![Mural in Skagway, Alaska, White Pass & Yukon Route train station - 6 July 2013 [JST photo] | by Wett Coast](http://live.staticflickr.com/1586/25149487612_3e0a21cc36.jpg)
Mural in Skagway, Alaska, White Pass & Yukon Route train station - 6 July 2013 [JST photo]
This is a photo of mural that graces a wall in the White Pass & Yukon Route train station in Skagway, Alaska. So what does this have to do with BC nautical history. Well, a lot actually. WP&YR is (was?) a Vancouver based integrated transportation company that operated ships up & down the coast of BC & south east Alaska connecting their southern base in Vancouver with the railway terminus at Skagway. Freight from the ships was then transferred onto WP trains that carried it forward to Whitehorse. Some of the Whitehorse freight was then moved onto Yukon River stern wheelers for shipment down river. The stern wheelers were replaced by trucks in the mid 1950's after roads began to connect up Yukon settlements.
My intent with this post is to draw attention to WP&YR's implementation of containerization in the mid 1950's which is well illustrated in this mural. This containerization was one of the first large-scale uses of this form of transportation. It foreshadowed the gigantic 'box boats' & three kilometre long 'stack trains' that we see today.
Taken when I was on a Holland America Alaska cruise aboard the M/S 'Volendam'.
Mural in Skagway, Alaska, White Pass & Yukon Route train station - 6 July 2013 [JST photo]
This is a photo of mural that graces a wall in the White Pass & Yukon Route train station in Skagway, Alaska. So what does this have to do with BC nautical history. Well, a lot actually. WP&YR is (was?) a Vancouver based integrated transportation company that operated ships up & down the coast of BC & south east Alaska connecting their southern base in Vancouver with the railway terminus at Skagway. Freight from the ships was then transferred onto WP trains that carried it forward to Whitehorse. Some of the Whitehorse freight was then moved onto Yukon River stern wheelers for shipment down river. The stern wheelers were replaced by trucks in the mid 1950's after roads began to connect up Yukon settlements.
My intent with this post is to draw attention to WP&YR's implementation of containerization in the mid 1950's which is well illustrated in this mural. This containerization was one of the first large-scale uses of this form of transportation. It foreshadowed the gigantic 'box boats' & three kilometre long 'stack trains' that we see today.
Taken when I was on a Holland America Alaska cruise aboard the M/S 'Volendam'.