Trans-Canada Train Ride

In September 2009 my Mom decided that she wanted to visit an old friend in Bellingham, Washington. She thought it would be interesting to travel by train as she had done earlier in her life. She flew to Toronto and boarded a train to Vancouver. This is the account of her trip.

My trip started in Toronto and the first thing I learned was that it is hard to get from here to there. From the airport to the train depot the route went through miles of beautiful public parks so you didn't get the sense of a big concrete city.

The train is VIA and they own two trains, the Canadian and the Blue and Silver. Canadian National owns the rails and the freight trains therefore they have travel priority. Whenever a freight train comes through, the VIA train moves to a side rail and lets the freight train pass. They sometimes have as many as 100 cars and the run often (day and night) Our train had 21 cars, 2 dome cars, 2 dining cars and 3 engines. One to generate electricity and two
 to get it through the Rockies.
 The passengers were mostly from England, Australia, and China. I met one NH couple (from Hudson)

There were activities. Would you believe Napkin Folding Origami? The food was wonderful and if you liked fish you were in 7th heaven. Fish chowder and smoked salmon and king crab were available in some form on every menu.
 Now the sleeper. Well, I must have romanticized about a sleeper. It was a VERY small area with a seat, a toilet, a wash basin and a bed that pulled up over the toilet and seat at night. Since I would judge the average age of the passengers on this trip to be 65, this proved to be quite a challenge. You got to decide whether to step out into the aisle, push your bed into it's little niche and use your toilet or step out into the aisle, lurch down to the end of the car and use the toilet available to the coach travelers. I chose the latter and met some nice people in my nightgown.

As for sleeping, I just didn't. I pictured clickity, clack and a gentle sway. I got a roar, constant lurches, whistles and freight trains roaring by. I have black and blue marks to prove my point. Stops were few and short. Edmonton. Jasper and a couple of little train villages.

The scenery defies description and my pictures, taken from a moving train, do not do it justice. Vancouver would remind you of the Big Dig--cranes and construction equipment everywhere. They are gearing up for the Olympics in 2010.

Bellingham being only 30 miles away is counting on the tourist dollar and is also sprucing up its act. I stayed at the Best Western and they had just redone their rooms with pictures of "old" Bellingham. One in my room was the making of a movie at Mt Baker in 1929. It was courtesy of Gordon Tweit. I spoke to the manager complimenting him on featuring Bellingham history rather than the generic pictures and that I had gone to school with Gordon and remember the making of the movie. Gordon was a pharmacist in town for many years and had a little Bellingham museum in the basement of his drug store. The manager, being around 30, looked at me like I had two heads but who cares. My friend, Pat, no longer drives but her children were great hosts and took us on several sentimental rides to Anacortes, Birch Bay, and Mt Baker. Also through the Indian Reservation where the Lummi Indians now have a Casino called Silver Reef. My house has not changed-still a lawyers office-but
 needs a coat of paint. I flew home from Seattle and the last thing I it's good to be home. learned was that dear friends get dearer with age and that it is good to be home. 

Photos