Touring British Columbia Canada by Rail

By Bill Herzog

This summer Peg and I toured British Columbia by rail starting in the city of Vancouver on July 29, 1998. We arrived in Vancouver the previous day around noon. It was unusually hot and humid. We thought that we would get relief by riding their Skytrain. However it was not air-conditioned, so we cut the ride short. We could not stand the heat! The Skytrain is smooth, frequent and clean. A good solution for getting people around town and off the highways and streets. For the rider it is inexpensive. There are ticket machines at each station. One spends what he/she needs to ride the zones desired. It uses the honor system. There is no conductor or operator. Vancouver is in the process of extending the system.

This trip was arranged by the Rail Travel Center in Vermont. They provided a lot of interesting literature. The nicest piece was a book entitled "Scenic Rail Guide to Western Canada". It is practically a milepost by milepost description of all the rail lines.

The first leg of the trip was on British Columbia Rail. The BC Rail Cariboo Prospector is scheduled to leave North Vancouver at 0700. The train leaves daily to Lillooet. A section of it continues to Prince George on Sundays, Wednesdays and Fridays. And we were in for a scheduled 13.5 hour ride to Prince George. It actually took us 14 hours, a long train ride. Most of us were tired when it was over. But it was worth it, practically all daylight and in Budd Rail Diesel Cars. I was very pleased with the riding quality of the RDCs and their quietness.

The service on the cars was catered. We had breakfast, lunch and dinner on the car. The servers were courteous. They couldn't do too much for us. The food was good and between meals were served too. By the time we got to our destination, we were friendly with all around us. The scenery on the first half of the trip was impressive, on the second half nice. We received a card showing us a map of the route and describing the scenic highlights. From Lillooet on we were near the Fraser River. It is impressive to see how long and beautiful it is. To me it is like the Mississippi River is to the United States.

When we were arriving at Prince George, the crew called ahead to advise the taxi companies that we needed cabs. But there were only two there after we picked up our luggage. So we called and waited. Of course that was a disappointment, but we were patient and soon were checked in at a Ramada Hotel. Nice but not fancy. Nothing is fancy in Prince George.

Our trip was planned so that we did all of our traveling during daylight. We stayed in hotels every night. Via runs the Skeena through Prince George. It is scheduled as a daylight train, so many nights there are two Skeena train sets stopped at Prince George, one in route to Jasper and the other in route to Prince Rupert. The westbound train departs at 0800. Our eastbound Jasper train departed at 0830. Of course after yesterday, none of us complained about the late start.

The Skeena operation is very interesting. After checking in at the ticket window, one takes his baggage to be checked back out to the front of the depot. There one gives his/her bag to the driver of a van who places the bag in the van. There is no baggage car on the train. The van will take the bags to Jasper. The other van will take bags to Prince Rupert. When I realized what was going on, I checked to be certain that our bag was going to the right destination.

Breakfast and lunch is included for the first class passengers. The servers were male, and very good. This job is one the veteran VIA employees shoot for. They good-naturedly kidded us about the service that we received on BC Rail. The train consisted of three cars, a regular VIA coach, the first class coach which included a large serving station, and a Park observation dome car. I am told that the Park car is replaced by a skyliner after peak season. The car attendants asked us to rotate in and out of the dome. But there was no need for that. We received a very nice six page color pamphlet showing the route and describing the scenic highlights. We saw the highest point in the Canadian Rockies, Mt. Robson, 3954 meters. We crossed the continental divide as we approached Jasper. We also had a meet with a unit coal train at this point. (This was just one of many meets on the entire trip.) The train was wyed before we disembarked. There is a CN mountain-type steam engine on display at the station. A rain shower started as we picked up our checked bags in Jasper. But the agent was very helpful in getting us into cabs. We drove to the Jasper Park Lodge just outside of town. On the way there we saw many elk feeding near the road! The lodge is a beautiful place near a lake, with an outside/inside heated pool, tennis courts, golf, the works. And we are only here for a brief night.

The next day presented us with a Jasper to Banff motor coach tour via the Columbia Ice Field, a beautiful glacier that is receding all too fast. It rained while we were on the glacier, so we were in deep slush with a wind blowing. Someone lent us an umbrella and we took pictures. The vehicles that we used on the ice field were specially designed for the trip. The tires were gigantic. The drivers of all the vehicles we rode on this day were very knowledgeable and they shared their knowledge with us. We had 45 minutes or so at Lake Louise and several other stops. It rained as we got to Banff, a very busy place. We were very happy to stay in the Rimrock Resort Hotel and enjoy the facilities it offered. We were to be here two nights. A tour of Banff followed the next morning and it cleared up. We walked the town shops and took a Sulphur Mountain gondola ride. The discovery of the sulphur spring by railroad construction workers ultimately led to the construction of the hotel at Banff by the railroad. This was done to encourage people to come see the beauty of the area and to partake of the healing sulfur waters. They did come and they are still coming. We saw many tourists in Banff. The next day we were taken by bus to the depot where we were treated to coffee and a fast intermodal just ahead of our train.

The next two days were to be spent on the Rocky Mountaineer. We bought the Gold Leaf service, which provided us two reserved seats in the dome and "360 degree viewing...superior dining and pleasant music with our state of the art sound system." There was a newspaper and a magazine on our seats describing thoroughly the details of the ensuing train ride. The service was very good, the food excellent. We ate in the lower level of the car which had a nice dining area and kitchen. Each of the dome cars had an open area for viewing the scenery. On the last of the two cars this area is like a large observation car. I spent a good part of the day on the observation deck and it was warm. Net result, at the end of the ride I was very tired. But I wouldn't miss that opportunity for anything! It was especially interesting to pass through the two spiral tunnels. CP is operating a lot of new power, many General Electric AC 4400 horsepower units.

The train consisted of eleven cars with two GE locomotives. There was a baggage car, eight single level cars and the two dome cars. One of the coaches was empty, another was used as a smoker and a crew car. The single level cars were all ex-Canadian National coaches.

As I boarded the train a crew member noted that I was a railfan. He saw my NRHS convention cap. He was enthusiastic to see me. Later in the trip, he gave me a copy of the train orders for the day.

As we approached Kamloops our speed reduced significantly. We were probably catching up with a loaded unit coal train. In Kamloops, we transferred from CP rails to CN rails. Busses met us at trainside and took us immediately to our hotels. Our bags were in our rooms waiting for us. The same busses the next morning took us back to the train where we had another big delicious breakfast. To our surprise the Jasper section of the Rocky Mountaineer was coupled behind our train. That spoiled the observation viewing of our last car. So I elected to stay inside our car for the day. Viewing from the upper level was superior to the platform level any way and it was cooler. The windows on the dome cars were perfectly clear and you could go to the first seats in our car and look forward in a 180 degree arc. To me these cars were the best passenger cars that I have ever been in!