Ladies & gentlemen, now arriving on Track 1.....Please remain behind the yellow line! Ha! "Run for your life" would be more appropriate. The White Pass Rotary Fleet is seen here moving in on the platform at Bennett, BC, to clear an 8 ft high drift that has accumulated in front of the station over the winter season. This station is located on the southern shore of Bennett Lake, and in the winter, strong north winds off the frozen lake carry the snow until it hits the first obstacle ashore, namely the building you see here. Consequently, the presence of this drift every spring is quite predictable. And, having sat there for months, the snow has become quite dense. Before the rotary moved in, I personally walked up the edge of the roof and the snow under my feet was like concrete. No snowshoes necessary here. As you can see, most of the windows on the station are boarded up for the winter, to protect them from the vicious winds and potential vandalism. Those precautions really paid dividends here, because things get pretty violent around the front of that rotary. In all, it took the snow train about 45 minutes to whack its way through this drift, but upon completion of that task, the railroad considered their line clean all the way from Skagway to Bennett, and ready for the cruise ships that would begin to dock the following week.
