Get on the Train!

I like trains. 

I like their rhythm, 

and I like the freedom of being suspended between two places, 

all anxieties of purpose taken care of: 

for this moment I know where I am going.

~Anna Funder, Stasiland: Stories from Behind the Berlin Wall
 

Get your ticket (for the train silly!). Of course I had to buy these as we were three wild ones heading out on the train to Jasper. It would be an overnight journey.

I like trains. And I am glad to have an excuse for a train adventure every now and again. I know DH is not a big fan (of any kind of public transportation*) and JRF either enjoys the train or is too kind to object (in the event he is bored with them by now). I suspect they both just humor me and come along for the ride.

This trip - from Vancouver, BC to Jasper, AB - was long enough for us to need berths.  Because it was our first overnight on a train** we figured cabins would be better - we'd have a little more room and some privacy. We were not in the fanciest digs. Those were in another car and were ridiculously expensive. We never even went down to that end of the train. But we did explore the domed observation cars.

Nice old-time railway station.

Come inside.

It's a bit like going back in time.

Really. Look at the ceiling!

Check out the benches!

I was terrified we were going to be in the wrong place or otherwise miss the train so we had time to look around.

Our train was the shiny one.

We shared the waiting room with a bunch of folks including these brothers playing with cardboard trains.

Get on the train.

My bags in the cabin. JRF was in the cabin next door. They opened the wall the next day so we could sit in the larger space together and visit. We barely used it all together. We mostly sat in the dining car or observation car.

I love the little steps they put out for you to climb on. They are so polite - taking your bag as you climb in or out.

Following DH, looking for our cabin. The curtains are for regular berths.

We met lovely people at the reception (champagne and canapes in the observation car as we got underway), when we spent time watching the climb into the Rockies, and at breakfast and lunch. There was the couple from Florida and the 20 somethings from Maine. We breakfasted with young women from Toronto - Rachel and Roxanne. Lunch was with a Russian woman living in London and visiting her husband's brother outside of Toronto. Her husband was on the train too, but I think he was too busy taking photos to join us for lunch. There was an older Canadian couple who talked of hawks and Bald Eagles. I think he was the one who spied a wolf on the edge of the woods as we sped by (we missed it).

These were a couple of Canadians.

These young men were from Maine - off on an adventure as we were.

I think this was the champagne reception. We drank a glass of champagne, ate a couple of canapes, and headed to the room to check out the bunks!

Lighted stairs up to the domed observation seating.

We had a "washroom" in our cabin, but the shower was shared with the rest of the car. We left Vancouver clean and waited until Jasper for a shower.

Moving from car to car is much like you see on the movies except the place between the cars is enclosed.

These were pretty roomy bunks. There was just enough room to get around with the beds made.

This is the view from the bottom bunk. We each had a light. We also had plugs to power our electronics (even if we had no WiFi on the train and often had no cell signal.

The train really didn't speed. And we were often delayed by having to give the freight trains the right of way. So by breakfast we were an hour behind - an hour made up somewhere along the route as we arrived on time in Jasper.

Here is a little of what we saw from the train...

I woke in the middle of the night and saw this out the window. The tracks hugged the bank of Kamloops Lake (it's a fairly big lake).

Dawn on the train. Rain, partly frozen rivers and foothills. We were headed to the Rockies!

Time to wander the train.

Coffee!

A view of the dining car.

This was the strangest thing. This was some kind of geyser or well that was blowing water/liquid that fell back and froze, creating this mound.

So many freight trains were traveling along these tracks. Here it looks like cars full of sulfur.

The mountains got bigger and bigger as we climbed.

A massive pile of sawdust at a lumber mill. We saw trucks hauling raw logs as well.

The mill

So it was snow, river, trees, mountains - repeat.

And then BIGGER mountains.

Looking back from the observation car.

A crow flying by steam from a plant.

My favorite sign. VAVENBY STORE: LITTLE STORE AND MORE LIQUOR LISENCES (sic) LUNCH THANK YOU

In many places we saw piles of cement railroad ties.

Looks like we are going to run into a mountain.

But it was a tunnel.

In many situations the tracks are on a ridge and we could look down into river valleys.

Trees and mountains

The one thing I remember the engineer pointed out was this amazing frozen waterfall. The story is that the workers building the railroad would "shower" there.

Photos from a train aren't always the best, but these will remind us of the climb into the frozen Canadian Rockies.

NOTES:

*He does like aerial tramways. The one we hoped to try on this trip would not open until after we had gone. :-(

**DH was once on a troop train. Does that count?

The Jasper, Alberta station.

What a lovely ride that was. 

I haven't been on a train in an eternity. 

Something wonderfully soothing about traveling that way. 

Aidan Donnelley Rowley, The Ramblers