completed in late October in Skagway. The new structure replaces an older building of similar size which burned down.
    The new building has exterior walls of sandwiched siding, consisting of a polyurethane core between two sheets of metal. The flat roof is of steel construction. All floors are heavy-duty concerete over the full 200 x 200 foot area.
    One side of the new building consists of the Locomotive Repair Shop, with a heavy-duty repair track 180 feet long to accommodate three engines. Platforms are on different elevations for efficient work. Alongside is running repair track, 180 feet long, with a pit underneath for changing traction motors.
    The running repair track is serviced by a 20-ton overhead crane.
    In the centre of the building is a machine shop, tractor and loader repair area, woodwork shop, stores room, and offices, including a lunchroom area.
    On the other side of the centre core is located the Car Repair and Maintenance Shop for the rebuilding of passenger coaches and the repair of flatcars. It is served by two tracks 200 feet long, laid out for efficient servicing.
    Hot water unit heaters, supplied by an interior boiler and compressor room unit, heats the structure during the chilly Skagway winter months.
    "One of the main features," says White Pass Staff Engineer Charlie Brown, "is that we have paid considerable attention to fire-retardent details as well as to the efficient operation of the shops."
    The concept developed by White Pass was designed in detail by Manson-Osberg Construction Co. of Seattle.

UNIQUE BRIDGE STRUCTURE

    Due for completion in mid-November is a replacement bridge at Mile 14 (Glacier, Alaska) along the White Pass Route. The steel structure, replacing an old wooden A-frame, is unique in that it was erected without disrupting the traffic.
    The new steel structure is 76 feet long and about 40 feet high and was designed by by Kirwen Engineering Ltd. of Vancouver to be built around and outside the existing A-frame.
    Manson-Osberg Construction Co. of Seattle is in charge of the erection.
    Work on the Skagway shops commenced early this year with the clearing of the site following the fire. Construction of the bridge on site began in the late summer although considerable fabrication work had been completed earlier by Dominion Bridge Company.
    The two projects - by no means the only ones at present along the White Pass Route - are a part of the company's upgrading program to give its customers better service through the operation of a safer, smoother, faster, and more efficient railway.

Below, Gull's eye view of the new White Pass Car and Locomotive Repair Shop while under construction in Skagway. The photograph was taken in early September to show framework detail.