Coolest thing on rails..

[rockershovel]

Absolutely the last one. A bit early in the day to declare today’s “winner of the Internet” but that one has to be a strong contender. 

Edited January 1, 2020 by rockershovel

[Oldddudders]

For those who relish US railroading in the steam era, "The Trains We Rode" in two vols by Beebe & Clegg, published in the '60s, is hard to beat. Packed with a huge number of b&w pics from across the US, some from Edwardian times, covering almost all the important roads. And a social commentary of the time to some extent.  

[Siberian Snooper]

I went coast to coast across Canada in 2016, a great trip,  I flew to Toronto and had 4 nights there and caught the train to Montreal and had 2 nights there and then the Ocean to Halifax, 2 nights in Halifax and then back to Toronto with a night in Montreal and Toronto before catching the Canadian to Vancouver with 4 nights there before flying home,  the cost was about £4500, I had sleepers on both the Ocean and Canadian and I reckon it was worth every penny of it. I'd like to go back and do from Vancouver to Toronto, just so thatthat I can say that I have done coast to coast both ways, it might be a bit closer now that the exchange rate has improved a bit and is stabilising. For a couple travelling the biggest extra expense is the 2nd air fare, as the hotels were double beds and the sleepers were twin berths.

 

 

[dibber25]

I first 'did' the Canadian Toronto-Vancouver in 2011. I then went all the way Halifax- Vancouver by rail in 2012, and made two more trips (one Eastbound) in the following years. There are usually 3-4 dome cars in the summer formation. The tail dome car (the bullet lounge as they call it) is without doubt the finest way I've ever travelled and provided you had a sleeping car ticket you could use it. There was fruit, cookies, tea and coffee available 24 hours and it was all free. That changed around 2015 when some philistine decided to hack up the tail dome cars to put in massive picture windows, paint the letter boards a dreary brown and charge astronomical prices for a 'Prestige' bedroom with exclusive access to the tail dome lounge. The massive price hike was coupled with a spectacular timekeeping disaster because VIA Rail trains aren't legally entitled to priority over freight trains (so they get no priority) with one westbound Canadian arriving Vancouver 45 hours late. Folk who had paid the massive prices got rather better treatment than the rest of the passengers but even so there was no compensation for missed cruises, connections, or missed flights home. I liked the tail dome cars so much that I even considered paying the absurd price to travel but I can't risk having my trip wrecked by late-running and VIA's unreliability and cavalier attitude to customers whose trips are ruined means that, at my age, I simply won't risk it again. (I did the Budd RDCs, Sudbury to White River in 2017 and that was brilliant and on time/early but its a different kind of trip, and not touristy) (CJL)

[rockershovel]

Once lesson I learnt from my cross-US trip, was that timekeeping on North American trains was more a matter of opinion than fact, and any trip involving rail travel needed sufficient flexibility.... and that was in the 1970s! We were substantially late, several hours, on arrival. We had an open-ended itinerary (in fact, our plans were so general as to hardly qualify for the name of “plans” at all) and didn’t care, but even then, there was considerable dissatisfaction on board. 

 

I’ve also seen a thread on another forum on this subject, with more than one poster commenting on The Canadian running very fast overnight, with consequent rough riding and being unable to sleep, to make up time 

 

 

Edited January 7, 2020 by rockershovel

[dibber25]

On 07/01/2020 at 08:16, rockershovel said:

 

 

I’ve also seen a thread on another forum on this subject, with more than one poster commenting on The Canadian running very fast overnight, with consequent rough riding and being unable to sleep, to make up time 

 

 

One of them was me. 'Stuart Manor' was an endurance test more than a sleeping car! The Nightstar stock was much better but the Canadians consider that life-expired, while the stainless steel stock is set to go on forever. (CJL)

[mdvle]

On 06/01/2020 at 16:29, dibber25 said:

 I liked the tail dome cars so much that I even considered paying the absurd price to travel but I can't risk having my trip wrecked by late-running

 

So VIA backtracked on that policy, and while before booking it would likely be advisable to get confirmation the current access to the Park Car is available to Sleeper Plus passengers on an unrestricted basis off-peak-season, and during peak-season there is a schedule for access for Sleeper Plus passengers (obviously Prestige passengers get unrestricted access year round).

 

https://www.viarail.ca/sites/all/files/media/lecanadien/AMENITIES_ENG.pdf?ga_pdf=compare-amenities

 

On 07/01/2020 at 03:16, rockershovel said:

Once lesson I learnt from my cross-US trip, was that timekeeping on North American trains was more a matter of opinion than fact, and any trip involving rail travel needed sufficient flexibility.... and that was in the 1970s! We were substantially late, several hours, on arrival. We had an open-ended itinerary (in fact, our plans were so general as to hardly qualify for the name of “plans” at all) and didn’t care, but even then, there was considerable dissatisfaction on board. 

 

The first decade of Amtrak wasn't great from anything I have read, though it has improved a lot since then (though in fairness to Amtrak, the 70s weren't great for a lot of the freight railroads in the US either).

 

3 hours ago, dibber25 said:

The Nightstar stock was much better but the Canadians consider that life-expired, while the stainless steel stock is set to go on forever. (CJL)

 

The Nightstar stock has issues that make it's retention problematic, but there is no financing currently to replace it.  VIA currently has SIemens replacing the LRC stuff in the corridor with new bi-directional train sets, and is attempting to get Government approval for a "privately financed" new passenger rail line between Toronto / Ottawa / Montreal / perhaps Quebec City.

 

The Budd equipment is regrettably part of the "image" of the Canadian, and so is likely to continue for a while yet though a lot of it is currently undergoing major upgrades.

 

 

[Siberian Snooper]

I had heard about the late runnning and sometimes rough riding of the trains, which is why I had at least one night between trains and three nights extra in hotels before flying home.As it was the maximum delay was only 8 hours anywhere on the trip and only 5 hours late into Vancouver.

 

The trip around the States was better timing wise and was mostly on time and a maximum delay of 2 hours at Denver, Despite the fall out from Florence and wild fires in northern California, which required bustituition.