I’ve been talking to wife about taking the train through the Canadian Rockies, so we finally did it.
The scenery is, of course, spectacular - this is Two Jacks Lake, which we visited on the coach ride from Calgary to Banff, where the trip started.
They have several options besides just booking the 2 or 3 day trip through the mountains. You can go either direction, though at the moment Jasper is out-of-action due to the fires.
We booked a week, arriving in Calgary, coach to Banff (with side trips,) then a free day in Banff. Two days on the train and then a free day in Vancouver.
Banff was spectacular, though I got altitude sickness after a trip on the gondola to the top of Sulphur Mtn (7500 ft.) This flag was made from the side of an old boxcar, and is on the wall at the center at the top. [It was snowing and 36 deg so we stayed indoors.]
The train was waiting for us. a trio of SD-40s, refurbished from somewhere. Lots of refurbished cars for HEP, etc.
This is the inside of our new (not refurbished) dome car. (I think the same ones are used by cruise ships up in Alaska?) We had “Gold Leaf” service, where you have a separate dining room downstairs.
The line is pretty curvey, so I got shots of the train. There’s an end platform out in the open air which facilitates reflection-free photos.
After Banff and a brief stop at Lake Louise, we climbed the mountains and crossed the Continental Divide at about 5,400 ft. (Lake Louise is at about 4,800, I think.) There was a lot of rail traffic, and we kept being diverted in to sidings [put in the hole,] so that trains could pass going the other way. We were here for 30 minutes while 3 long freights went by. Double-stacks, oil tankers, ore cars, you name it , but mostly unit trains. I think the second unit is a KCS?
You spend a night in Kamloops, BC, and as there are no sleepers, they bus you to a hotel. The railyard is their maintenance hub too. The scenery changes to semi-arid desert here.
For some part of the Thompson River Canyon we got a break from opposing trains, as the CP and CN run either side, and have an agreement to share tracks so they run east on CP and west on CN. Here’s a long auto-rack train on the other side of Thompson Lake.
This is Hells Gate on the Fraser River. The CP track is just above on the hillside.
And finally, here’s the largest railyard in BC [Canada?] - included for obvious reasons: Thornton Yard, Vancouver.
Vancouver was a fun place to visit. #374 is in a little museum - it was the first loco to arrive when they finished the trans-canada.
And down in Gastown, for you live steam fans, is a Live Steam Clock. This video shows it much better than my photos.
's ) say after the ambulance ride to meet the med-A-vac chopper flight arriving at the trauma hospital.
