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Toronto and Montreal on VIA Rail? I would like to record it in my travel records. Thanks!
Posts: 2642 | From: upstate New York | Registered: Mar 2004
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335 miles per the November 1982 Official Railway Guide.......
That was back when you could see an actual timetable with miles and kilometers both listed for Canadian trains.
-------------------- David Pressley
Advocating for passenger trains since 1973!
Climbing toward 5,000 posts like the Southwest Chief ascending Raton Pass. Cautiously, not nearly as fast as in the old days, and hoping to avoid premature reroutes. Posts: 4203 | From: Western North Carolina | Registered: Feb 2004
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According to VIA's web site, the distance is 539 km, or approximately 323 miles.
Posts: 2428 | From: Grayling, MI | Registered: Mar 2002
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I wonder if there has been a rerouting or new rail construction in the last 28 miles that would shorten the route? I know that this has happened between Toronto and Niagra Falls but a 12 mile difference is pretty significant.
-------------------- David Pressley
Advocating for passenger trains since 1973!
Climbing toward 5,000 posts like the Southwest Chief ascending Raton Pass. Cautiously, not nearly as fast as in the old days, and hoping to avoid premature reroutes. Posts: 4203 | From: Western North Carolina | Registered: Feb 2004
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Neither Bonaventure Station in Montreal nor Toronto Union Station has moved in the last 30 years or so, and the only realignment of which I'm aware was the removal of the CN main line from downtown Kingston to its outskirts, and that was done before World War II, so I very much doubt the route has been shortened by 12 miles. 335 miles is the distance. I've done the trip many times, most recently in 2008.
Posts: 614 | From: Merchantville, NJ. USA | Registered: Aug 2000
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RResor, I have always heard this station called Gare Central, or Central Station. What's the history on calling it Bonaventure? Isn't there a different Bonaventure Station on the Metro or something? I like the idea of starting out a Bon A(d)venture, though I'm too lazy to find out what the word really means. . . .
Posts: 2642 | From: upstate New York | Registered: Mar 2004
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Ms. Sojourner, Bonaventure Station was the predecessor facility to the existing Central Station that was opened during WWII. Here is a link with more information and includes a map showing the relative location between Bonaventure and Central:
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For those not mathematically-challenged, 1 km = 0.6214 mile.
539 km converts to 334.93 miles, so 335 miles is what you should record, sojourner.
Posts: 1530 | From: Ocala, FL | Registered: Dec 2006
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OK I see my mistake -- when I converted the 539 km, I used a rounded factor of 0.6 mi/km, not 0.6214 -- yes, if you use 0.6214, you get 335 miles.
I always have a hard time with timetable mileages when I do my route guides. The mileages between some stations seem to change once every 2 or 3 AMTRAK timetables, and sometimes, even within the same timetable, different mileages are shown for different trains which follow the exact same routes.
Posts: 2428 | From: Grayling, MI | Registered: Mar 2002
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RRRICH: Don't feel bad about the conversion error, I have seen many, some funny, some silly, and quite a few by people who should have known better. Also there are the lovely conversions of rounded or approximated numbers in one system to exact numbers in the other.
One in the railroad world I have seen done wrong by more than a few is the coversion of rail weights from pounds per yard to kilograms per meter, or visa versa. The real conversion is almost exactly 2 to 1. Since rail weight are usually stated as an approximation anyway, there is no point in slicing the coversion finer.
Remember, a kilogram is 2.2046 pounds, and a meter is 1.0936 yards. So: 1 lb/yd = 0.49606 kg/m 1 kg/m = 2.01589 lb/yd
Posts: 2808 | From: Olive Branch MS | Registered: Nov 2002
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OK this is off-topic. I'll understand if the Moderatrix chooses to kill it.
I guess we should add, in view of that we have our "Love Tub" afficiandos around here, as well as those who "take the plane to the train", that the conversion between Nautical Mile and Statute (Land) Mile is officially 1.15077945. However, I've always simply used 1.15.
Presuming the Earth to be a perfect sphere (which it is not; but it's close), one Nautical Mile is one Minute of Lattitude along the Equator, or One Minute along a 'Great Circle' course between any two points.
It seems as if aviation is a "Hybrid" of both nautical and land terms. Aircraft travel at a speed measured in knots, distance between Navaids is measured in Nautical Miles. However, an aircraft has a Left and Right side (Pilot's perspective), not a Port and Starboard (Helmsman's perspective). But it does have Forward (front) and Aft (back). Likewise, an aircraft has Cabins; not Rooms.
Posts: 9976 | From: Clarendon Hills, IL USA (BNSF Chicago Sub MP 18.71) | Registered: Apr 2002
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