by Greg McDonnell/photos by the author
Winter. By virtue of geographic and climatic circumstance, winter has contributed defining characteristics and qualities to Canada and Canadians. “We Canadians are a winter people,” Pierre Berton wrote, “— a wintry people, some would say, frosty of mien, cool of temperament, chilly of countenance.” Winter puts the nation and its people to the test throughout a season as beautiful as it is harsh. Winter highlights the spectacular beauty of the Canadian landscape and the tenacity of its people. There is no better season in which to see the country and no better way to do it than aboard the grand dame of all transcontinental streamliners — VIA Rail Canada’s The Canadian. Which is precisely the rationale that put our party of five in the dome of Glacier Park — a streamlined 1954-vintage Budd dome-sleeper-observation-lounge car — as VIA No. 1, The Canadian, stood ready to depart Toronto for Vancouver, B.C., on December 28, 2022. That, and Steve Bradley’s brilliant notion to ring in the New Year rolling through the Rockies ensconced in Budd stainless steel in the company of our spouses.
The stars aligned. The Canadian’s twice-weekly schedule sees No. 1 departing Toronto for Vancouver on Wednesday and Sunday while No. 2 leaves Vancouver for Toronto on Monday and Friday. No. 1 out of Toronto on December 28 would be deep in the Rockies west of Kamloops, B.C., at the stroke of midnight on New Year’s Eve. We booked Prestige-class tickets for the four of us in late summer. The train was all but sold out when our friend Brad decided several weeks later to come along. No matter the season, book early.
ABOVE: Everyone’s at lunch. Empty space in the Park car dome is a rarity, but there’s room to spare as Train 1 cruises through the snowy landscape west of Blue River, B.C., on December 31.
With a gentle tug, Train 1 got on the move from Toronto Union Station at the stroke of its scheduled 9:55am departure time. Reaching for a sullen, steel-gray sky, office and condo towers and generic skyscrapers loomed above the curved glass of Glacier Park’s dome as we emerged from the train shed. The cityscape would quickly fade behind us and we’d trade towers of concrete, steel, and glass for the snow-covered splendor of towering maples, birch, and evergreens as Train 1 dove headlong into winter on Canadian National’s Bala Subdivision.
We were a sight to behold — a silvery thread twisting and curving through a snowy wonderland of forests, rivers, frozen lakes, and the Precambrian rock of the Muskokas and the Canadian Shield. Fifteen perfectly matched Budd stainless-steel passenger cars (including three domes) trailed obediently behind VIA F40PHs 6452 and 6456 — fifteen mid-20th century passenger cars dutifully fulfilling their intended roles well into the 21st century and seven decades after they rolled out of the suburban-Philadelphia Red Lion works of the Budd Co. in 1954-55.
ABOVE: In preparation for the second sitting, the dining car crew cleans and sets tables in Budd-built diner Imperial as Train 1 makes its stop at Capreol, Ont. We’ll be savoring caviar appetizers, sipping wine, and anticipating prime rib before the train gets underway again.
N.R. Crump’s Train
We’re indebted to legendary Canadian Pacific Railway President Norris Roy “Buck” Crump for the very existence of The Canadian and its magnificent Budd equipment. Championed by Crump, The Canadian made its debut as Canadian Pacific’s new transcontinental flagship on April 24, 1955. Rolling stock for the new train formed a considerable portion of CP’s 1954 order for 173 Budd-built stainless-steel cars to modernize its transcontinental services.
Though CP in later years did its best to discontinue it, The Canadian survived as a daily Montreal/Toronto–Vancouver service through the VIA takeover in 1978 and for a dozen years more. Devastating budget cuts forced VIA in 1990 to eliminate transcontinental service on the CP route, but 33 years later, Buck Crump’s Budds and The Canadian live on in cross-Canada service. In vacating the CP route, VIA transferred the train name and former CP equipment to its CN-routed Toronto–Vancouver counterpart. With the stroke of a pen, the former CN Super Continental became The Canadian.
ABOVE: Passengers detrain for fresh air and a pre-dinner walk on the platform as The Canadian pauses at Capreol, Ont., where engine crews change, and the locomotives are refueled.
The Canadian has been a VIA train for 45 years, nearly twice as long as it was operated by CP, but “the world’s greatest travel system” is imprinted in its DNA as surely as the ghostly but indelible outline of cast CP beaver shields that once adorned the aging Budds remains etched in their stainless-steel panels.
VIA holds title to nearly 150 of the original 173 CP long-distance Budds including baggage cars; coaches; “Skyline” dome-lounge-café cars; full-service dining cars; Chateau– and Manor-class sleeping cars; and the celebrated sleeper-buffet lounge, dome-observation Park cars. Sleeping car accommodations available on The Canadian range from traditional open sections with upper and lower berths to conventional roomettes, double bedrooms, compartments, and drawing rooms…
