Who has traveled via VIA?

[Natnasci]

Originally Posted by ChevySpoons

Never heard such a thing from my Dad, but then, he was never a porter.

Interestingly, Dad learned how to play craps on the train. The game was popular among his fellow CN employees on layovers (and among passengers who shouldn't have been doing it). Dad was never a participant (at least, he never admitted to being one), but he got to know the rules of "street craps," for lack of a better term. When I was in high school, he taught me about street craps--fading, coming-out, passing, and so on. I think he wanted to make sure that I'd never get taken for a chump in a crap game at high school or university. And thanks to Dad's lessons, I never was.

I'm sure that you've seen craps being played in the movies, on a table in a casino. That's "bank craps," and it looks complicated. But it isn't really, and street craps is the heart of the game. No matter how complicated the Las Vegas table looks, I can play the street game on it, and have a lot of fun. Heck, I once walked away from a Las Vegas bank craps table, with $600 (on a $100 buy-in), just by playing street craps.

Thanks, Dad!

We didn't play craps. Too tired. When you're a dining car waiter you are up at 5am and go to bed in winter around 11, in summer around midnight since it was busier. You weren't just a waiter, you did the dishes as well.

Being porter you were allotted 3 hours sleep a night. You could sometimes sneak more in, but you had to be dressed and ready during you " working time ".

The only game I remember was bingo in the dining car for the passengers. I called a few games.

[Natnasci]

Originally Posted by netwit

I want to know!

When I worked as a porter, a drunk " older " lady boarded from a small town in the prairies, She had an upper berth. I had to practically shove her up the ladder since she was so tipsy.
A few minute later, she called me, and flashed me. I just grabbed the curtains shut, and said " Sleep it off Ma'am" .
I don't remember the next day, but I'm sure IF she remembered she was probably embarrassed.


Service Agent is the name of the PR person on the train, the job title I couldn't remember earlier.
We had one woman, who was a lot of fun.
It was winter and we were stopped in a very snowy station. The lights from the windows of the train lighted a beautiful patch of fresh snow.
This Service Agent thought it was perfect for a snow angel. So she went outside with us watching while she lay down and started making it.
The train starts to leave.
She bolts right up looking horrified at seeing the train slowly moving forward. Well, trains don't stop on a dime, and we had no brakemen with radios nearby, so it was a few minutes before the train stopped, backed up and rescued her.
Of course every time the train stops, passengers immediately ask why. We usually don't know, but this time I could honestly say,
" We've forgotten something " .


The dead body.
Crew quarters in summer when you have a long train are usually a car of roomettes. In winter and on smaller trains, the crew car is half baggage, and half roomettes, with a very thin metal wall separating them.
I got a roomettes who head of the bed was just the other side of this thin metal wall. The door to the baggage area was open and there was a coffin. I asked the baggage man, if it was just the coffin. No, body and all.
So I literally slept about 10 centimetres from a dead body.
Funny enough, I slept well that night.