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All Aboard - Day 1 on the Train

On Friday morning we caught the little 8 person ferry to the Science Park (picture above) which is a short walk from the train station, the boat driver (can’t really call someone who drives a bathtub a captain) suggested a Craft Brewery close by, what a great idea, they have 100 different beers, I only tried two and avoided the 9% “Trappist” ale.
We then boarded the train and at first our cell seemed small but we stowed everything away and then walked to the lounge car where the stewards brought us canapés and champagne which was unexpected and lifted the mood nicely. There are two competing services across the Rockies, the Rocky Mountaineer which the tour companies seem to like and the Canadian which we are on. We chose the Canadian because you sleep and eat on the train, on the Rocky Mountaineer the passengers are bussed to a hotel each night and then bussed back in the morning. It takes all the romance out of a long train journey and anyhow they might lose our luggage.

Our compartment might be small but we have two seats, a wash basin and a loo, when we go to dinner the steward creates two quite large beds and whilst we have breakfast the beds miraculously disappear, there is a good sized shower down the corridor.

Just in case we get peckish there are biscuits and nibbles available at all times. The food on board is surprisingly good but three meals a day and little exercise is not good for the waistline. Most of the passengers are old like ourselves, retired people can "waste" four days getting to Toronto, youngsters fly.

One snag is that, like most railway lines, there are trees along the line which spoil the view, there is an observation dome where you get a good view of the middle of the trees, it is not high enough to let you see over.

When this stretch of the line was opened in 1886 the Prime Minister and his wife travelled the 600 miles of the line. Lady Agnes McDonald, the Prime Minister's wife sat on a chair set up on a platform on the front of the engine so she could better see the mountain scenery. She rode the whole distance on this seat including a scary down hill section of which she said “presented a delightful opportunity for a new sensation”, her husband only managed 25 miles on the front. What a girl!

We were warned not to book flights home straight after the expected arrival time as the trains schedule is very unreliable. I am writing this after 28 hours on the train and we are already eight hours behind schedule. We are beginning to think that our first nights stay in Toronto might be a waste of money as we might still be on the train.

The day ended with some good views of the Rockies before sitting down to an excellent dinner.