A carbon footprint stands out on an otherwise pristine landscape as the White Pass Rotary Fleet cruises through 3 ft deep snow toward Fraser, British Columbia, just a couple of miles ahead. The train is running along the shore of one of the many small ponds and lakes that line the tracks from White Pass to Fraser. Note the stark difference between the inky plume from the rotary and the white, steamy plumes from the two pusher engines. That's due to the fact that the rotary engine is working quite hard to ingest and propel the heavy snowpack. In contrast, the two steam engines are pretty much loafing, chugging along at a couple of miles per hour. The carbon footprint I spoke of is not just towering in the air either. Take a look at the dark smudge on the snow surface just to the left of the train as you view it. That's not "bad color" in my photo. It's little droplets of unburned bunker oil falling out of the rotary plume. As my fellow photographers and I discovered early on, you don't want to be standing downwind of that rotary plume. It only took an hour or two for all of us to look just like that patch of snow. We all wore it like a badge of honor for the rest of the day. Someplace, I have a photo of myself looking like I've been working in the pit at Jiffylube. I should probably make that my profile photo!
