Canadian Circle Trip: VIA and Amtrak

[MARC Rider]

Finally across the border. We crept through Canada, rarely exceeding 50 km/hr. The bridges over the Fraser River are sort of cool. There's the low, presumably moveable bridge used by the train, a high level highway bridge, and a futuristic cable-stayed bridge used by the Skytrain. After we crossed, we sped up to 130 (or ~80 mph). Go figure. At the border, a bunch of customs agents got on the train, walked through, looked at our passports, and took our customs declarations. Given that we had been examined in Vancouver, the whole thing seemed kind of pointless.

 

[jis]

Finally across the border. We crept through Canada, rarely exceeding 50 km/hr. The bridges over the Fraser River are sort of cool. There's the low, presumably moveable bridge used by the train, a high level highway bridge, and a futuristic cable-stayed bridge used by the Skytrain. After we crossed, we sped up to 130 (or ~80 mph). Go figure. At the border, a bunch of customs agents got on the train, walked through, looked at our passports, and took our customs declarations. Given that we had been examined in Vancouver, the whole thing seemed kind of pointless.

Technically, final customs inspection is at Blaine where they do that and collect the Customs Forms. Yet another one of those quirks of US CBP. This was supposed to go away after the last treaty was ratified between the two countries on the matter of pre-clearance, but apparently it did not.

 

[MARC Rider]

This is really a pretty scenic ride, especially if oyu can score a seat on the right (west) side of the train. A good bit of the trip follows the shorelines of the Strait of Georgia and Puget Sound, and once the fog lifted, you got a pretty nice view of the Olympic Mountains. Also -- shades of Baltimore! -- you have to ride through a tunnel under city streets in order to approach the station. A nice ride, but the Horizon cars are definitely old and rattled around a good bit, plus there were no curtains or window shades, plus, there were no overhead racks (but they did have a decent size luggage storage area at the end of the car.) The new Airos can't get delivered for Cascades service fast enough.

 

[Willbridge]

Sitting in my hotel room in Vancouver. Of course, it's raining outside. Fortunately, the rain held off most of the day, so I was able to get in a little sightseeing.

Our train got into Vancouver really early. Like at about 6 AM early for an 8 AM arrival. No problem, they serve breakfast, starting at 6:30 until a little before 8. Then they open the doors at 8 and shoo everyone off. Had to wait a little bit for our checked luggage to come off, but it eventually did, and then off to town. The Skytrain station is right out the front door, and I bought my very own Compass card and a day pass. They call it the "Skytrain," but downtown, most of it runs underground. It's also one of the fastest subway trains I've ever ridden. Not sure whether that's to the the automated operations, or is it just that British Columbians like to drive fast. It might be the latter, because I rode a bus later in the day, and the driver really liked putting the pedal to the metal.

I thought my hotel might have self service laundry, as this is the first chance I've had to do laundry after 5 days or riding on a train. Alas, I was informed that the mighty Marriott chain doesn't put such downscale amenities into their more premium brands, but I was certainly welcome to use their hotel valet service. So I looked at the charges for each item, then totaled all of the stuff that needed to be washed, and the bill would have come out to $250! OK, that's Canadian $, but that's still a heck of a lot for laundry. So I asked about any local laundromats, and I was given the name of a place "about a 20-minute walk away."

It was, indeed, a 20-minute walk, but the concierge neglected to tell me it was up a pretty stiff hill. I finally got to Davie St., and found an interesting neighborhood, practically a New Urbanist's dream! There was even a trolleybus that ran up and down the street. I found the laundrymat, and even better than a self-serve laundry, I found that they do a wash and fold service. So I left the load with them and retrieved it around 6 in the evening. By then the rain has started, but by then I had found out enough about the transit system to know where to catch the bus that ran up the hill. One good thing about Vancouver is that (at least downtown) all th ebus stops have shelters, basic shelters, but enough to keep the rain off while waiting for a bus. Anyway, the wash and fold service was about $30, and they really folded everything nicely, too. (And they certainly folded the laundry better than I ever do!)
.............................

Today, I had a full day, walking a part of the Stanley Park Seawall to see the totem poles, then a short walk through the park, some of which is in native northwest forest, to the "bus loop." This bus is a trolleybus, or "trackless trolley" as we called them in Hoagie-land (otherwise known as Philadelphia.) So I got to ride a trolleybus downtown, then I transferred to the Canada Line and rode down to Richmond, to see the "golden village," North America's most concentrated assemblage of Asian-themed shopping malls. I only had time for the Aberdeen Center, where I had a nice tonkatsu lunch and enjoyed seeing all of the mall shops, most of whoch sold western looking fashions, but which I think are various Asian brands. There were also a bunch of ginseng stores and other Chinese pharmacies, and Oomomo, a "Japanese Variety store," that had everything you'd need to set up housekeeping in Tokyo.
.......

Well, it was a fine week in Canada, and now it's back to the States, two days in Seattle, and then my return trip home on Amtrak.

I found some rainy 2017 photos of transport interest. It was a quick business trip on the Cascades, but there was time enough to visit Stanley Park.


CPR spans the world. Replica bowsprit figure head of the Empress of Japan.


Always obey the signs.


Trolley coach loop in the park.


Tourists.

 

[railiner]

I found some rainy 2017 photos of transport interest.

Always obey the signs.
View attachment 34611

Pretty easy to do, when your "engine" is miles away from your coach....

 

[TrackWalker]

Straight of Georgia/ Puget Sound? That is so 20th century.

It is now the Salish Sea. (SAY-lish)

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Salish_Sea
(Personally, I still prefer using the geological term for the area, "Georgia Depression")

 

[MARC Rider]

I picked this up in Toronto, but they had a real bar on the Canadian, where they mixed real cocktails and such.

I don't think this stuff is "top shelf," but I was able to drink it and I'm still alive.



The inside of the Winnipeg strain station. Pretty fancy station, considering it only gets four trains a week.


Old grain elevator in Saskatchewan.



Ah, the great Canadian plains. I'll have to compare this with what I see going home through North Dakota.


Our stopover in Saskatoon.



Old CN poster trying to encourage British immigrants to come to Canada, and presumably br good customers of CN.


More CN propaganda posters looking for sucke--I mean colonists to populate the great Canadian outback.

 

[Bob Dylan]

Straight of Georgia/ Puget Sound? That is so 20th century.

It is now the Salish Sea. (SAY-lish)

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Salish_Sea
(Personally, I still prefer using the geological term for the area, "Georgia Depression")

Most places that have name changes, after having its original name for a long time, still are called by its original name by locals!

 

[danasgoodstuff]

We're in Jasper. It's dark out and snowing. 8:15 Am and it's just getting light. If you get off the train before 8, you're stuck outside until boarding at 9. I'm looking around town and am now sitting in a nice warm Tim Hortons sampling their coffee and donuts.

Dark, cold, snow, Timmys, in other words the full Canadian Experience!

 

[Brian Battuello]

Great reports and pictures, thanks! Frances is starting to think about doing the Canadian in February, when it is getting a bit lighter...

 

[Matthew H Fish]

What scenery did you find more attractive---the totally "natural' scenery, like the ocean and the hills, or was the small towns and farmland around Mount Vernon better?

 

[MARC Rider]

Well, here it is on Thursday, beautiful sunny day in Seattle, where I'm killing time before I board the Empire Builder for home. It's 1 pm, I'm sitting in a terrace at the Pike Place market overlooking the Sound, and I get both a text and a phone call from Amtrak. Apparently, the Builder is late leaving its originating station before I even get to the station. The phone call said something about "late equipment." Sounds like 7 came in a bit late. Our 1755 train is now scheduled for 1830. Oh well, every trip on amtrak is an adventure, but they're still projecting an early arrival into Chicago on Saturday.

 

[oregon pioneer]

They will indeed project an early arrival, right up till it's not even possible. There's plenty of padding in the schedule.
Leaving Seattle late may mean seeing more of the morning scenery in Montana. I'm looking forward to your next report!

 

[OmahaRoad]

Best of luck on your return trip! Having checked Intercity Rail Map throughout the day just randomly, I noticed that the 7 and 27 were late, and the 7 in particular looks like it hit some pretty major issues of some type around Everett--it went from just under 3 hours late to more than 5 hrs late, and is still not in Seattle last I checked. No idea what happened, but I hope that your trip doesn't have further delays! But like oregon pioneer said above, they will be able to make up a lot of time due to the schedule padding.

 

[MARC Rider]

They will indeed project an early arrival, right up till it's not even possible. There's plenty of padding in the schedule.
Leaving Seattle late may mean seeing more of the morning scenery in Montana. I'm looking forward to your next report!

seeing more scenery in Montana might compensate for missing the scenery in the Cascades that I'm missing due to it being November with early darkness.

 

[MARC Rider]

I'm at the station. According to Transitdocs, 7 hasn't even reached Everett yet. The board at the station is calling for an arrival of 4:25 to 4:30 pm. Amtrak's communications with me is estimating a departure of about 6:30 pm. Can they really turn the train around in 2 hours?

 

[MARC Rider]

Well, 7 just pulled into the station, 5 hours late. There was a Charger in the lead with a Genesis in the #2 position. Now all they have to do is turn the train and we'll be ready to go.

 

[OBS]

Turn the train in 2 hours? Not a chance. Plan on 4-5 hours...

 

[Willbridge]

I picked this up in Toronto, but they had a real bar on the Canadian, where they mixed real cocktails and such.



Old CN poster trying to encourage British immigrants to come to Canada, and presumably be good customers of CN.

View attachment 34624
More CN propaganda posters looking for sucke--I mean colonists to populate the great Canadian outback.

In the memoirs of a British woman who worked with refugees up to 1939 in Prague for the Daily Herald charity, Canada was the easiest country to get visas for, as immigration was run by the railways.

 

[MARC Rider]

The app says a departure at 7:45 pm, a delay of 2:50. They just passed out sandwiches and snack packs to all of us on 8. They were from Subway, but they were really skimpy. Well, at least I won't be totally hungry tonight.

 

[chadamfleetrailfan]

I'm assuming there was a Subway nearby the station that they could hastily provide to you? That was very thoughtful of Amtrak to provide those to you (even though they were skimpy) due to the inconvenience.

 

[MARC Rider]

Turn the train in 2 hours? Not a chance. Plan on 4-5 hours...

The train rolled into the station at 7:30 pm and we were off by 7:50. I guess that's pretty good, turning the train in 3 hours.

When I got to my room, the bed was fully made up. This is a first in many years, as they've been just making up the sheets and handing us a plastic wrapped blanket.

 

[railiner]

View attachment 34619

The inside of the Winnipeg strain station. Pretty fancy station, considering it only gets four trains a week.

What about the trains to and from Churchill twice a week?

 

[rickb]

I was on the late incoming 7. We were on-time into Leavenworth, but had to hold there for 3 hours, because a BNSF train had lost power in the Cascade Tunnel. We finally proceeded up the hill, but then had to wait again outside the eastern tunnel portal for another 2 hours, because another BNSF high-priority z-train was having communications problems, so they needed to clear that up and get them on their way before we could move. We eventually got into King St just about 5 hours late.
Ours was quite an empty train: in the 731 car, only 2 bedrooms and 2 or 3 roomettes were occupied, and the coach car was maybe 1/3 occupied, so that probably helped speed up the turn-around.

 

[UncleJeff]

I was on the late incoming 7...
Ours was quite an empty train: in the 731 car, only 2 bedrooms and 2 or 3 roomettes were occupied, and the coach car was maybe 1/3 occupied, so that probably helped speed up the turn-around.

Indeed -- The inbound car attendants start the turn-around process, especially in empty rooms. They already need to turn over rooms that change hands mid-journey, so prepping for the terminal is more of the same (a lot more).

Of course, there are other turn-around steps like repairs, inspection, consist-shuffling etc that can't be helped.

One thing I noticed on my recent EB round trip was that my sleeper was in the same position each way, but its rooms were on the north side of the train each way. Maybe that was a coincidence of random orientation on two different sets of equipment, but if the EB consistently keeps certain windows (and doors) facing a certain way, it means that the train didn't just pull around in a circle at its terminus -- The cars had to be decoupled, shuffled front to back, and then rejoined while continuing to face the same direction.