Had A Hard Trip - January 30, 1914

Had A Hard Trip

White Pass Train Delayed

The semi-weekly passenger train which is due to arrive in Whitehorse every Tuesday at 4:15 p.m. had a rather hard time this week. The train left Skagway allright on the morning of Tuesday, but when it reached the Summit a rather serious accident took place. It appears that owing to the cold weather the brakes on the train would not work correctly, and before the train could be brought to a standstill it had dashed into the caboose of the Rotary plough which was working at that point. The result was that two of the cars were pretty well smashed up, and two of the engines sustained considerable damage. The trainmen had hard work to get the track clear, and they deserve great praise for their heroic work. Owing to the cold atmosphere, the glass stood at 35 degrees below zero, which made it very disagreeable for the workmen, one or two of them had their fingers frozen while engaged in jacking up the damaged cars.

After they got things in shape a start was made, but they had only got as far as Fraser when one of the axles on a car broke, and this caused a delay of three hours. Once again the train started on its journey, and in course of time reached its destination at 10:30 on Wednesday morning, having been 26 hours on the trip.

There were nine passengers on board the train at the time of the accident but fortunately no one was injured. This is the worst mishap that has taken place on the road.

THE WHITEHORSE STAR - January 30, 1914



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