The Great North
American Train Ride
On Sunday,
August 20, 2000, our daughter, Gini and her kids, Trent and Beth,
took Betty, my brother Dick and I to catch the Amtrak "Texas Eagle" in
Taylor, Texas. We had rail passes good in the USA and Canada and
usable for thirty days. We spent 14 nights on the train and 15 nights
in other lodging. The overnight trains have more room between the
seats and generally are not completely full so often you could get a seat
to yourself to better sleep. We got a sleeper one night on the way
back from the Hudson Bay. Dining car meals in the USA and Canada
are good, usually repetitious, and reasonably priced. The Amtrak
trains west of Chicago are double decker with most of the seats on top,
the lower level has rest rooms, some seats and one car with a smoking area.
The observation/lounge cars on Amtrak are really nice. Trains
east of Chicago are single level (also no lounge cars). I guess this
is because the tracks in the eastern stations are under low covers/ceilings.
About
32 hours after starting, we got to Chicago and changed to the "Lake Shore
Limited" which was two hours late leaving. The Chicago station sure
was crowded. The first half of this leg was at night, but the ride
down the Hudson River valley in New York was outstanding. Across
the river you could see West Point, and the wild swans along the river
are growing in numbers. They made up an hour by going about 80 mph.
We stayed
in the Hotel Pennsylvania across the street from Penn Station and Madison
Square Gardens in New York City. The hotel used to be fancy, is still
expensive and is being renovated. Perhaps you remember Glen Miller’s
"Pennsylvania Six Five Thousand", this hotel’s phone number ends
with 6-5000. We walked to the Empire State Building, rode to the
top, looked around and then went back to the hotel. We met a friendly
New Yorker at a sandwich shop who went out of his way to be helpful, I
think he was trying to dispel the common notions about New Yorkers.
The next
day we caught the "Adirondak" to Montreal. It was overcast and somewhat
foggy as we passed Lake Chaplain in upstate New York. The Canadian
customs folks boarded the train just across the border to check us out,
took about 30 minutes. We got to Montreal and picked up a rental
car. We were given a Ford Explorer for a mid-size. We stayed
two nights at the Hotel Viger (Vigae), small but nice. We took a
double decker bus tour and also drove around. Saw two very pretty
churches, Notre Dame Cathedral and the St. Joseph Oratory. The latter
is about the size of St. Peter’s in Rome. From the top of Mount Royal
there is a panoramic view of the city and St. Lawrence River.
The "Quebec
City", our train from Montreal to Toronto, was on time departing and arriving,
I guess there are a lot of business folks who travel this train.
We checked into the Quality Hotel and then walked to large market, ate
supper at the Jersey Giant (an English pub).
The next
morning on our way to Winnipeg, we caught the "Canadian" (route is from
Toronto to Vancouver), it was 3 hours late. The A/C on the dining
car was broken so they left the car behind to get fixed, then they realized
the food was still on the car so they had to bring it via taxi and truck.
The scenery in Ontario is great. Lots and lots of lakes and forests.
Almost all of the lakes are pristine, just a few had cabins or access by
road. The train stopped to pick up some hikers along the way.
The next
day, still headed for Winnipeg, the train made a short stop at Sioux Lookout
where a lot of folks, including us, hurried to the nearby Subway Sandwich
Shop to get sandwiches for lunch. We arrived in Winnipeg at 6:45
PM and left on the "Hudson Bay" at 9:00 PM (which was an hour late) for
our side trip to Churchill, some 1055 miles away. The trip to Churchill
is about 36 hours, with the last 8 hours at 25 mph due to track stability
on the permafrost. The older utility poles along here are made in
the form of a tripod (using regular poles), the tops of the poles are lashed
together, the bottoms are connected with cables, and the whole thing just
sits on the ground. This was done due to the difficulty in making
holes in the ground.
The farther
north you go the fewer and smaller the trees. Around Churchill (on
the Hudson Bay and almost 59 degrees north), there are some small evergreen
trees but mostly barren tundra. We rented a truck from a local fellow,
he owned a couple of cafes, and will sometimes rent out his personal vehicles.
The station master got him for us. There are no roads from the outside
world to Churchill, only access by train, airplane or ship.
We got there mid morning, drove around a lot. We went to the
Eskimo museum. We drove out past the Akjuit Spaceport launch facility,
saw two polar bears, sandhill cranes, lots of geese, and the MV Ithaca
(ship) grounded in 1961. The weather was windy, cool, partly cloudy
with multiple 5 minute rain showers. We were ready for mosquitoes
and flies but the wind kept them at bay. The main industries are
grain shipments, and polar bear, beluga whale and aurora borealis watching.
The grain comes to Churchill by train from Saskatchewan. We headed
back for Winnipeg that same night, as the train only runs three times a
week and we had seen all we needed. From the train, no moon, we could
see some of the northern lights.
The second night out of
Churchill, Betty and I upgraded to a sleeper and Dick took a berth.
The shower was good but it was tough to stay in the upper bunk due to the
rough ride. We got back to Winnipeg in the morning, went to the Quest
Inn, and then found a washateria. The Canadians have a one dollar
coin with the picture of a loon on it. They call it a loonie.
They call their two dollar coin a twoonie. The attendant lady told
me that the dryer takes a loonie and a quarter.
The next
day, September 1, we had most of the day to look around Winnipeg.
Near the train station, we visited the Forks (where the Assiniboine and
Red Rivers join) with a lot of history from floods, fur trading, railroads,
to Indian camps. In the afternoon we caught the "Canadian"
again, this time headed for Jasper, Alberta.
The trip
from Winnipeg to Jasper took about a day with clouds and rain. Cool
in Jasper, where we spent the night. The next day we boarded the
"Skeena", on our second side trip, headed for Prince George for the first
night and then to Prince Rupert, both in British Columbia. In Prince
George we walked to the Subway Sandwich Shop, we got sandwiches for the
next day and then ate at Pete’s Cuisine, very good. We hung the sandwiches
out the window (we were on the second floor) to keep them cold during the
night.
On the
"Skeena", we met Carol and Fred Pescodd, from England, who now live in
Florida. We spent some enjoyable time with them including a boat
ride to see whales near Prince Rupert. The "Skeena" goes through
the mountains, some with snow and all of the scenery is outstanding,
even saw some kayaks in the river below. Louise was our French VIA
train Service Manager. Very efficient, helpful, and friendly,
but reminded me a bit of Napoleon.
We stayed
two nights at the Aleeda Hotel in Prince Rupert. The town is not
too big so we walked to see the sights. A cannery is one of its major
industries as is tourism. We saw a humpback whale, quite near a steep
rock wall. We also saw sea lions and bald eagles. We caught
the "Skeena" back to Jasper with the standard layover in Prince George.
This
time in Jasper we rented a car and stayed at Becker’s Chalets (four nights).
(Marilyn Monroe stayed here filming "River of No Return"). Drove
around a lot, saw lots of beautiful lakes with turquoise blue water (caused
by glacial rock flour which absorbs light colors except blue). Drove
to Maligne Canyon, unusual, deep (100 + feet) and narrow (some places only
several feet wide) with water falls. We went to Lake Louise and its
Chateau. Rode a gondola at the Lake Louise ski area. We got
snowed on while it was over 100 F in Texas. We rode the snow coach
out on the Athabasca glacier, and later saw icebergs on a lake below Angel
glacier at Mount Edith Cavell. Saw several bull elk, big horn sheep
and even saw two black bears near Jasper. From the top of the tram
in Jasper, we got a great view of the snow covered mountains and the valley
around the town.
We boarded
the "Canadian" one more time on our way to Vancouver. The next morning,
with a good part of a day remaining before catching the "Cascades" to Seattle,
we boarded another double decker bus tour. Spent several hours at
the aquarium in Stanley Park (he’s the guy who started the Stanley Cup
for hockey). We saw their killer whale and several beluga whales
among lots of other water creatures. Spending the night in Seattle
we departed on the "Coast Starlight" headed to Emeryville (near Oakland,
CA).
Arriving
in Emeryville about 9:00 AM, we rented a car and drove to San Francisco,
crossed the Golden Gate Bridge, walked about at Fisherman’s Wharf and took
a boat tour on San Francisco bay including circumnavigating Alkatraz.
On September 15, we left
on the "California Zephyr" on the way to Omaha. The mountains in
northern California were nice but dry. Most of Nevada and Utah are
desert but it was dark when we were there. The mountains of eastern
Utah and in Colorado are spectacular. Saw deer, antelope and a black
bear along here. Also lots on rafters on the Colorado River.
Seems there is a custom for the rafters to moon the train, several times.
West of Denver the tracks are high above a canyon (1000 to 1500 feet?)
right on the edge. We saw lots of smoke and forest fires at dusk
just west of Denver.
The morning
of September 17 found us in Omaha. We caught an Amtrak contract van
to Kansas city where we had a 3.5 hour layover. The Amtrak station
is next to the old Union Station which has been renovated into a mall and
museum, pretty neat. Also near by is an elevated enclosed walkway
that connects several buildings including a large shopping mall.
We got on the "Midwest Corridor" to St. Louis and then about midnight boarded
the south bound "Texas Eagle". Thirty days and 14,000 miles
after starting, our good friends Lee and Ellis Winkler picked us up in
Temple, TX about 6:00 PM.
Some
train trivia: Don’t get in a hurry when train traveling. Freight
trains have priority, thus passenger trains stop often to let the freight
pass. I learned that two short whistles mean the train is about to
start, 2 longs, 1 short and a long is a warning for road crossings.
In western Canada, we saw a bridge that served both trains and highway
traffic. The train cars in Canada have A/C vents in the ceilings
but for heating, the walls of the cars (which are fabric/carpet covered)
get warm. The well traveled tracks have welded rails, which are smooth,
lesser routes shake a lot. The main lines have LP gas heaters on
the switches and electronic hot box (hot wheel bearing) detectors which
radios the crew the results. The restrooms on the Canadian trains
are usually locked before coming into a station, Amtrak has holding tanks.
We decided
that would not take any chances with lost luggage or missing a connection.
VIA Rail in Canada will allow two carry-on about 24x16x10, Amtrak allows
two 36x16x10. So we packed two bags each plus a bag for the cameras.
We each had at least one suitcase with wheels and a pull up handle.
After pulling up the handle you could bungee a second bag to the handle
and pull them on the wheels. We were never even asked about the number
of bags. We each carried a winter jacket/coat, which came in handy
in Churchill and the Jasper area. But it turns out there were some
items we took that did not get used. Periodically, picking up snacks
are nice to carry though.
You could
usually get about two hours of sleep, wake up and reposition yourself,
and go back to sleep getting about 6 hours a night. Learning to shave
on a moving train, especially on the rougher tracks, is quite an experience.
Sometimes I would shave about 4 in the morning then catch some more shut
eye.
We met
lots of people from many places, like Australia, New Zealand, England,
USA, etc. All were friendly and had all different kinds of occupations.
Several gave us their e-mail addresses. All in all it was a great
trip, I’m not sure that I would do 30 days again, but the train is a relaxing
and different way to travel.
Chuck Deiterich
10/20/00