To Vancouver by Train - November 19-20, 2010
Celeste entered an online contest promoting milk and won one of the subsidiary prizes - $300 in gift cards from Via Rail. “What do we do with this?” we thought, seeing as Via does not pass through Regina. The obvious choice was to apply it to a trip to Vancouver to see our grandchildren, or to Ottawa to visit Angie's family. Sorry Angie, grandchildren won out. Celeste did not want to go alone and the cheapest fare was about $230, so we booked for two and applied the credit. We then booked one way air home.
The train left from Saskatoon on Thursday night. Carla and Tyler were interested in two concerts up there on Friday and Saturday nights, so we persuaded them to go up one day early and we all drove together. We picked Tyler up from SIAST at 3:30, stopped at home for a few minutes, and got on the road about 4 PM. There was a snowstorm going on and the roads in the city were very slippery, but, I was hopeful that the cold temperatures and wind would mean better conditions on the highway and this turned out to be the case. Other than a bit of accumulated snow in the passing lane roughly between Lumsden and Chamberlain, the roads were pretty good, with just a bit of drifting snow.
We arrived in Saskatoon about 6:30, had a buffet supper, checked Carla and Tyler in at the hotel, hung out there for half an hour, and arrived at the train station about 9 PM. As we checked in, the ticket agent informed us that the train was on time in Melville, so it was expected to arrive at the scheduled time of 11:22 PM and depart on schedule at 11:47 PM. I did not expect any delay due to the storm as I did not think that some snow would affect a vehicle running on rails. However, we learned later that there had been some equipment problems with a freight train that had backed everything up and another delay for track work. Our train did not arrive until12:32 AM.
When you are used to air travel, the Via station was pretty primitive. There were no announcements over the PA system about the delay or updating the arrival time. There was no TV monitor showing changing times, just a fixed sign showing the two weekly arrivals and departures each way. When it was time to board, there was no PA announcement, the attendant just came out into the lobby and said, “Time to board. Follow me.” As we entered our car and worked our way to the back, we found most of the people sleeping, usually taking up two seats. For a while, it looked like we would be standing to Vancouver! But the conductor (Is that what they call them these days?) found us a spot.
The seats are quite a bit more spacious than an airplane; they recline quite a bit without intruding on the person behind you; and they have footrests similar to a recliner.
The train got underway at 1:05, but stopped within a few seconds after only traveling a few hundred feet. This was repeated two or three more times before we finally got underway for good at 1:30. We soon fell asleep, awakening periodically before finally settling in for a sound sleep.
We awoke parked on a siding in Viking, Alberta at 8 AM Mountain time (one hour difference). There was a PA announcement that explained the previous night's delay and a sort of welcome announcement with a reminder to check the safety features card in your seat back – sort of like an airplane announcement, but more relaxed. They told us that we should be in Edmonton about 11 AM. 
However, after a few stops on sidings we finally arrived at noon (five and a half hours late) and departed at 1 PM. 
We arrived at Jasper in the dark about 6:30 (still five and a half hours late) after a scenic trip, some of which we spent in the dome, and departed at 7:15. There was nothing to see in the dark, so I read my book and Celeste watched Smallville on the laptop. I went to sleep about 10:30, while Celeste fell asleep somewhat earlier.
A couple of interesting things we noticed: When you are not on a train, you hear the whistle when it passes an intersection and then it is gone. You don't think about it again. But, when you are on the train and passing grid roads continually, it seems like the whistle hardly ever stops.
They had live entertainment on the main level of the dome car. There were two guys singing, with one of them playing guitar. We didn't really listen though, as we went up to the dome car.
We awoke about 7 AM Pacific time in the dark in Kamloops. After a while we went up to the dome car as we traveled down the Fraser River canyon. 
We eventually went for a very good breakfast in the dining car, and then returned to our seats, then to the dome car, then back to our seats for the remainder of the trip from Hope through the lower mainland. We ran into many more delays. They were working on some of the crossings, so the signals were turned off. The engineer had to stop the train, get off, and manually change the signals and switches. The last several miles took forever – It seemed like we could have walked faster. However, we must have made up some time somewhere, arriving in Vancouver just over three hours late at 1 PM.
The whole trip was kind of fun as a change of pace. We would consider doing it again, but you better not have a anything time sensitive at the other end!
The train left from Saskatoon on Thursday night. Carla and Tyler were interested in two concerts up there on Friday and Saturday nights, so we persuaded them to go up one day early and we all drove together. We picked Tyler up from SIAST at 3:30, stopped at home for a few minutes, and got on the road about 4 PM. There was a snowstorm going on and the roads in the city were very slippery, but, I was hopeful that the cold temperatures and wind would mean better conditions on the highway and this turned out to be the case. Other than a bit of accumulated snow in the passing lane roughly between Lumsden and Chamberlain, the roads were pretty good, with just a bit of drifting snow.
We arrived in Saskatoon about 6:30, had a buffet supper, checked Carla and Tyler in at the hotel, hung out there for half an hour, and arrived at the train station about 9 PM. As we checked in, the ticket agent informed us that the train was on time in Melville, so it was expected to arrive at the scheduled time of 11:22 PM and depart on schedule at 11:47 PM. I did not expect any delay due to the storm as I did not think that some snow would affect a vehicle running on rails. However, we learned later that there had been some equipment problems with a freight train that had backed everything up and another delay for track work. Our train did not arrive until12:32 AM.
When you are used to air travel, the Via station was pretty primitive. There were no announcements over the PA system about the delay or updating the arrival time. There was no TV monitor showing changing times, just a fixed sign showing the two weekly arrivals and departures each way. When it was time to board, there was no PA announcement, the attendant just came out into the lobby and said, “Time to board. Follow me.” As we entered our car and worked our way to the back, we found most of the people sleeping, usually taking up two seats. For a while, it looked like we would be standing to Vancouver! But the conductor (Is that what they call them these days?) found us a spot.
The seats are quite a bit more spacious than an airplane; they recline quite a bit without intruding on the person behind you; and they have footrests similar to a recliner.The train got underway at 1:05, but stopped within a few seconds after only traveling a few hundred feet. This was repeated two or three more times before we finally got underway for good at 1:30. We soon fell asleep, awakening periodically before finally settling in for a sound sleep.
We awoke parked on a siding in Viking, Alberta at 8 AM Mountain time (one hour difference). There was a PA announcement that explained the previous night's delay and a sort of welcome announcement with a reminder to check the safety features card in your seat back – sort of like an airplane announcement, but more relaxed. They told us that we should be in Edmonton about 11 AM. 
However, after a few stops on sidings we finally arrived at noon (five and a half hours late) and departed at 1 PM. 
We arrived at Jasper in the dark about 6:30 (still five and a half hours late) after a scenic trip, some of which we spent in the dome, and departed at 7:15. There was nothing to see in the dark, so I read my book and Celeste watched Smallville on the laptop. I went to sleep about 10:30, while Celeste fell asleep somewhat earlier.A couple of interesting things we noticed: When you are not on a train, you hear the whistle when it passes an intersection and then it is gone. You don't think about it again. But, when you are on the train and passing grid roads continually, it seems like the whistle hardly ever stops.
They had live entertainment on the main level of the dome car. There were two guys singing, with one of them playing guitar. We didn't really listen though, as we went up to the dome car.
We awoke about 7 AM Pacific time in the dark in Kamloops. After a while we went up to the dome car as we traveled down the Fraser River canyon. 
We eventually went for a very good breakfast in the dining car, and then returned to our seats, then to the dome car, then back to our seats for the remainder of the trip from Hope through the lower mainland. We ran into many more delays. They were working on some of the crossings, so the signals were turned off. The engineer had to stop the train, get off, and manually change the signals and switches. The last several miles took forever – It seemed like we could have walked faster. However, we must have made up some time somewhere, arriving in Vancouver just over three hours late at 1 PM.
The whole trip was kind of fun as a change of pace. We would consider doing it again, but you better not have a anything time sensitive at the other end!
posted by Celeste at
6:14 p.m.
|
0 comments
