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Rail Freak said:
I'm thinking of doing the Canadian. What would you folks suggest, east bound or west bound?

Thanx
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Follow the Sun is a good motto! :cool: East to West is best is another! You have more daylight when you go West and arrive into Vancouver in the Daytime! It is much cheaper in the Winter , less crowded and be sure sure and look for specials, occasionally you can ride for like $500 in a Roomette, that's a real deal!
 
jimhudson said:
Rail Freak said:
I'm thinking of doing the Canadian. What would you folks suggest, east bound or west bound?

Thanx
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Follow the Sun is a good motto! :cool: East to West is best is another! You have more daylight when you go West and arrive into Vancouver in the Daytime! It is much cheaper in the Winter , less crowded and be sure sure and look for specials, occasionally you can ride for like $500 in a Roomette, that's a real deal!
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Thanx, I just discovered the express deals offered by VIA. A couple of days ago I applied for a pass port so I'll be prepared to jump on a great deal!!! BTW How often do they offer Exprees Fares?
 
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I suggest you ride Westbound, no question about it. These days the Express Deals seem to be in effect whenever the 50% off sale is not. However, I feel the 50% off sale is a better overall value because you have so much more freedom to pick the dates you want instead of waiting to see whatever random dates VIA decides to bless (or recover) with their 75% off sale. I'd move fast though if I were you. Whenever I see a business routinely offering 50-75% off sales I tend to view that as a sign of trouble. Know what I mean?
 
Texas Sunset said:
.........I'd move fast though if I were you. Whenever I see a business routinely offering 50-75% off sales I tend to view that as a sign of trouble. Know what I mean?
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VIA has been offering deals for years and they are still around.....don’t think they’re going anywhere anytime soon!

I think if you checked into it you would probably find that most of the rooms in a typical consist have been sold at full price. VIA can probably tell how many rooms are going to remain unsold on a particular train on a particular date so the deals are just a way of getting something for that unsold inventory.....once the train leaves the station its lost revenue but that empty room is going anyway!

Here’s VIA #2, Departing Vancouver, BC, July 31, 2011

F40 6428

F40 6453

Baggage 8613

Coach 8123

Coach 8116

Skyline 8515

Diner Empress

Skyline 8505

Macdonald Manor

Drummond Manor

Bliss Manor

Glass-roofed Coach 1720

Butler Manor

Allan Manor

Abbot Manor

Chateau Bienville

Skyline 8502

Diner Fairholme

Elgin Manor

Burton Manor

Lorne Manor

Banff Park
 
NS VIA Fan said:
I think if you checked into it you would probably find that most of the rooms in a typical consist have been sold at full price.
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I can't tell you how many times I was asked if I got in on the 50% or the 75% off sale. Apparently these sales are pretty well patronized by both locals and foreigners. Hopefully VIA's books are rock-solid but when I see the locomotives of their flagship train painted in butt-ugly advertisements I begin to wonder just how well they are really doing.
 
Texas Sunset said:
NS VIA Fan said:
I think if you checked into it you would probably find that most of the rooms in a typical consist have been sold at full price.
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I can't tell you how many times I was asked if I got in on the 50% or the 75% off sale. Apparently these sales are pretty well patronized by both locals and foreigners. Hopefully VIA's books are rock-solid but when I see the locomotives of their flagship train painted in butt-ugly advertisements I begin to wonder just how well they are really doing.
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I'm going to come down in the middle here on this one. I agree with NS VIA that the 75% sales are exactly what was said, that VIA has a room or two here and there that they anticipate going empty, so it shows up on those specials.

However, while I won't go so far as to say that it's a sign of serious trouble, that special 50% sale in the middle of the summer is indeed troubling. That is a sign that seats & rooms overall were not selling as well as expected this year. Especially since they repeated the sale. That suggests that sales are down across the board on the LD's.

Mind you, I'm not exactly complaining either since I'll be going to Halifax shortly thanks to that 50% sale. :)
 
Here are a couple additional data points to add to this equation. First of all, many of the berths and even some entire sleeper cars were empty on my trip earlier this month. I never once had to wait for a dome seat over the course of four days. Our two services per meal were apparently a 30% reduction over previous years. Which makes sense since North America's job market remains weak and is likely to get even weaker in the future.
 
Texas Sunset said:
Hopefully VIA's books are rock-solid but when I see the locomotives of their flagship train painted in butt-ugly advertisements I begin to wonder just how well they are really doing.
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I really dont know where youre getting the idea VIA is in financial difficulties because they have a seat sale or paint a locomotive……. Sure VIA is underfunded…….really no different than Amtrak.

But if painting a particular locomotive can generate additional revenue and improve the bottom line…….more power to them! They have been doing this for years now and some of the schemes are quite attractive: Telus, CBC……so was Spiderman but its getting dated now. Ill agree, one they could do without is Quebec Loto but that Coors Light Silver Bullet on the Canadian is a classic and I certainly hope its around for awhile.

Back in 2001 VIA was running a Kool-Aid F40 on the Halifax > Sydney Bras dOr. A co-worker's young sons saw it and they just had to go for a ride on the Kool-Aid Train.....So a summer trip was booked on the Ocean to Montreal. Well everyone loved the train so much that theyve done the train trip several times since! And Im sure there are kids out there who had their first train ride after seeing VIA's Spiderman F40s.

(The Spiderman units are slowly disappearing as they are going in for rebuilding and will be repainted anyway)
 
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NS VIA Fan said:
Texas Sunset said:
Hopefully VIA's books are rock-solid but when I see the locomotives of their flagship train painted in butt-ugly advertisements I begin to wonder just how well they are really doing.
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I really don’t know where you’re getting the idea VIA is in financial difficulties because they have a seat sale or paint a locomotive. Sure VIA is underfunded. Really no different than Amtrak.
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I have no idea if VIA is in actual financial trouble or not. But I've read that they have been on the bubble before and I see some aspects of their current operation today that give me pause. As a result I have listed some of my concerns here. What you take away from them is up to you. Maybe every tacky lotto advertisement plastered over their formerly proud looking locomotives is a sign of inherent strength but it sure looked ugly to me and several other people I spoke to about it. Not one single person was in the "Wow, I was finally able to save up for a $1,500 ticket to ride the famous Lotto Train!" group.
 
Texas Sunset said:
...........Not one single person was in the "Wow, I was finally able to save up for a $1,500 ticket to ride the famous Lotto Train!" group.
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Does the colour of a F40 really matter to the average passenger on board? I don’t think so.....they’re more interested in the Dome and Observation view from the inside out!

It’s a Railfan Thing!....... If VIA’s not running perfectly matched Budd Stainless Steel hauled by a locomotive in a traditional paint scheme.....it's sacrilegious! Excuse me......but VIA is not running a railfan excursion and as I said if wrapping a locomotive can generate additional revenue and improve the bottom line.......more power to them.

When VIA started running the “Panorama” glass roof cars on the Canadian, some of those posting to several of the railfan forums in Canada were all aghast that VIA could do such a thing......add a smooth sided car and break that matched Stainless Steel! To heck with the passenger paying to ride....don't ruin my photo!

Ski%252520Trip%252520136.jpg
 
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I agree with those who say the panorama cars stick out like a sore thumb compared to rest of the carefully matched and maintained rolling stock, but they're nothing compared to this monstrosity.

IMAG0367.jpg


From a distance it looked like it had suffered a major fire.

Up close it looked amazingly tacky and distracting.

Nothing about that livery implies a luxurious flagship ride through beautiful scenery.

But something about it does imply a last ditch effort at solvency.
 
Texas Sunset said:
I agree with those who say the panorama cars stick out like a sore thumb compared to rest of the carefully matched and maintained rolling stock, but they're nothing compared to this monstrosity.
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I’m sorry you feel the Panorama cars stick out like a sore thumb and ruin your image of a perfectly matched train. But did you ever think that the passengers who the cars are actually being run for might enjoy them?

Yes 6414 is one unit that could use a paint job but it has nothing to do with ‘a last ditch effort at solvency’

VIA is currently in the middle of $100 million program rebuilding their F40 fleet (is that the sign of an insolvent company??...... and only part of nearly $1 billion in capital expenditures) 6414 has been in the Loto scheme for 4 or 5 years and will shortly be entering the shops at CAD Industries.......it won’t be repainted until then.

http://www.viarail.ca/sites/all/files/media/pdfs/About_VIA/our-company/capital-investment-plan/BK071211E-%20F-40%20Rebuild%20Award%20Announcement.pdf

http://www.viarail.ca/en/about-via-rail/our-company/capital-investment

Do 90% of the passengers on the Canadian even see the locomotive hauling their train? Most would board in the larger stations where the power is stopped outside of the trainshed. Sure a few might see it pulling in and some may walk forward while the train is serviced but do they really care how it’s painted?
 
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NS VIA Fan said:
Do 90% of the passengers on the Canadian even see the locomotive hauling their train? Most would board in the larger stations where the power is stopped outside of the trainshed. Sure a few might see it pulling in and some may walk forward while the train is serviced but do they really care how it’s painted?
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Ah! But the frothing railfans do! And aren't trains basically run for the railfans pleasure mostly? :p
 
On the subject of matched consists, it is important to note that even in "the day" not every train would have a matched consist. Oh sure, when first built they usually would. But cars would often be switched around to over trains where they were needed more.newer cars built later (but not completely replacing the original cars.)

The quality of a train was much better determined by the interior furnishings and comfort and speed, rather than a matching consist.

Also keep in mind that many trains were operated by more than one railroad and such railroads would often not have matching colors.

As to the Canadian, in its early days it had some heavyweight sleepers painted silver running as a type of budget sleeper (sort of a precursor of the slumbercoach) So that certainly was not a stylistic match.CP's competition, CN, ran the Supercontinental which was a beautiful brownish or greenish. It had a few tourist sleepers also which may have been a color match but would not quite have been a stylistic match.
 
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As always Bill H's( our Resident Old Days guru) info on Trains from back in the day is appreciated! And while everyone is entitled to their opinion, Ive found VIAs consists and equipment to be damn impressive compared to the dirty, run to death, mismatching equipment that Amtrak turns out most days! Always good to see the pictures and info from North of the Border, and I agree with Chris that that one piece of equipment is hideous, Im not a big fan of wrapped equipment but do realize that revenue is revenue no matter where the hard pressed Passenger Rail Operators find it! (Ready for an Apple Lounge!)

I personally wish Amtrak had some of those cars pictured, beats the cruddy diner-lite/lounge cars and the long in the tooth Superliner Sightseers that run on the Eagle/Cono! Imagine how nice they would be on the Cardinal, the Adirondack,the Maple Leaf,the Crescent and the Lake Shore!! :cool:
 
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NS VIA Fan said:
Yes 6414 is one unit that could use a paint job but it has nothing to do with ‘a last ditch effort at solvency’

VIA is currently in the middle of $100 million program rebuilding their F40 fleet.......
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Give 6414 six months or so and it will emerge from the rebuild program looking like this....... And yes there’s probably those out there all aghast with how could VIA alter that beautiful roof-line by adding the HEP compartment on the F-40s rear platform......blasphemy!......and that trailing Renaissance equipment......Don't even go there!

DSC04960.JPG
 
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NS VIA Fan said:
Yes 6414 is one unit that could use a paint job but it has nothing to do with ‘a last ditch effort at solvency.’ Do 90% of the passengers on the Canadian even see the locomotive hauling their train? Most would board in the larger stations where the power is stopped outside of the trainshed. Sure a few might see it pulling in and some may walk forward while the train is serviced but do they really care how it’s painted?
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I have no idea if most passengers care or not as I did not walk around with a survey asking everyone about their views. The only opinion I can give you is mine. I felt the Lotto locomotive was butt ugly pulling an otherwise beautiful train. I was surprised to see such tacky advertisements on a flagship train. Maybe everyone else expects this sort of thing but nothing in VIA's literature gave me any indication that they were using their trains as mobile billboards.
 
Texas Sunset said:
Maybe everyone else expects this sort of thing but nothing in VIA's literature gave me any indication that they were using their trains as mobile billboards.
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Yes, VIA should certainly publish a warning to potential passengers that their train could be hauled by a locomotive in a paint scheme that might not be particularly appealing to them! :)
 
NS VIA Fan said:
Texas Sunset said:
Maybe everyone else expects this sort of thing but nothing in VIA's literature gave me any indication that they were using their trains as mobile billboards.
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Yes, VIA should certainly publish a warning to potential passengers that their train could be hauled by a locomotive in a paint scheme that might not be particularly appealing to them! :)
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Is VIA your parent's employer? The primary component of a life-dominating hobby? The subject of your college thesis? What exactly is the basis for your hyper-emotional connection to VIA anyway?
 
Amtrak and most local transit systems often "wrap" their cars in advertising. These ads are removed after a set amount of time that the advertiser is paying for. For instance, the "Looney Tunes" Amfleet car and the "Wheel of Fortune" Horizon car. Once the advertising contracts expire, the ads are removed. VIA, however, tends to keep these advertisements on their locomotives long after their expiration date. Those Spiderman and Quebec Lotto locomotives have been around for years. Remove the wraps or repaint the locos, for Pete's sake!
 

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