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Life on board - Day 2 on the Train

We had a little less sleep on our second night on the train, the driver (called an "Engineer" here presumably because he drives an engine) was determined to make up time so we rocked about a bit. We awoke to a nice sunrise somewhere in the middle of Alberta. The countryside was now rolling hills rather than mountains.

A few hours later we crossed into Saskatchewan where the most notable features are the nodding donkeys which pump oil out of the ground (picture above).

Life on board revolves around eating, three times a day we walk up to the dining car where the waitress puts us on a table with two strangers with who you go through a ritual of whom you are, what you are doing in Canada and where you have been. We have dined with a couple from Moffat (twice), a Californian farmer and his wife, a couple from Birmingham, breakfast today was taken with a Japanese lady and an American and lunch with a couple from Toronto. You then meet elsewhere on the train in the coffee area or viewing dome and greet like old friends, it is a very sociable way to travel.

Great excitement at lunchtime, we arrived in Saskatoon, a city built around a temperance township, I have no idea if they drink now as we did not go into the centre, the train backed into a siding in a field where we were allowed out to stretch our legs whilst tankers filled up the diesel and water tanks. I presume Saskatoon has a proper station so goodness knows why we did not go there. The poor passengers who were getting on had to wait around from 7am until 2pm in the middle of nowhere for the late train to arrive, it's a funny way to run a railway.

Whilst five hours of our delay was due to a rockfall we are also held up by freight trains. Much of the line is single track with passing places every 10 miles so when a freight train is coming in the other direction we have to wait in a passing place. These trains are enormous, the biggest I have counted had 178 trucks each with two containers, one on top of the other. It had two engines pulling and another one in the middle, it was several miles long so we to wait more than half an hour for it to pass.

I could not resist photographing the TTX container. The person who designed the label clearly did not anticipate the crease in the metal hiding the 'l' which makes the company "experts in pooing".