1984 Canadian Rail Pass trip report/ memories

[Steve4031]

This is a trip I took between Junior year and Senior year in high school. I was extremely lucky that my father trusted me to travel by myself for 22 days around western Canada. The trip started off with a round trip on the train to Churchill. Then I took the Canadian on CP routing to Vancouver. Then I road the RDC on the British Columbia railroad from North Vancouver to Prince George. Then I rode the Panorama to Prince Rupert and then rode it back to Winnipeg. I did a final round trip on the Canadian from Winnipeg to Vancouver and back.

The first leg of the trip was on a greyhound bus from Chicago to Winnipeg. This was my first, and last overnight bus ride. The bus left from the downtown Greyhound station on Randolph street at midnight. This was an exotic hour for me because I was not one to stay up late. There was a traffic jam on the Kennedy before we finally started making time on the Toll road. We made stops in Rockford, Beloit, and Madison. At one point a lady sat next to me and she had extreme body odor. Fortunately, she rode only a couple of stops. She was gone by the time we got to Tomah the next morning where we stopped for breakfast. IIRC it was Mcdonalds.

We made a midmorning stop at the bus station in Minneapolis. It was an hour-long stop. I got off to walk around. When I came back 20 minutes later I panicked when the bus had disappeared. A Greyhound employee explained the bus was being serviced. It returned and I boarded. I pulled out my walkman and headphones and played music. At the same time, I went to work on a large bag of M&Ms. I was really into that bag of M&Ms, and the next thing I knew I had spilled half of the bag on the floor. They made a racket and I instantly looked at the driver. His eyes were glaring back at the passengers through the mirror. I couldn't get at the M&Ms on the floor, and each time the bus changed speed they rolled up and down the bus. Thankfully, the bus driver did not figure out it was me because I did not want to get fussed at.

We stopped for dinner in Fargo. It was a local restaurant and I naively ordered Nachos thinking they would be the same and as good as the ones I got back home at a local restaurant. They weren't, and they were stealthily stashed under the bus seat. We crossed the border into Canada. I had a letter written and signed by my father granting me permission to travel. I was apprehensive that I would be detained, but the border patrol guard just read the information and checked my ID, and sent me along.

We arrived in Winnipeg around 10 p.m.and I took a cab to the hotel. The next morning I went down to get my rail pass and train tickets for my trip. We had made reservations for all segments and paid for them on the phone. I just had to give them my record locator. The ticket agent was Canadian friendly and I was impressed. She was fascinated by my trip and asked a lot of questions.

That afternoon I boarded the Hudson Bay. I had a lower berth. This was my first section experience. It was a blue car with smooth sides. It was a CN car. Once the bed was made I climbed in and thought about all of the three stooges skits that occurred on section accommodations.

The next morning I woke up and we were far north of civilization. The stops were clearings in the woods. I had a guidebook that described some of the highlights of the ride. At one stop the guidebook told about the wild dogs that gathered near the tracks to eat scraps thrown from the dining car. These looked like wolves and sled dogs that I had read about in Jack London's books. The best part of this trip was that the crew let us stand out on the platform on the last car with open dutch doors. So I had a great railfan experience. These huge flies buzzed about. Two men who were also out there teased me about how bad their bite would be. I spent a lot of time jumping around and avoiding them.

In the afternoon the train took an hour-long detour off of the main line to go to Thompson. In Thompson, I walked around and then went to look at the engines. I was astounded when I was invited to climb up and take a look. The crew had to move the train for some reason and allowed me to stay in the engine while they pulled forward a few cars.

The next day I awoke to sunlight. I was expecting it to be time for breakfast. I looked at my watch and it was 4 a.m. I was amazed that it was light out at that time of day. We had 12 hours in Churchill. I took a shower at the hockey rink in the village hall. It was all one building. I walked around and ate lunch. At one point I was walking between two parked trucks and I heard a menacing growl. It was a large sled dog sitting in the bed of a pickup truck. The dog was not attached to anything in the truck. I said about 100 nice doggies and got out of there.

I will continue this report in installments. Hope you enjoy it.

 

[Steve4031]

Here is installment 2

The trip from Churchill back to Winnipeg was a repeat of the trip to Churchill. Trees, trees, and more trees. Good thing I like to read. I spent time reading books and listening to music and standing on the platform, which was a forbidden pleasure in the United States.

I stayed at the same hotel in Winnipeg. I was ecstatic when I discovered a Canadian football game on TV. I watched the game and ate snacks. I remember JC Watts was the quarterback on one of the teams. He had played for Oklahoma. Since I was on the football team at school, I was into all things football.

The next day the Canadian was due in Winnipeg around 10 or 11 a.m. I don't remember the exact time. It would be serviced and then left after a stop of two hours. I planned to stand on the platform to watch the train pull into the station. I knew I would not be allowed on until after the servicing. I asked someone in a uniform if I could go up to watch the train arrive. He gave permission. I headed up to the platform. I had been on the platform for about 15 minutes, and then another employee shooed me back downstairs. I went out into the parking lot next to the station because I knew I could see the train pull in. The first guy who permitted me to go on the platform walked up to me in the parking lot and asked why I wasn't on the platform.
I explained that another employee had sent me downstairs. I told the guy I did not say anything about him because I did not want him to get into trouble. He said, "I'm the station master. I can't get in trouble. Come with me." He escorted me back upstairs. I was dumbfounded that someone would do this for a teenager. A freight rolled through the station. He remarked that the dispatcher would catch it for sending a freight through before the Canadian. He explained that the Canadian had priority. This experience was the beginning of my knowledge of railroading. And my growth as a rail fan.

There was a gift shop in the station. I purchased the guidebook by Bill Coo that gave a mile by mile description of the routes of all of the trains in Canada. I bought copies for Western Canada and Eastern Canada. There was a chapter in the book that described railroad operations. This was a revelation for me.

Eventually, passengers were able to board the train. I was in car 110, a day-nighter coach equivalent to a leg rest coach on Amtrak overnight trains. This, too, was a Canadian National car. I do not remember what I ate in the diner, but every meal was delicious. The following day we stopped in Calgary. After we departed Calgary, I took a seat in the Park car. There were no restrictions, just a long walk. The train was 22 cars long.

I stayed in the dome car for the trip along with Lake Louis and over Kicking horse pass. Then after we left Golden, I went to the diner for dinner. I assumed that the best scenery had passed, but we still had Roger's pass. I enjoyed the view as we climbed along the side of the mountain and crossed curving bridges. The 5-mile Connaught tunnel was reached as I was finishing dessert.

The following day we arrived in Vancouver. I had a hotel in North Vancouver. Once there, I did laundry. I walked to the BCrail station to determine where it was and pick up my ticket for the next day's trip to Prince George.

The trip from North Vancouver to Prince George was my first ride on an RDC car. It sounded more like a bus. The scenery was spectacular. I spent much of the day on the rear platform looking back down the tracks as we proceeded north. The meals served at the seat got the job done. The employees were uniformly pleasant to deal with.

In Prince George, I had another hotel night and most of a day before boarding the Panorama to Prince Rupert. There was not much for a teenager to do in Prince George. I remember browsing through cassette tapes at a music store and buying the soundtrack to Midnight Express.

I had a lower berth on the Panorama. As soon as I boarded I walked to the skyline dome car. I spent a couple of hours watching the scenery as the sunset. The next morning, we arrived in Prince Rupert. I had several hours before the train left to go back to Winnipeg. I showered at another hockey rink. I paid for the showers in Churchill and Prince Rupert. I just asked the tourist information center where I could get a shower. Things were much simpler in 1984.

 

[Steve4031]

The trip from Prince Rupert to Winnipeg was another great ride. It is different from the current schedule in that there is no overnight stop in Prince George. The train left Prince Rupert in the early afternoon. It was on this train that I discovered Chicken Cordon Bleu. I really enjoyed that meal. IIRC it was one of the lunches. I spent time in the dome car as we departed Prince Rupert. The train followed the bay and then a river with low-hanging clouds covering the mountains.

The next morning we departed Prince George and it was a rainy, dreary day. The mountains were covered by clouds. And I recall not being terribly impressed by the scenery. It was still raining in Jasper, so I stayed on the train.

A mother and her children boarded the train at some point and they occupied a section near me. At one point the mother thought it would be a great idea to have one of her misbehaving children stand in the corner where the aisle doglegs to go along the windows past the bedrooms. Consequently, people were having difficulty passing through. A crew member requested that her child be seated and out of the way of passengers.

I slept well that night. The next morning the petty annoyances with the other family continued. As a teenager, I thought it was best to just endure. I was surprised when the attendant in my car quietly motioned for me to follow him. He took me to a roomette at the front end of the car and told me I could ride in there the rest of the way to Winnipeg.

I spent another night in Winnipeg. Then boarded the Canadian for a roundtrip to Vancouver. Again, I was in a day-nighter coach. This trip west was as spectacular as the first trip. I remember standing in the vestibule near Lake Louise and noticing a Coyote standing by the tracks watching the train roll by. It reminded me of a railroad employee doing a running gear check. I also enjoyed Kicking Horse Pass from the vestibule. We arrived in Vancouver around 8 a.m.

I had a 12-hour wait for that evening's departure of the Canadian. I rented a bike and rode around Stanley Park. I went to a movie in the afternoon and ate dinner at a revolving restaurant. I returned to the station and had a short wait to board for my return to Vancouver.

On my return, I had a few interesting experiences. The first was when I was riding in the vestibule. Another guy about my age showed up and we started talking. Then he took out a joint and started smoking it. He offered to me and I said no thank you. I told him that if he was going to smoke that thing I would have to go someplace else because I did not want to deal with the conductor seeing him with the joint and assuming we were sharing. He put it out and we continued our conversation. The second event was a fight that occurred in one of the coaches. The train waited an unusually long time at a stop. Then I saw the Canadian Mounties board. I found out later that the fight occurred when one passenger accused the other of stealing. I was glad to be riding in the day-nighter coach which was an extra fare accommodation.

We ultimately got back to Winnipeg 3 hours late. I so thoroughly enjoyed my 22 days of freedom riding the rails in Western Canada.

 

[jiml]

Very enjoyable report Steve.

 

[Bob Dylan]

Outstanding Trip and report Steve. It brings back Good Memories of my trips riding the Rails in Western Canada when I lived in BC back in the 80s.

Had to laugh about you using your Walkman since most of our Young Members won't know what that is!

And the kindness of the Canadian Crews, especially the Station Master in Winnipeg,and the Engineer that let you ride in the Cab also brings back fond Memories!