Sept 3rd, 4th and 5th: A long Train Ride Home

It was a long train ride home. We played a lot of "skat". We found in Winnipeg a reasonable fast-food place to have late food. Our original hope to have a terrific dinner at "The Fork" turned out to be a bummer. Our train was already running late by several hours. The place closed at 9pm and that was the time we arrived. But after venturing around several downtown neighborhood blocks we found a fast food that was acceptable to everyone and still open. Our Toronto schedule was also completely garbage. Instead of arriving Saturday morning 9am in Toronto we arrived there around 9pm. And chaos reigned for a while because nobody knew what was happening next. ViaRail organized rooms for a few folks and late late buses for everyone else. We entered a bus around 11pm and arrived in Ottawa Fallowfield around 3:30am in the morning. We were really tired when Gongyu picked us up with the car. There was even a taxi by chance, so it was only one ride instead two home (people and luggage were too much for a single ride). Having an immediate shower and then go to bed was a treat.

Aside from the massive delay the train ride east was as interesting as the ride west. The train stopped in the middle of nowhere to pick up canoe paddlers with their canoes or in other cases people hopped onto the train on road junctions in northern Ontario. I wasn't aware how crucial ViaRail is for some of the folks in North Ontario or that a canoe drop and pick-up service existed (I don't know what it costs, but according to the train conductor one can specific any bridge crossing or km way point for a drop). ViaRail was also very accommodating in giving us 4 seats opposing each other. It allowed us to create a closed sleeping area that somewhat helped during the long ride.

ViaRail uses CNR railway routes. From what I understand CNR has priority scheduling for their freight-trains over ViaRail trains. On top of it the long weekend was arriving and they made sure their trains proceeded presumably on time. A "small" train full of people seems to matter comparatively less. I do have to say the train length of these freight trains is impressive. They have routinely between 100 and 200 cars or so. The delay for ViaRail added to the adventure (but in the end we were just exhausted by the massive delay and even some food choices started to run out). Again we were lucky not to arrive in Edmonton with such a massive delay on the way west (we arrived on schedule). Picking up my pre-booked rental car with such a massive delay would have been difficult. People in the Toronto train station on our way west back then had complained about a 5 or 6 hour delay. But our 12 hour delay definitely topped that.

ViaRail: Waking up the next morning in the train.

ViaRail: Anna sitting in the dining car (2nd class dining car). This car had a number of tables that allowed people to play cards or board games outside of meal hours.

ViaRail: Somewhere in Saskatchewan or Manitoba province.

Chili Con Carne meal in our dining car. After the 2nd meal the kids had figured out what they wanted to order.

ViaRail train riding at its best: Sitting in the panorama deck and even having a table. The table was not a problem since I was up close to sunrise and one of the first sitting in the panorama section.

ViaRail: Train as seen from the panorama deck.

ViaRail: Another view of of the panorama deck.

ViaRail: Playing skat up in the panorama deck.

Really tired at 10pm: Waiting in the Toronto train station for things to come

Snippet handed out by ViaRail personal in case somebody wanted to complain about the 12 hour delay arriving in Toronto. But I have to say after an initial 30 minute chaos when nobody really knew what was going on ViaRail they did their very best to deal with the situation. A 12 hour train delay and having to deal with it late Saturday night was even for them unusual.