VIA Canadian sleeper questions

[fdaley]

Bottom line, you do have to put the bed up to use the toilet in the old standard roomette, what VIA now calls the "cabin for one." You can also go down to the hall to the public restroom, which is at the opposite end of the car near the sections. If the next car is a sleeper, you can also go to the section restroom in the next car -- a shorter walk, but you have to cross through the vestibule, which can be cold and snowy in winter.

 

[joelkfla]

If the next car is a sleeper, you can also go to the section restroom in the next car -- a shorter walk, but you have to cross through the vestibule, which can be cold and snowy in winter.

I don't know whether VIA Rail, like Amtrak, requires closed-toe shows, but it's a bad idea to walk between cars without them if you value your toes.

 

[DetroitDave]

I’m confused about toilet configurations in sleeper cabins for one where the bed covers the in-room toilet at night. It’s not clear to me at all if you just put your bed up temporarily and go. I’ve looked at fuzzy coach diagrams on viarail.ca and I can’t tell if there’s a common toilet in the coach. If not, what d’ya do if you gotta go in the middle of the night?! The only time I ever booked a sleeper trans Canada I booked a bedroom for two and it wasn’t an issue the way that cabin is designed.

Here's a link to one of the videos I made from my trip two weeks ago:



I have another video showing me lowering the bed. I did lift the bed up temporarily a couple of times to go, to wouldn't recommend it unless you can "suck it in" a bit. The notched space between the bed and door is _very_ snug. I lifted the bed (it has some weight to it) and it found a balance point easily enough at about a 45° angle and it worked. But a couple of times I just put in my slippers, dressed and went down the hall.

So to answer your Q, yes you can certainly lift the bed, but it may not be ideal. Now that I think of it...you could open the door and have the curtain zipped closed while you lift it, then close your door back. That would afford you privacy and a bit of maneuvering room to lift/lower the bed.

 

[Shanson]

So sad to see the buffer car trailing the Park (as discussed elsewhere).

No buffer car on the rear any longer. #1 Feb 28, 2024.

 

[Urban Sky]

Buffer cars have thankfully only been a thing for the 8 months between mid-October 2022 and mid-May 2023:

 

[jiml]

No buffer car on the rear any longer. #1 Feb 28, 2024.

Understood, but it was in the video the comment was attached to.

 

[west point]

I don't know whether VIA Rail, like Amtrak, requires closed-toe shows, but it's a bad idea to walk between cars without them if you value your toes.

That gives me the shivers just thinking of anyone going barefoot between cars or even open toed shoes.
f

 

[railiner]

That gives me the shivers just thinking of anyone going barefoot between cars or even open toed shoes.
f

Maybe as bad as doing likewise riding an escalator, eh?

 

[west point]

Maybe as bad as doing likewise riding an escalator, eh?

Darn close not quite the number of shivers. That up and down movement especially between cars that had type E couplers always made me do the long stride between cars..

 

[jpakala]

In my experience roomettes initially required opening the door to raise the bed to use the toilet and thus all had zipper curtains (on the aisle side). Later the cut-away bed style meant no curtains were needed because there was space to stand and raise the bed (it was not difficult to raise or lower). Duplex roomettes as I recall appeared somewhat later and were not common in the east; PRR & NYC did not have them although PRR alone had duplex rooms which were crosswise of the car with a couple of bedrooms at each end and 6 upper & 6 lower duplex rooms (which even could be ensuite except for the 2 end rooms). Santa Fe had 24 duplex roomette cars (later converted to bedroom cars) but mostly there were either 8 or 16 duplex roomettes with other types of rooms or even also 4 sections as on the Canadian (until one section was remade into a shower room). In upper duplex roomettes the bed pulled down as in a roomette, but in the lower ones it pulled out from the space below the adjacent upper room. My sister-in-law in 1962 by day from Pittsburgh to Chicago raised the leatherette "curtain" hiding that bed and laid her baby on the bed while she and her little boy had the sofa-seat.

 

[MccfamschoolMom]

My sister-in-law in 1962 by day from Pittsburgh to Chicago raised the leatherette "curtain" hiding that bed and laid her baby on the bed while she and her little boy had the sofa-seat.

Late 1962 would have been about the time Mom and Dad took my brother (age 3) and me (age 4 going on 5) from Chicago to Albany, NY to visit my paternal grandparents for Christmas. I vaguely remember our train compartment was a bit like European sleeper trains I traveled in as a college student in the 1970s, with a sofa which converted to a lower berth, plus an upper berth which pulled/folded down. (Not sure if there was another set of upper + lower berth on the other side of the compartment, like the European trains I was on later had.) We would have traveled along the route of what's now the Lake Shore Limited. My main memory of that time was receiving my first Barbie doll as a Christmas present from "Mimere" and "Pipere" that year.

 

[railiner]

Not sure if there was another set of upper + lower berth on the other side of the compartment, like the European trains I was on later had.)

If there were, that would mean you were in a “Bedroom Suite”…2 Double Bedrooms, with the partition between them opened…

 

[fdaley]

Late 1962 would have been about the time Mom and Dad took my brother (age 3) and me (age 4 going on 5) from Chicago to Albany, NY to visit my paternal grandparents for Christmas. I vaguely remember our train compartment was a bit like European sleeper trains I traveled in as a college student in the 1970s, with a sofa which converted to a lower berth, plus an upper berth which pulled/folded down. (Not sure if there was another set of upper + lower berth on the other side of the compartment, like the European trains I was on later had.) We would have traveled along the route of what's now the Lake Shore Limited. My main memory of that time was receiving my first Barbie doll as a Christmas present from "Mimere" and "Pipere" that year.

Just out of curiosity, do you by chance have any recollection of roughly the time of day/night you left Chicago and/or arrived into Albany?

 

[zephyr17]

Now that I think of it...you could open the door and have the curtain zipped closed while you lift it, then close your door back. That would afford you privacy and a bit of maneuvering room to lift/lower the bed.

That's pretty much the use that curtain was specifically designed for.

 

[zephyr17]

I don't know whether VIA Rail, like Amtrak, requires closed-toe shows, but it's a bad idea to walk between cars without them if you value your toes.

They do require closed toe shoes to move about the train. Although I will admit to padding down to washrooms on the other end of the car in the middle of the night barefoot a time or two. I would never cross between cars barefoot, though.

 

[west point]

They do require closed toe shoes to move about the train. I would never cross between cars barefoot, though.

Just that statement makes my body shutter thinking about crossing between cars.

 

[rrdude]

It is my understanding that in some of the Park Cars at the end of the train, there are two bedrooms underneath the dome? If that’s the case, how does one go about requesting those particular bedrooms when making reservation? Thanks in advance.

 

[PVD]

They do require closed toe shoes to move about the train. Although I will admit to padding down to washrooms on the other end of the car in the middle of the night barefoot a time or two. I would never cross between cars barefoot, though.

In a million years I would never go into a bathroom on a train or plane barefoot, lol.

 

[railiner]

It is my understanding that in some of the Park Cars at the end of the train, there are two bedrooms underneath the dome? If that’s the case, how does one go about requesting those particular bedrooms when making reservation? Thanks in advance.

Speak to a live agent to request any specific space…

 

[fdaley]

It is my understanding that in some of the Park Cars at the end of the train, there are two bedrooms underneath the dome? If that’s the case, how does one go about requesting those particular bedrooms when making reservation? Thanks in advance.

Nowadays, the rooms in the Canadian's Park Car are Prestige rooms, meaning you need to pay for the Prestige class of service to book them. The forward-most room in the car is an accessible room so is saved for people who need it for mobility reasons. But as railiner suggests, VIA's phone agents can help you to book any specific space you want. I believe the rooms are all forward of the dome -- the area actually underneath the dome is the bar lounge space, what used to be known as the "mural lounge."

 

[zephyr17]

It is my understanding that in some of the Park Cars at the end of the train, there are two bedrooms underneath the dome? If that’s the case, how does one go about requesting those particular bedrooms when making reservation? Thanks in advance.

There are no Park Cars with rooms under the dome. That is where the bar is (formerly the "Mural Lounge" but the murals are long gone) and always has been.

In the modified "Prestige Park" cars in service on the Candian, there is the only Accessible Bedroom on the train and one Prestige room in the forward end of the car, not under the dome. You book that Prestige room by calling VIA and asking for it. Note that Prestige is north of $12,000 CAD between Vancouver and Toronto, single or double occupancy, and never discounted. To get the Accessible Room, you have to have a documented mobility impairment. I think they go at Sleeper Plus prices if you do.

Unconverted Park Cars, which do not normally see service on the Canadian, have a Drawing Room and two Double Bedrooms in the forward end of the car. Those are only on the Skeena and Hudson Bay these days AFAIK. And only on the Hudson Bay the rooms may be sold. On the Skeena, the train lays over overnight in Prince George and passengers are responsible for their own hotels there.

 

[railiner]

Unconverted Park Cars, which do not normally see service on the Canadian, have a Drawing Room and two Double Bedrooms in the forward end of the car. Those are only on the Skeena and Hudson Bay these days AFAIK. And only on the Hudson Bay the rooms may be sold. On the Skeena, the train lays over overnight in Prince George and passengers are responsible for their own hotels there.

Interesting..,
So when the unconverted Park cars are used on the Skeena, the rooms are not even sold for daytime occupancy? Unless used for storage space, what a waste.

What about the Ocean? Are these cars used any more there?

I would like to experience a drawing room some day, so I guess it’d have to be on the Churchill run…

 

[fdaley]

Interesting..,
So when the unconverted Park cars are used on the Skeena, the rooms are not even sold for daytime occupancy? Unless used for storage space, what a waste.

What about the Ocean? Are these cars used any more there?

I would like to experience a drawing room some day, so I guess it’d have to be on the Churchill run…

I don't think VIA has been running Park cars on the Ocean since they lost the use of the loop track at Halifax a couple years ago. I believe they still sometimes run unconverted Chateau cars on the Churchill train and at peak times on the Ocean, and Room A in those cars is a drawing room ("cabin for three" in current VIA parlance) that can be booked if available.

I did look wistfully at those Park car rooms when we took the Skeena for the length of its run, and back, in 2016. Alas, they are empty and unused. They would be lovely for day occupancy and likely sometimes useful for sleeping on a route that is prone to extreme delays because of freight congestion. But ridership is low -- I don't think we ever had more than 20 people aboard on any of the four segments, and sometimes as few as six (including three in our party). And behind the engine, there is only one crew member to serve as conductor, staff the snack counter and point out the sights from the dome.

 

[zephyr17]

So when the unconverted Park cars are used on the Skeena, the rooms are not even sold for daytime occupancy? Unless used for storage space, what a waste.

No.

What about the Ocean? Are these cars used any more there?

Not since VIA lost access to the loop track they used to turn the train in Halifax. An expansion of the container port took it, IIRC. It runs push-pull now. It runs with Chateaus at least sometimes, but no domes at all, neither Parks nor Skylines.

I would like to experience a drawing room some day, so I guess it’d have to be on the Churchill run…

Chateaus have them, too. You might be able to score on the Ocean as well as the Hudson Bay.

And behind the engine, there is only one crew member to serve as conductor, staff the snack counter and point out the sights from the dome.

Small correction, that OBS crew member does not serve as conductor. He is not in T&E service and is not subject to HOS rules. VIA abolished conductors in the 1990s and the only VIA train with them is the Sudbury-White River RDC over the CP and I think runs with CP, not VIA, T&E crews

The only operational role that OBS person (probably with an SM title) has is to verify to the engineer that the train is closed up prior to a station departure and confirm which stops will be made based on the manifest.

 

[Bonser]

Speak to a live agent to request any specific space…

They used to be the bedroom for three, aka a drawing room.