A brief synopsis of our trip on the Canadian 1 from Toronto to Edmonton follows here.
Wednesday May 3. Toronto & Canadian Shield
After a restful sleep, we prepared baggage and I went out to find some breakfast to tide us over until we reached the station where there was a Tim Hortons. The Subway did not open until 8am so I tried another deli place and found some breakfast sandwiches and drinks. Back to the hotel and sadly, the sandwiches were stale and not up to quality. Moved downstairs and waited in the lobby while I contacted Lyft for a ride to Union Station. The first contact failed to show up in 8 minutes and the AP switched to another driver, who also did not show up. First time for a negative experience using Lyft drivers. We were now running late and I hailed a cab on the street and we loaded luggage for a 15 minute ride to the train station. When we unloaded, I immediately noticed that my CPap machine was not in the cab. Terror ensued. We only had 10 minutes to check our bags and after check-in in the First Class Lounge, I called the hotel and their security quickly located my Cpap bag on the seat in the lobby. They secured the bag, gave me a control number, but I did not have enough time to return to the hotel to retrieve it. I did manage to get our large bags checked at the baggage area and we had to go to boarding gate soon after. Not happy with Lyft and my lack of concentration that led to this unfortunate problem. We moved to our boarding gate and were met by friendly VIA staff who guided us to our Car 111, Room B. on Canadian Train 1. We had a cabin for 2, which had larger space than an Amtrak roomette/bedroom and did have a private bathroom. Two leather chairs that would later be covered by beds from the wall. Bags with towels, soap were available. The shower is at the end of the hall and was quite spacious. Our car attendant was Eric, who was on an extra board and learning some ropes, so Jessica from dining car came to our room and went over functions and some rules of the road. She was very nice and we saw her several times in the diner for our meals. Our train left on time at 9:55am as we slowly moved away from the station, past the CN Tower and many GO Trains moving in and out. We eventually made a backup move and then north out of Toronto. Our dining times were assigned and we first moved to the diner for lunch at 1pm. We met an interesting couple originally from Tanzania & Kenya who now lived in Canada. Raji and Sahari were struggling a bit with language barriers and their dietary restrictions. We found out later that Raji was not feeling well and would later need some medical attention. Our meal was excellent with Jessica and Jesse as servers. Pasta salad, pulled pork sandwiches, chocolate ice cream were the highlights.
The Canadian is an interesting train, traveling through many small towns that can be flag stops if anyone needs a ride. The government approved the continuation of the train on condition that it would serve people in the rural areas of Canada. The rocky terrain, lakes and forests of the Canadian Shield region was the highlight of the first two days. Beautiful scenery as we went up to our Skyline observation car to see the terrain. Bobby was our Skyline dome car attendant and he was humorous and gave some history of the region. Hors d’oeuvres and snacks were available. We stopped at Washago around noon, Parry Sound around 3pm, (a beautiful view of the lake and cottages from a trestle bridge, Sudbury Jct. around 5 and Capreol at 6pm where crews changed and engines refueled. All of the Manor Cars are named after famous Canadians. Our car was name Burton for a General Ralph Burton who commanded British forces at Louisbourg in 1750s. We visited this French fort in Nova Scotia on our cruise last fall.
See photos of the Canadian Shield, lakes, rock formations and forests. Many small towns along the route.
The consist of the train has two Economy (Coach) cars, 10-15 Manor cars (sleepers), 3-4 Skyliner dome cars, 2 Prestige cars (suites) and a Park Car that is shared with Prestige class and sleeper class during the day. There are 2 diners, sometimes 3, 2 locomotives GM F40PH #6412 and lead unit #6437 in the current “Love The Way” paint scheme, a baggage car behind the engines. There were 52 of this class of VIA locos in service on long distance trains. 6400 was scrapped after a wreck.
After a nice fresh air stop at Capreol, where we photographed train, station and yards, we moved to dinner at 7. A nice meal and conversations with a couple from Maine. Beef Tenderloin. Potatoes, salads, broccoli, great pretzel bread and cheesecake. The staff was very professional and friendly.
We returned to our room and found the beds down and a notice to change our watches for tomorrow to Central time. The bed was very comfortable, but without my CPap, I found sleeping to be somewhat difficult. The train rocked a bit, no worse than Amtrak. A long day of interesting scenery, meeting new people and seeing new parts of Canada. Good night.
