Trip report on the CANADIAN - 15-17 September 2007

Voldemort · Posted: Sun Feb 03, 2008 11:53 am

I took VIA Rail’s (run by the Canadian Federal Government) flagship train, the Canadian, from Toronto to Jasper (the train itself actually continues to Vancouver).

The Canadian in its present form is the only transcontinental train that remains in Canada. There used to be a train service on both the northern tracks through Saskatoon and Edmonton run by Canadian National and the southern tracks through Regina and Calgary run by Canadian Pacific, but in 1990 the Conservative Government then suspended all passenger services on the much more scenic southern route, which, incidentally also served a much larger population base. Why it was this more popular route that was eliminated defies logic, but that is the norm for rail closures.

On a cloudy autumn day, September 15, 2007, the Canadian was due to depart Toronto Union Station at 9am, at the southern end of Toronto’s grid-like, tram-traversed city centre, vaguely reminiscent of Melbourne’s Flinders Street. This is Canada’s busiest train station, a hub for commuter services as well as long-distance trains to a whole host of destinations including Sarnia, Windsor, Montreal, Ottawa, North Bay and Niagara Falls.

All first class passengers were invited to check in an hour before departure in the Silver and Blue Lounge where refreshments (muffins and Danish pastry), tea, coffee and orange juice, were offered. Most of the passengers were mature-age tourists from North America, mostly the USA, on tour groups, but there was a smattering of people from around the world, including a couple from South Australia. I was the youngest passenger on board (it was nice to feel young again), although only by a few years at most. There were, as one expects on trains, a number of true weirdos, including a woman who claimed to win a match at Wimbledon and run a multi-million floral business from the Isle of Man. She had her credit card stolen on the train, obviously causing her a great deal of grief.

There are only officially two classes of travel on the Canadian: Comfort (Economy) and Silver and Blue (First). In addition, there are sleeping berths and roomettes in Silver and Blue, the latter being considerably more expensive. Virtually the whole train was devoted to Silver and Blue passengers, with only three sitting coaches. The Canadian train has two dining cars reserved for first class and a quality café for economy class, selling meals near equal to those in the first class car, a far cry from the roadhouse-grade mush that I had to tolerate on the Indian Pacific in steerage. The train had four “observation domes” which were a subsection of a car permitting panoramic views. It was generally not hard to find a spot in these domes. Three were in the sleeper section and one in the sitting coaches. There was also an entertainment car where we were shown a cheesy film of two school-age kids travelling across the country on the train, and board games such as chess, Chinese checkers and Scrabble.

The train picked up a few passengers in Washago, and soon whistled past the lakeside resort of Parry Sound before making its first major stop in Capreol, an outer suburb of the main Northern Ontario city of Sudbury. There is another stop in Sudbury Junction which is about 10km from the city centre. The main station is no longer used for the Canadian but remains used by the thrice-weekly White River train along the shores of Lake Superior, an anachronistic railcar on its last legs prevented from dying by an obscure provincial constitutional clause.

Soon after the train entered what was known as the Canadian Shield: a vast, endless wilderness of peat bogs (known as muskeg), lakes, and forests: a greener, more verdant version of the Nullarbor. Every hour or so there would be a few signs of civilisation in the form of a house, often without even a road connecting to it. The schedule is such that it allows anyone to get on or off at any station with prior notice (effectively making every station on the line an “a” stop in train lingo). After a night through the woods, the day dawned on yet more of the same. It was nice to the autumn colours of the trees: one of the best times of year to be on a Canadian train.

In mid-morning the train arrived at the rather forlorn outback town of Sioux Lookout where we had twenty minutes to stretch or legs and, in my case, buy some replacement batteries for my digital camera, which had run out shortly after Sudbury. This is smack in the middle of the Canadian Shield, a town of about four thousand with virtually no civilisation within hundreds of miles. The early autumn sun was warm enough to sunbake in (although the yellowing maple leaves made a nice backdrop), but the average temperature here in winter is well below –20 degrees. As a newly graduated doctor I thought this was one of the godforsaken places where the government would have to fork out a zillion dollars to bribe medical staff to work there and then still in vain (although I would personally be quite happy to work here for a while, with wonderful outdoor and stargazing opportunities). But later I did some research and found that there were more than enough GPs in Sioux Lookout – nine in fact.

About lunchtime on day two, September 16, the Canadian crossed the provincial border into Manitoba. Quite abruptly, after an interminable length of time in the woods of the Canadian Shield, the train entered the Prairies: vast fields of golden wheat, rural ranches and conservative politics, interrupted by the provincial capital of Winnipeg, known as the Chicago of the North, and which to me, somewhat resembled Adelaide. Here the train stopped for half an hour, barely enough time for me to take half a dozen shots of the immediate vicinity. Winnipeg has no urban rail system, but does have a heritage steam train called the Prairie Dog Express and is also the terminus for the Hudson Bay train up to Churchill where wild polar bears can be seen throughout the autumn.

I took some very nice pictures from the dome cars of sunset in the Prairies (and sunrise the next morning!). The train passed through Saskatoon in Saskatchewan overnight, which I slept through without even realising. By mid-morning the next day we were in Edmonton, the capital of Alberta. The train station is way out of town next to the airport, in a somewhat forlorn setting, although at the perfect distance to take a shot of the city skyline. Again we only had half an hour here, not nearly enough time to take a taxi into town and explore the world’s largest shopping mall.

The final two hours before Jasper are the most spectacularly scenic sections of the trip. At this stage the train has entered the Rocky Mountains and the view from the windows becomes far more varied. It is also the time when you have to jostle with other passengers to get to a dome car although I was lucky. Emerald coloured lakes, mountains, elk and deer, and many tunnels were the features of this part of Canada.

What about the food? Generous servings of wholesome dishes were included in the first class fare, but the number of passengers meant that three sittings were required for all meals. Lunch and dinner were three course affairs consisting of soup or entrée, a high quality (but not unbeatable – see the Rocky Mountaineer review later) main course and dessert, even soy-based ice cream for lactose-intolerant people like myself. The only problem was the length of the three sittings meaning many of us went hungry for hours. The food was quite varied, with cooked breakfasts including a choice of pancakes and omelets, gourmet burgers and pies for lunch, and three-course roast dinners. Complimentary fruit, tea and coffee were available in the lounge cars, but it was a very, very long walk to the buffet car in the coach section if you wanted anything else.

At about 4pm on the third day, the train rolled into busy Jasper station, junction for the Skeena Line to Prince Rupert where you can catch an Alaskan Ferry, and also for the Rocky Mountaineer. Many passengers got off here to spend a few days in some of North America’s most brilliant scenery.

This was a fabulous trip. Especially nice, compared to a few years ago when I travelled in steerage (no, Red Kangaroo Daynighter Seat) all the way from Melbourne to Perth. However I have great faith that the Ghan in Gold Service would be just as good, if not better. If GSR can donate me some tickets, that would be greatly appreciated.

There are, however a couple of things that can be improved. Since this train is virtually entirely a tourist train rather than one used for conventional travel, it would have been nice had the passengers got a bit more time at the major stops than was scheduled. Instead of only half an hour, perhaps 3 hours could have been allowed for the stops at Winnipeg and Edmonton, both provincial capitals, where a “whistle-stop” tour could have been offered at a fee for passengers to learn more about Manitoba and Alberta and to take some pictures as momentoes of their journey. Apparently these stops are not made because of conflicting freight train schedules, but I think that in the grand scheme of things, providing passengers with an introduction to these cities, like they do on Great Southern Railway, is not an unreasonable thing to do.

Another area with room for improvement is the way that meals are served. Although there are two restaurant cars, three sittings were necessary for all three meals of the day due to the volume of passengers and the limited capacity of the dining cars. Meal tickets were distributed on a basis that passengers rotated the order of meals by day. Unfortunately, each sitting was far too long, meaning that those assigned to the last sitting often didn’t have lunch served until 3.30pm or dinner until well after 9pm.

Otherwise, this was a very nice trip.

I had a great few days in Jasper and Banff embarking on my favourite hobby of photography in the national park and icefields. Even my main background of my laptop is now my shot of Lake Louise. I would soon head to Calgary where I would take perhaps the best train ride of my life: GoldLeaf class on the Rocky Mountaineer. But that is another story……

TheLoadedDog · Posted: Sat Feb 23, 2008 2:11 pm

Great post. Thank you!

Humphrey! We're leaving!