I don't see a lot of posting under the Canada heading, so thought I would give it a shot. Has anyone taken VIA recently? I rode the VIA from Jasper, Alb, west to Vancouver, BC around 5-6 years ago. My impressions were mixed. On the negative side of things, the passenger and sleeper cars seemed "pre Superliner" and reminded me of the cars on the old Burlington Northern train I took back in the late 60's and early 70's. The roomette I booked was not very comfortable and not well maintained. The dining car reminded me of a 1950's soda shop on wheels. The chairs were not comfortable and I developed low back pain before I could finish my meal. I couldn't stand the roomette so I upgraded to their delux bedroom. It was better, but the upgrade was costly..my total cost for 1-way from Jasper to Vancouver was around $1000 Canadian. Now for the positive things. The VIA crew was first rate..very outgoing and pleasant. My sleeping car attendant was very helpful and went out of her way to make the trip fun and memorable. Who says Canadians don't like us..the friendly crew and the Canadians I met, aboard, were the prime reason for wishing to take another VIA journey. The dining car meal, despite the uncomfortable chairs, was super...very good and a lot better than Amtrak. The thing I most remember was a view of Mt. Robson, the highest peak in the Canadian Rockies, around sunset. Mt Robson still was snow-capped in early July. When the sun hit it the snow cap turned sort of a reddish-pink color..just spectacular. I have heard VIA has upgraded its cars and services. Has anyone taken the new Canadian run recently? What about the cost for sleeping accommodations? RH
[This message has been edited by yukon11 (edited 05-10-2004).]
Posted by Ray (Member # 10) on :
I've been on a number of VIA trips and enjoyed every one of them. I'll be going again in the fall with concentration to the Ottawa valley and Mtl. and Quebec City. I agree with everything you say and other than the Coast Starlight that is on the Pacific coastline, as well as the Amtrak Cascades that goes to Vancouver, BC, the rest of the Amtrak train sets are not in the same category in my book. The english speaking Canadian personnel seem to be of the highest caliber for quality service. I think that it's all about attitude.
By the way, I always have a sleeper. The rooms are great when you want your own hideout to get away from it all. Great sleeping, as well! It's been two year since I was on VIA.
Posted by notelvis (Member # 3071) on :
My wife and I rode the 'Canadian' from Vancouver to Winnipeg last month. We had a spectacular trip although we found the VIA staff in Vancouver to be a little disorganized. The fellow who checked us into the first class lounge was a bit disgruntled and gave us poor instructions on checking our luggage. We later saw him trying to keep order with the horde of lined up coach passengers......perhaps we caught him out of his element.
On board the train was fabulous. The VIA crews are so passenger oriented. The Park Car lounge attendant always had some sort of snack and beverage available. The diner had a different menu for each of the five meals we ate on-board and I liked the tables with chairs as opposed to the padded boothes on Amtrak diners.
I loved the dome cars although we didn't 'see' much of the rockies. Our day in the mountains began gray and overcast. Rain turned to freeezing rain which turned to a full blown blizzard by the time we reached Edmonton. The domes were like a reverse snow globe that day!
Most impressively, the train arrived early or on-time at EVERY station. Timed by the mileposts we were moving through a blizzard in the 75-80mph range. Under similar situations on an Amtrak train using CSX tracks I could imagine the announcement "We've been slow-ordered for our safety because the signals have frozen (or flooded, or been blown away, etc. etc.) as the train crawls at 10mph and loses hours enroute.
I am eager, very eager, to try either VIA's 'Skeena' or perhaps even the Churchill train because I am curious if VIA's on-board crews are all superior to what I've encountered on Amtrak or if that level of service is unique to the Canadian.
Final thought; While I did experience riding Southern Railway's good (but not great I understand) passenger trains as a teenager in the 1970's, I did not have the chance to ride some of the other great trains 'pre-Amtrak'. During the entire 'Canadian' experience in the back of my mind I was thinking "this is the nearest I will ever come to understanding what the 'California Zephyr' was all about."
------------------ David Pressley
Posted by Ray (Member # 10) on :
If you go to RAILtravelogues.com & click on "Ray Burns" you will find a story on the Skeena 6/17/02, and one on Churchill 01/05/01. Also, under "Chris Guenzler" you should find his stories as well, as I know that he had also taken those same trips - before I did. I might also mention that Robert Burns (Skeena & Churchill)and also Laurie Irving, Darlene Banning and Lorraine Symons have written travelogues about the Churchill run as well. Their stories can be found in RAILcanada.com.
I would hope that you, as well as all the other Forum users will write and submit their travelogues to TrainWeb for posting. Share your trip with others so that they can compare their voyage with yours and revive their memories and to also entice new travellers to experience the wonderful adventures that you have. If anything, it is a great place to go and read to relive those memories, not only for you, but for your children and grandchildren and friends.