About 57 hours from now, I’ll be on a train from Québec City en route to Montréal in order to catch VIA Rail’s “The Ocean” to Halifax where I (and a friend) will be attending the Maritime Federation of Model Railroaders (MFMR) convention.
Think I’m excited ?!?! You bet !!! After several months of planning, this trip is finally going to happen !!!
There are times when I think I’m a bit nuts about trains. Here’s the evidence…
I’m taking a train to Montréal to catch “The Ocean” that passes within a few miles of my home just so that I can say I took it from one end of the line to the other. This adds an additional $100 CDN and a 6 hour round-trip to the whole deal.
The day after spending nearly 24 out of the previous 27 hours on a train getting to Halifax, what will I be doing ? You guessed it ! Riding another train. The MFMR Convention has arranged, with VIA Rail, for a 3 hour train ride for registered attendees. I can’t possibly pass that up, now, can I ?
Between 1:00pm Wednesday (3 May) and 3:30pm the following Tuesday (9 May), I will be spending about 49 hours on five trains. Not a bad way to celebrate my birthday (which is on 8 May).
Oh, and before I forget, VIA Rail called me last week to say they had upgraded our reservations to Easterly Class for the Montréal-Halifax portion of our trip for FREE !!! [:D] No reason was given; but I’m not going to look a gift (iron) horse in the mouth ! [swg] VIA’s Easterly Class, offered only on “The Ocean”, is rather special. Not only are all our meals included, but we now have access to the Panorama Lounge waiting room in Montréal’s Central Station prior to boarding; priority boading; turndown service at night; and access to the Dome Car. There is also a tourguide to give presentations on the history of the various regions we travel through, with slides, film and activities. I strongly suspect that our trip will be more than memorable.
Take photos, especially of the train. I’m not certain but I think that VIA is still running the classic “Budd” cars. You definetly want to get shots of those as there is no telling how much longer they’ll be in service. Unlike Amtrak, VIA has gone the extra mile to maintain those cars.
Get some shots of the interiors as well, especially diner, lounge, and dome cars. Hopefully you’ll be able to post them here.
Thanks ! I just hope I can sleep between now and then. [swg]
Unfortunately, at least on the dates we’re travelling, the Budd cars will not be in service. The new Renaissance cars are being used instead. I believe the Budd cars are now only being used on “The Canadian” (Toronto-Vancouver) and “The Hudson’s Bay” (Winnipeg-Churchill) .
I plan to. Which is why I bought 5 rolls of film and a pack of 8 extra batteries for my camera (and Bill, the friend I’m travelling with, has done the same).
WOW! What a fantastic trip! The only thing better would be to ride in the cab for the trip. Have a great time and we are all looking forward to the photos.
I don’t think it is nuts. My father once purchased overnight tickets in a sleeping car on Amtrak so that I could experience what it was like before the service was dropped (Amtrak lives on though!). Unfortunately, when we arrived in Rochester is was 3 or 4 in the morning, so I only got half a nights sleep. To a kid though, it was a great adventure.
Thus, think about the experience you will have, not the time or the money you will lose
Wish I was a third partner. Spending your money on what gives you pleasure is the only reason for making it.
BTW - get rid of the film and go digital at your earliest convenience. 10 or 15 rolls of film may get you 500 pix. That’s about what you can store on one camera card these days in highest resolution mode. Plus you can buy lots of cards. Save lots of money on developing and printing by previewing the pix on your PC and selecting only the goodies to print.
Very cool, Timothy! I’m taking my first train trip this saturday, riding Amtrak’s Pere Marquette from Grand Rapids, MI, to Chicago, IL for a day of extreme railfanning! Hope we both have lot’s of fun on our trips.[:)]
AAHHHHH, it’s ONLY money, but way down the road you’ll be glad you did it. You can always get more money, but trips like this are once-in-a-lifetime experiences for most of us.
I had the choice of a 2 hour flight or a 24 hour train ride from Ekatarinburg to Novosibirsk, Russia. I took the train. Best choice I ever made. [:D][^][:D][^][:D][^]
Nope. They were built for cross-channel “Nightstar” service between England and France, but were stored as surplus before the interiors were installed. VIA purchased the shells and had interiors put in the cars at Bombardier (I think) in Thunder Bay. These cars will be have been replacing Budd stainless steel equipment (known as HEP1 and HEP2 cars) on all trains that have these cars, except the Canadian and (I think) the Skeeena. They also will supplement the LRC coaches used in the Windsor-Quebec corridor. The Ocean is down to one set of HEP1 equipment, and that is coming off the train within the next two weeks, at least for the summer season when the equipment is most needed on the Canadian.
This addresses a longstanding problem VIA has had keeping enough stainless equipment servicable to cover all the trains, no small task when you’re dealing with cars that are in excess of fifty years old. It’s unfortunate to lose the stainless on the Ocean, but this change should keep stainless on the Canadian for many years yet.
One of the things on my life’s list of things to do is take a transcontinental trip across Canada. I just haven’t decided if I’ll do the whole thing at once or make two trips, one east from Toronto and the other west to Vancouver.
It sounds like a great trip. Take lots of pics and post them for us.
