The Duchess

The Duchess. . The little engine known as the DUCHESS was once part of a matched set. She and her partner, the DUKE, were built in September 1878 for the Dunsmuir and Diggie Company., For a time the two little locos hauled coal for the Wellington Colliery Railway. The DUCHESS also burned coal at that time, although she was converted later to wood and later still to oil. White Pass brought the little engine in 1899 and put her to work on the Taku Tramway the following year., Appropriately enough the Taku Tram was a miniature version of a railway, only two miles long, which connected Tagish Lake with Atlin Lake., Tourist excursions operated from Carcross to the town of Atlin, British Columbia, and the tram was a necessary link between the two systems. Tourists could travel from Carcross on a sternwheeler as far as Taku City, where they would disembark and board the small car pulled by the DUCHESS., They would then be taken across the two-mile track east to Scotia Bay and board another steamer for the trip to Atlin, on the far side of Atlin Lake. 'Taken' may not be the most precise word, since passengers often had to get off and push., And since there was to turntable at the eastern end, the return trip was made going backwards. The DUCHESS was taken out of service in 1919 and replaced with another engine. She was moved to Carcross in the 1950s and is now a popular tourist attraction. , Above: the DUCHESS at Taku, no date, Fred Dunn photo Curtesy Heritage Branch, Government of the Yukon