maa@ssc-bee.UUCP (Mark A Allyn) (02/27/85)
On Jan 18 through 22 1985, I took a train trip from Providence RI to Seattle, Wa by way of going through Canada on Canada's VIA Rail system and I figure I might pass along my experience to you. My iterinery was from Providence to New York, then to Montrial, then to Vancouver, and then finally to Seattle. The run from Providence to Montrial was on the U.S.'s Amtrak system which was like any other Amtrak train. I had a slumber coach from New York to Montrial and the total fare was about 70 dollars. The run from Montrial to Vancouver was the highlight of the trip. This run took four nights. You leave Montrial on the afternoon of the first day (4:30 on a friday afternoon for me) and arrive in the morning of the fifth day (7:00 tuesday morning for me). The total fare for me was about $350 U.S. dollars for both the rail passage and the sleeping accomodations (meals of course were extra). For the unitiated, there are four different classes of sleeping accomodations on VIA's long runs. They are the day-night coach (a seat simmiler to the new sleeper seats in the first class section of 747's); births (simmler to the births in the old days where the bottom births folds down from two day seats and the upper birth folds up into the bulkhead and there is no privacy except for a blanket which is hung by the porter upon bedtime at night); the roomette (a single room with a bed which folds up into the wall and does offer privacy; this is what I had; note that there is very little room to move around once the bed is down and one cannot use the toilet - go down the hall to the end of the car to take that midnight pee - and getting dressed and undressed is a challange); and finally the full room which has two beds the size of normal twin beds which is suitable for a family). A distinct disadvantage is that there are NO shower facilities in the train whatsowever (note that there is a shower in the deluxe bedroom on Amtraks new Superliners - this is the only place Amtrak beats VIA so far). In general, the equipment is older, but kept in far better condition than that of Amtrak here in the states. The windows were noticably free of grime and soot (Amtrak has been spotty in this regard for the three trans-contenental trips that I took on it so far). Everything in the room was in good working order. One noticable advantage in VIA over Amtrak was that the toilets were just like the flush toilets at home. They actually had water (not that gaping hole like those on Amtrak) which vastly reduced both the odor and the irritating noise of the tracks coming up through the toilet in your bedroom. Finally, there was far less vandalism evident on VIA than here in the States. For example, the seats in the vista-dome cars were in better condition than those in the newer Amtrak units. There were two vista-dome cars on the train - one was for everyone and the second one which was on the rear of the train and had a bullit rear end was reserved for those in the sleeping cars which was considered first class. This made it nice since I often had the dome to myself and not with a bunch of other people. The food was far better than that here in the states and was now quite as expensive. VIA does things a little differently. The menu's have only two choices for each meal but those choices change from day to day. This allows them to do a better job preparing each of the selections. As far as snacks, I braught my own. I baked my own brownies and braught them with me because I really like brownies and the pre-packaged ones on Amtrack were rapeously expensive and I did not want to take chances. I am a non-drinker so I cannot give any advice on the bar quality except to say that they were very courteous in serving me orange juice and I did note that the bar had to close several times throughout the trip because some of the provinces were dry. The overall performance of the crew and the train in general were excellant and better than that in the the States. There was less of an 'abruptness' on the part of the conductors than that I noticed here in the States. The fellow passengers on the train were very friendly with both each other and with the crew. I heard absolutely no complaining on the part of the passengers (I have yet to go on a short trip in the states with the same result). A particular event highlighted this. The second night of the trip, the train was passing through the White River area where it got to about thirty degrees below zero and the heating lines on the north side of one of the sleeping cars froze because they were exposed to a prevailing northerly wind. The crew reacted quicly and jurry rigged the air conditioning system to blow heat into the affected rooms. What was remarkable was the cooperation and teamwork of not only the crew but of the passengers. We all laughed our way through it. The scenery is pretty much dull untill you get to the canadian rockies where it becomes breathtaking. On some of the stops we were allowed to get out and walk around. We had about two hours in Calgory where there was the Calgory tower where one could take an elevator up to an observatory and see the city and the mountains in the distance. The train I was on arrived in Vancouver on time (after being delayed for more than three hours a day earlier because of frozen brake lines which showed determination on the crew's part). Note that there is no train service between Vancouver and Seattle and you have to take a bus. Normally, you meet the bus at the train station in Vancouver when you arrive at 7:00 in the morning and the bus leavs at about 7:45. Beware if the train is more than a half hour late, the bus will leave anyways because it has a scedule to meet in Seattle. In this event, one would have to either walk or take a cab ( about two or three dollars and I don't know if you tip in Canada perhaps a Canadian on this net can answer that) to the Grayhound station and go that way. Going through customs and immigrations on both ends of the trip were a snap. They only require a driver's license or some other proof of ID and they never did go through anyone's luggage. Overall, the trip was real fun and I intend to do it again in the future. I hope this will shed some light to those who may be contemplating such a trip. Plese respond via net.travel or net.railroad or e-mail if you have any questions or comments. Keep on Training! Mark A. Allyn Boeing Aerospace uw-beaver!ssc-vax!ssc-bee!maa
mupmalis@watarts.UUCP (mike upmalis) (03/01/85)
I am glad that you enjoyed the trip, a couple of quick notes.. It is Montreal (small quibble) There are no dry provinces in Canada, there are a patchwork quilt of regulations though that limit the sale for trains. About tipping, there is a joke told in the states about Canadians: What is the differnece between a Canadian and a canoe? A: A canoe tips. Anyways tipping is the same in Canada although it can vary widely, A ten percent tip is ok in Ontario to low, but it will but the love and undying attention of a western waiter/tress. Rough rule is to tip whatever you do at home, if you get soup on your pants well, you learned something. Mike Upmalis (mupmalis@watarts)
msb@lsuc.UUCP (Mark Brader) (03/02/85)
maa@ssc-bee.UUCP (Mark A Allyn) writes: > Going through customs and immigrations on both ends of the trip were > a snap. They only require a driver's license or some other proof of > ID and they never did go through anyone's luggage. You were lucky. The real rule is that to travel between Canada and the US, citizens of either country must show proof of *citizenship*, not just residence. When entering the one that you're not a citizen of, you may also have to convince them that you're not seeking employment (unless of course you have the appropriate permit). When I took Amtrak from Toronto to the San Francisco area, and back as far as Chicago, a couple of years ago, spending only a couple of days in SF to visit a friend, the immigration inspector at Port Huron (MI) found my itinerary completely unbelievable. She didn't seem to think anyone would go all that way just for the joy of the trip. And yet the interview took place on a train. (Maybe the fact that I was in SF on the weekend helped convince her.) By the way, I enjoyed the trip quite as much as MAA enjoyed his VIA trip, and found both the Amtrak staff and the train generally nicer than I have experienced on VIA. But I haven't traveled on a VIA transcontinental yet. And also by the way, Montreal is spelled Montreal. (plus an acute accent on the e, in the French version) Mark Brader