Canada By Rail

April, 2007

My love for trains is one of my passions in life. It started as a 'wee bairn' (small child in English) growing up in Scotland. My father would take me to our town's train station on Saturday mornings to send off his newspaper articles on the one and only London train. The journey time was nine hours. My young boyish mind thought that was an eternity. However, how about departing one city at 5:30 p.m. on a Sunday and arriving in another city at 8:00 p.m. on Wednesday. That's the schedule for Via Rail Canada's luxury train 'The Canadian' from Vancouver, B.C. to Toronto, Ontario. An absolutely fabulous trip across majestic Canada via Jasper, Edmonton, and Winnipeg. One of the world's great classic trains on planet earth.

VIA Rail Canada (also referred to as VIA Rail and VIA; pronounced 'vee-ah') operates 480 trains in eight Canadian provinces (all except Newfoundland and Labrador and Prince Edward Island) over a network of 8,700 miles of track spanning the country from the Atlantic to the Pacific, and from the Great Lakes to Hudson Bay. VIA Rail carries approximately 4 million passengers annually. Corporate headquarters are located in Montreal, Quebec.

My last journey via VIA was via 'The Canadian' Train #2 from Vancouver to Edmonton where I could exercise my black belt in shopping at one of the world's great shopping malls. I travelled 'Silver & Blue' class, a deluxe inclusive travel package which features sleeping class accommodation, first-class meals in the Dining car, and access to the Skyline car in the glass-domed Park car. Magnificent panoramic viewing of the majestic Canadian Rockies and an opportunity to chit-chat with your fellow passengers. I heartily recommend it. Don't wait. I insist. See you next time on board one of the world's great rail journeys.

-Doug