Page 5 - March April 2002

British ColombiaVernon Stone
line is laid on the northwest side of the wide valley increasing capacity but the result is a one way loop. For the Skeena this means 10 miles south- westwards then across the valley to join the eastbound line, by chance this gave us a fine view of the Vancouver bound ‘Canadian” across the valley. I was amazed to find that this CN Yellowhead Pass route is, I think, unique in all crossings of the Rockies in being double track.
The Rocky Mountaineer tourist train is a two day ride between Vancouver
and Rocky mountain towns of Jasper and Banff. Having traversed part of the Jasper leg of the RM by Via it seemed a good idea to travel by coach to join the southern section at Banff (An en route detour to visit a glacier is possible). The journey on the RM was all that the adverts say. A very polished operation with excellent meals, views, commentary, it was well subscribed despite the difficulties of travel this month. My only criticism was the second day when due to pathing problems with CN & VIA the train ran 21/2 hours earlier than expected. a very early start which caused almost all patrons to forego the dinner and entertainment offered the previous evening. Our trip was in perfect weather in September. May or June would be more spectacular with snow-capped peaks and melt-water swelling the streams.
Here I would mention that anyone contemplating this circuit should be sure to insert extra days into the schedule and, as all the journeys are all separate, this is easy to do. At Prince George, days of operation ensure at least one day off. A tour of the area is available including the rail museum This latter is a 40 minute walk from town beyond the CN/BC yard and its prize exhibit is a 1903 wooden snow plough. Originally used on the Prairies it was strengthened and moved to BC out of North Vancouver where it survived – finally on a tirnber branch until 1967. There are several locos and a complete type “A” CP station from Penny BC which is a whistle stop now. Time in Jasper and perhaps three days off in Banff would be ideal enabling a visit to Lake Louise (dine in the static train?) or, if a car were hired, a leisurely wait for CP freights at viewpoints on the Bow River Parkway It was the first time I have been without wheels on a North American tour and it certainly is a jolt.
Please do call or e-mail if you wish to discuss a trip and I will help if I can.
My tour was efficiently co-ordinated by specialists “Connections” 01494 473173
We left TM on the 10th of September driving north to spend time watching BNSF in the Cascades near Seattle. It was a sombre time and the next part of the holidav called for an Amtrak ride to Vancouver The fare seemed reasonable, $24.00 or $40 business class which latter included good seating, full cooked breakfast, papers, priority loading and disembarkation. The train was full but the service was smart and the Talgo rode well taking the scheduled 3 hours for 150 miles including stops. It then took 50 minutes for the last 10 kilometres (metric in Canada) into Vancouver BC. I think that CN loves neither BNSF nor any passenger trains – see later.
Much has been written of the Rocky Mountaineer rail trip in British Colombia, however 2001 saw the introduction of BCrail’s effort to attract the tourist $. After the tour of Washington and Oregon we decided to investigate this luxury train on the B.C. rail line from North Vancouver to Prince George; the “Whistler Northwind”. Its journey is through the Coast Range and Fraser Valley and makes two night stops at hotels en route; the first at the ski resort of Whistler, the second at the tiny town of Essex. The latter is also known as 100 mile house, being that distance on the 19 century gold rush trail into the Cariboo. These places are a real contrast; the first a modern ski resort, the second a rural spot where an evening barbecue with entertainment and a morning hayride is included in the tour.
The train is luxurious; canyons, lakes and trestles abound. All passengers have new panoramic coaches and the use of a bar car. The higher, “Summit’ class dine in a totally refurbished 1957 dining/ kitchen set built for UP. This is on train dining at its finest and hard to fault in any respect. They also use the oldest car in the consist, a 1939 rib-sided observation lounge. A Budd product for FEC this rode the end of the ACL trains to Florida for many years. The 9 car consist is hauled by a GE B3900-8 in
matching livery (two tone chocolate with a yellow stripe) with a “resident” engineer who is fully aware that the customers want to dawdle past viewpoints. Retum options to Vancouver are: the same train, a gruelling 13 hour “Prospector”, regular passenger trip (often up to 3 hours late!) or a one hour flight. Rather than view the same terrain we took the regular Via Rail daylight trip, the “Skeena” to Jasper. This is, as one would expect, quite a contrast. They demonstrated one reason for decline by gaffes with 3 reservations whilst I was at the counter. Although in the upper class, they try to give a good impression, the cold lunch service was almost the only time that the 4 staff passed through the train, preferring to snooze in the many empty seats The 3 cars were 1/3 occupied and the comfortable dome/observation car scarcely used. Although a service train which had a timing for a dozen station stops en-route I discovered that it was nearly all a tourist operation as no-one boarded or left it in the 8 hour trip. The only stop was 20 minutes for a freight pass at McBride where an information and gift shop was open for passengers in the station there. (Surprisingly good, they would have been very disappointed if no-one called in) Though not as dramatic as the other segments of our tour this was a very interesting insight into scheduled service in a more remote region and its decline. I use a scanner to listen to dispatcher talk on my tours and this day was very illuminating when the corresponding westbound departure from Prince George that day was much delayed because a preceding freight had “run out of fuel”, surely unforgivable in remote areas? (This westward trip is another alternative allowing a visit to Prince Rupert, then a 12 hour ferry trip back to Vancouver island and on to Victoria by coach.)
The last part of the Skeena eastbound journey is through the Rockies joining the CN route from Jasper to Kamloops at Tete Jeune Here a grade-reducing westbound
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Vernon Stone