Those 5 Alcos repurchased from South America were almost lost off Cape Mendocino about 20 years ago on their way back to Skagway when the barge ran into rough seas of Cape Mendocino and at least one engine cut loose from its ties and nearly went overboard. The barge spent several weeks at the Schneider Dock in Eureka being re-secured before being towed north.

I worked for the National Park Service in Skagway in 1975 when the White Pass was still a "real" railroad. Our weekend quarters was the vacated Depot/Office (now NPS Visitor Center) and I used the White Pass for transport from Bennett to Skagway when the ore trains were king and the container trains, piggyback RV's and cruise ship passengers were a close second. Skagway was a wonder of all night switching and ore train sounds and you could hear the early morning departure of the empty ore train with it's mid and rear train helpers for a half hour out of Skagway. I remember the burned roundhouse and the two DL535 corpses and one steam engine still in the ruins. The rather Victorian chow hall crew at Bennett were under strict orders not to let any of the stinky "hippie" hiking crowd off the Chilcoot Trail sit with the cruise ship crowd or any regular rail passengers while partaking of the "meal that won the North." Hikers had to eat in the kitchen or out back by the dump with the bears. I got wise to that in short order and made sure I had my NPS shirt and badge on as I approached the depot off the trail. Passengers demanded the ranger be allowed to sit with them and tell trail stories which usually transferred to the train ride back to Skagway. There was a new argument weekly between the passengers and dining hall crew over letting me sit in the main dining hall.....they just never got over making me the exception.

The whole WP&YR operation just amazed me then. It still is a wonder.
ARD