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Wasn't much different when we took the train from Vancouver to Montreal to go to Expo '67. I remember being very excited about the whole trip.
I of course recognize the cars since I worked in them...well except coach. Coach didn't get it's own attendant.
The car they refer to as the Mural Bar is what we called the Park Cars. We never called them the Mural Bar.
If memory serves me right, some of those " Murals" were covered in plexiglass after they realized some were done by the Group of Seven.
The reason they were called Park Cars is that each car was named after a National Park.
In 1980 we still did the white table clothes for dinner services, although pretty sure it was stainless steel and not silver by then.
The chefs in the kitchen still cooked a lot of things from scratch, like the roast beet etc. Breakfast was made to order, so your eggs, toast, bacon etc were all made fresh.
I remember one American being quite pleased with the option of brown sugar on his porridge ( Oatmeal ). He learned that's what we do, I learned that he put white sugar on his. I prefer brown
A lot of memories in my 18 months or so working on VIA.
Do passenger trains still stop in remote places to pick up outdoorsmen and others?
Do people who work for VIA have to be bilingual?
People who work on VIA are preferred to be bilingual, and that may have changed, but it wasn't a requirement for most jobs. I believe the ( I've forgotten the title ) PR person on board, a kind of go to person for passengers, had to be bilingual.
I would assume they still stop. I believe it was some law or some unwritten code, that train will stop in remote areas if someone is waving it down by the track. On the major CN or CP lines going east to west, I never saw this happen. However on the Jasper to Prince Rupert line in northern BC this was a common occurrence..
The train was much smaller and much easier to stop to pick people up. The would board, and if winter warm them up with some coffee and then I'd get the conductor to come and sell them the ticket.
We jokingly called it " The Petticoat Junction " line.
"n 1954 he was one of eighteen Canadian artists commissioned by the Canadian Pacific Railway to paint a mural for the interior of one of the new Park cars entering service on the new Canadian transcontinental train. Each the murals depicted a different national or provincial park; Holgate's was Mont-Tremblant National Park."
^^I have to spread the love around but really interesting, Nat. My sisters in law take the train once a year to BC. They are both widowed and the one lived on Vancouver Island.
^^I have to spread the love around but really interesting, Nat. My sisters in law take the train once a year to BC. They are both widowed and the one lived on Vancouver Island.
It was a very hard job in some ways, but lots of good memories.
One that still makes me smile, is one where a kid, about 9 or so, would be waiting to see the passenger train pull into his small town station. I think it was in Saskatchewan.. He was there more often than not, so that some people on the train got to know him. Give him one of the cardboard cutouts we used to give kids on the train.
One summer day, the kid was there and had a ticket to board to Vancouver.. I didn't see him board, but only afterwards. His parents must have arranged for VIA to watch over him. He travelled alone and got star treatment from the staff. He was on his way to grandma's house.
Another few short stories that stick with me.
Seeing people from the prairies who had never seen a mountain, let alone looking down hundreds of metres below. One woman was so frightened she closed the blind. She was certain the mountains would fall. She asked me if they ever did. Me being young and honest thought about the Hope Slide that I had seen growing up every time we drove to the Okanagan, answered yes. Still regret that.
Standing between cars is not allowed. People like to do it because of the fresh air, but it's dangerous in the case of an accident. This I know from experience when I was in a VIA wreck. The cars squish together and anyone standing in the vestibule would be crushed.
Anyway, I was walking through when a man was staring out at view. We were in the middle of the Rockies somewhere. I told him he wasn't allowed to stand here because of the danger, when he commented in an English accent, " It's amazing ". " What is? " I asked. " It's been over three hours and not a house, nor a building, nothing" I answered in my squeaking young voice " of course not sir, we're in the woods! ".
I really thought he must be a bit mad.
It wasn't until I got to go to the UK and Europe, that I understood what he meant. I thought of him while driving through the UK. LOL
Nice stories. Yes, the mountains are hard on prairie eyes. I've heard other prairie travellers comment that the mountains get in the way of the view. It's too tiring for my eyes at some point and I have closed them on trips (by car) through the mountains.
The train I took through the mountains was the Copper Canyon train. Right over the mountains and it stopped at the top (where I refused to get out as all I could see was an endless drop-off) and where the husband got out and bought me two copper bracelets. I was scared to breathe, to nod, to speak, because it seemed like the slightest movement would knock the train into the abyss. It was either a 16 or 18 hour ride. It's ranked as one of the top train trips in the world but I wouldn't do it again.
Nice stories. Yes, the mountains are hard on prairie eyes. I've heard other prairie travellers comment that the mountains get in the way of the view. It's too tiring for my eyes at some point and I have closed them on trips (by car) through the mountains.
The train I took through the mountains was the Copper Canyon train. Right over the mountains and it stopped at the top (where I refused to get out as all I could see was an endless drop-off) and where the husband got out and bought me two copper bracelets. I was scared to breathe, to nod, to speak, because it seemed like the slightest movement would knock the train into the abyss. It was either a 16 or 18 hour ride. It's ranked as one of the top train trips in the world but I wouldn't do it again.
It's what one is used to I suppose. I can't live without mountains...and ocean. However I do have very fond memories of getting waking up on the train, just before dawn, when I was working the Park Car, and sitting in the curved lounge area watching the sun come up of the prairie. Stunning !!
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