The View From The Train

Off on another adventure, we left Saskatoon late Thursday night on the westbound train. Well, early Friday morning to be more exact because the train was two hours late. We are so fortunate that Via Rail runs through Saskatoon. Other than known for often being late (freight trains take priority) they provide great customer service.

The fall scenery along the way was quite beautiful despite the cloudy skies. The larches are bright yellow amongst the green pines, with various other trees providing splashes of red and orange.

Beautiful fall colours.

The train was a long and busy one due to the Thanksgiving weekend.

Just west of Jasper.

Rain drops on the dome car. Fraser River.

Mist on the Fraser River

From the train's dome car, looking at the #1 Highway bridge between Surrey and Burnaby.

Last bridge before Pacific Central Station in Vancouver.

During our half day in Vancouver we dodged rain showers, had lunch at the Sylvia Hotel overlooking English Bay and went to the Aquarium. Which was extremely busy between holiday weekend, Saturday afternoon, a rainy day and member appreciation week!

Very early the next morning we left via Amtrak and followed the scenic coastline southbound to Portland, one of our favourite US cities. There were so many birds! Cormorants, seagulls, blue herons, a bald eagle and many more.

Inside King Street Station, Seattle

The clock tower on King Street Station, Seattle

By mid afternoon we were in Portland and spent the rest of the afternoon walking along the Willamette River trails. It's not as peaceful as Saskatoon's trails but still great to stretch the legs after a long train journey. The skies finally cleared enough that we got a view of Mount Hood -- which we summitted many years ago and in 2010 we did a hiking circumnavigation of this beautiful peak.

Mount Hood from downtown Portland.

Andrew did a blog post from the hike and took lots of photos. This was before I had my own blog. 

The Late Train

We left Montreal on time . . . the last on-time moment of our train journey home to Saskatoon. But as with all travel, especially train travel, you have to go into it with an adventurous spirit and relaxed attitude. It helps that VIA Rail treats you pretty well! 

Computer problems - Just outside of Dorval (20 km from Montreal) the train stopped for an hour due to a main computer system being down. 

Bad weather - Stormy, windy, snowy weather meant that train schedules in and out of the Toronto area were totally messed up. Local commuters were late getting home, missing connections and those coming in for an opening play were quite likely going to be late or miss it altogether. VIA automatically offered up to 50% discounts on next train bookings. 

Train cancelled - When we finally arrived in Toronto two hours late, we went to check our bags for the Toronto/Vancouver train which was to leave at 10 pm. It was cancelled and not leaving until 7 am the next day. We wondered where on earth we were going to find to stay, thinking that hotels might already be packed with stranded travellers and, if we did find a hotel, how were we going to get there with taxis likely very busy as well.

We were shuffled around to about three different people but within an hour, with much anxiety and confusion on the part of the VIA staff, we had a voucher to stay at the Fairmont Royal York Hotel located just across the street. Very nice!

Out of Sync - The next morning, still amongst a bit of confusion, we finally got away from the station by 9 am. Although it was very slow going and lots of stops and starts for a good part of the day, likely due to this not being the normal time that the passenger train would travel and therefore having to make way for more freight trains than usual. 

A northern Ontario sunrise - photo taken from moving train.

We seemed to make up some time overnight but then at breakfast the train stopped and stayed stopped just a few miles east of Armstrong, Ontario. Pretty much in the middle of nowhere!

Broken down freight train - We soon learned that a freight train ahead of us had broken down. We had to back up so they could push it off to the side.  

Backlog of freight trains - Due to the breakdown there was then a backlog of other freight trains that took first priority. After all, that's where the big bucks and monetary incentives are. 

Out of time - By the time we could have got going again the engineering staff’s work time had run out and they had to bring in another crew -- as per legislation for safety reasons. Remember, we're pretty much in the middle of nowhere! Apparently the replacement staff were brought in by helicopter to Armstrong and then by vehicle to the train. 

Lots of snow!

The view (for 9 hours) from the back of the train.

The view (for 9 hours) from the dome car, looking forward along the top of the train.

Out of food - Nine hours later we finally were en route again but food supplies on the train were getting low. (We certainly didn't go hungry!) The VIA train heading east stopped and gave our train some food supplies and, during the nine-hour wait, the chef from our train went into Armstrong and bought more food.

The "artist on board" the train was Shelley O'Brien who has an absolutely amazing voice and played a custom-made ukulele. Her website describes her music as "quirky pop songs" and many of her own songs that she sang were about nature and animals. She was very, very good! When she played "Tennessee Waltz" I could just imagine Dad & Elaine getting up and dancing to it. 

Shelley O'Brien

Jam session! We convinced Tanner (from Saskatoon) to bring out his guitar.

Make way for the freight trains - We arrived in Winnipeg about 6:30 am which was a few hours later than the train staff had been anticipating before we went to bed the night before so I'm guessing we stopped a few more times for freight trains. We left Winnipeg at 9 am and pretty much flew through the prairies! Twelve hours later (and 20 hours late) we were finally home! 

The great thing about this trip was the people on the train. Everyone was pretty laid back and no one seemed overly stressed about being late. The VIA staff were excellent. There was nothing we could do about the problems and none were VIA's fault. We met some really fun, interesting people and had lots of laughs. I highly, highly recommend train travel!

A full moon -- looking out the back of the train (note the train tracks).

A Musical Train Ride

We've started our long journey to the Bahamas with a train ride to Montreal. (Strange, I know!)

Although we've taken the train to and from Vancouver and Andrew has travelled this eastern route on a couple occasions, this is the first time we've experienced Via Rail's musical entertainment program. Essentially, musicians can get complimentary sleeper class travel in exchange for entertaining the rest of the passengers. It's a great gig if you've got some musical talent!

Kristen

Although we didn't know her, we noticed Kristen Berkel at the train station in Saskatoon. An accordion, a guitar and a banjo amongst a person's luggage does make them stand out.

Kristen and her husband are the owners of The Bruno Arts Bank, a coffee shop, musical venue, gallery and record store in Bruno, Saskatchewan.

Kristen & Cleo

Cleo

After lunch during our first day on the train we went to the observation car. Soon after, Kristen was introduced and for the next half hour sang and played known country ballads as well as some songs either she or her friends had written. She has a lovely voice and a story to go with each song. What started out as a handful of us, soon grew into a standing-room-only venue.

Kristen did three shows daily (one each in sleeper and economy class lounges and a third in the evening in sleeper class). Although she never brought out the accordion she played both guitar and banjo and then recruited a talented young ukelele player on the train to join her. (Kristen will be playing several shows in the Toronto area in the next few weeks with her two sisters.)

We always lament the fact that Saskatoon's Via Rail station is located on the outskirts of the city and does absolutely no justice to the city itself. It was nice to see both Winnipeg and Toronto stations had been allowed to maintain their original history and charm.

High domed ceiling of Winnipeg train station.

Centrepiece of the domed ceiling.

The old train station at Hornepayne, Ontario

Toronto Union Station

Names of cities carved into wall at Union Station

Andrew's first blog post of the trip features a beautiful photo of Toronto's old and new - a stone church and glass skyscrapers.