Cross Canada 2024 Part 1 - Halifax-Ottawa-Toronto, and into Northern Ontario

 Part 1: from Halifax to Ottawa, Toronto, and beyond!

The Canadian, at Capreol ON

The adventure begins…June 21, 2024

For my part, this cross-Canada trip started out in Halifax. In theory, I could have taken the Ocean and a connecting Corridor train on to Toronto, but in the interest of timing and fitting in a bit of a family visit to start, I instead opted to fly to Ottawa and begin the rail trip from there.

While flying is not nearly as exciting as getting on a train, this particular flight would be my first opportunity to try out Porter’s new Embraer E195-E2 jets. Built in Brazil and first delivered to Porter beginning in 2022, entering service in 2023, these jets have dramatically expanded both Porter’s operational fleet and their potential service reach. The E2 makes longer flights possible, and has allowed for Porter to expand considerably across both Canada and further into the US.

Flights between Halifax and Ottawa are absolutely feasible with Porter’s previous Q400 turboprop fleet, but the airline has focused on operating the turboprops primarily on flights out of Toronto Island airport (where jets are a no-go), which means virtually all other Halifax flights are now operated with the E2.

The major advantages of these new planes, aside from the longer range, are that they offer a larger cabin than the Q400 (though still 2+2 seating), with a bit more seat pitch across the board, free onboard WiFi throughout the flight, and an overall much quieter and smoother flying experience.

My flight from Halifax to Ottawa on this particular day was mostly uneventful, aside from some unexpected turbulence that made parts of the flight bumpier than expected. The captain let us know that they would be increasing altitude to try to avoid this, and it did seem to help a bit. We made it to Ottawa slightly delayed, landing under heavy clouds. Overall, my impression of the new plane was very favourable, but I was also happy to be finished with the only flight for the next couple weeks!

Porter E195-E2 getting prepped at our gate in Halifax. 

In addition to the standard Porter complimentary snack and drink service, flights on the new E2s can offer a full cafe service. Unfortunately (though understandably), this is only available on flights scheduled for over 2.5h. Porter's "Reserve" service includes complimentary meals on those longer flights. The menu sounds pretty decent. 

Nice views, heading out over the Bay of Fundy. I'd still take the train any day, but flights can still offer some impressive sights.

Much less exciting views on our descent into Ottawa. We'd only break out of the clouds on the final turn and approach. 

June 22, 2024

After a night with family in Ottawa, my brother and I boarded VIA 47 to head to Toronto. This train is one of the handful of Toronto-Ottawa trains currently running with Venture equipment, and we booked it specifically so my brother could try out the new trains. We were travelling in Business class, so we had the opportunity to spend some time in the lounge before departure. Despite travelling in Business a number of times from Ottawa, I had never actually properly checked out the renovated Business Lounge. I must say, VIA did a very nice job with it, and it is a very pleasant and spacious place to wait for a train. The addition of windows with a view to the platforms is definitely the biggest improvement over the old lounge.

Inside Ottawa's Business lounge, with a view of trains parked outside. It's a Saturday, so there is some extra equipment around Ottawa. 

An unexpected sight - VIA's last Corridor Renaissance set has had a bit of a reprieve since its originally slated retirement, being pulled in to occasionally substitute for Venture sets as they work through teething issues. 

We boarded on one of the middle tracks, which required a walk through the tunnel to get to our train. As we came up to the platform, we could see our Venture set parked nose to nose with another. We were on the “2x11” set, which is among those where the locomotive number and trainset numbers all align properly. We were in car 1, and the train was operating with the cab car leading heading west.

VIA 47 – June 22, 2024

2311 Venture Cab Car (05)

2811 Venture Coach (04)

2911 Venture Coach (03)

2711 Venture Business Class (02)

2611 Venture Business Class (01)

2211 SCV-42 Locomotive

 

The ride to Toronto was very smooth. Despite being next to the locomotive, our car was extremely quiet. We made good time for most of the run, with some delay just before Toronto thanks to being stuck behind GO traffic (a common problem once on Metrolinx territory).

Our train on the platform, nose to nose with another Venture set likely bound for Montreal. 

Business class, boarding car 2611. 

Single seating on the other side - we were in a double, of course. A HEP2 consist is visible out the window.

Helpful information on the excellent interior signage.

Business class lunch. The main we both opted for was fish (cod, I think?), with a somewhat unusual cream sauce. Overall tasty, but nothing close to what we'd experience starting the next day. Note one of the many power outlets in use just to the left, highlighting the presence of USB ports in addition to the standard outlets in these cars. 

Water views along Lake Ontario.

Some of the luggage space at the end of a 2600 car. The space on the left flips up to allow for bike space (not currently in use, but eventually will be). Unfortunately that comes at the expense of other large luggage space. 

Luggage and coat rack space on the other side. 

When we made our stop in Kingston, Trackside Treasure blogger and prolific VIA author Eric Gagnon came out to the platform to say hi. Our car attendant wouldn’t let me step off for a proper chat, so we had to make due with a very quick wave and handshake from the vestibule. Still, nice to make brief contact! As you may recall from my 2017 cross Canada trip, Eric came out to the platform to say hi and deliver a copy of his latest VIA book at the time. So it was nice to be able to make him a part of this new cross-Canada adventure! Photos that follow are courtesy of Eric Gagnon.

Our train arrives under dreary skies (not too unlike the last time Eric met me here on the platform), with the spiffy-looking cab car leading. 

Stepping out to say hi! That was about as much as our attendant would allow. 

If you look close, reeeeeaaaal close, you can just see me in the window. Dark tinting doing it's job!

And away we go, with matched SCV-42 2211 pushing hard.

I’ve written up my more comprehensive thoughts about the Ventures in another post, but this was my longest trip on one to date. All in all, I remain impressed. The ride quality was smooth, the Business class service was good, and the seats held up well on the longer trip.

Off the train at Union Station. The stainless steel sides of these cars really are quire reflective, despite being painted over. We'd be back here the next day to board a much more exciting train!

After arrival in Toronto, we made our way to the home of family members we would be staying with for the night, which involved a subway ride over lines 1 and 2. We were somewhat surprised by just how packed the trains were on a Saturday!

TTC Subway riding. 

The next day...June 23, 2024

We awoke early the next morning, excited for the start of the main event. We made our way back to Union station via the subway, arriving a bit over an hour before scheduled departure. We made our way to the Panorama lounge, where we would check in for The Canadian.

The main signboard at Union station really needs work, but you can still spot Train #1 right at the top!

Train 1 - The Canadian. This is about when it started to feel real.

Upon entering the lounge, I was quite pleasantly surprised to see a familiar face – Jason Shron, president of Rapido Trains and the VIA Historical Association (VHA), and famously “the guy with the train in his basement”, was right ahead of us at the ticket counter! I’ve known Jason for quite a number of years. We first met onboard a VIA train from Toronto, when he was on tour showing off Rapido’s HO scale “Canadian” samples (funnily enough). Since then we’ve kept in touch and crossed paths a number of times, including in the Maritimes, and I’ve also ended up involved with the VHA at his suggestion. Jason and his family travel on the Canadian a couple of times year between Toronto and Winnipeg, and this just happened to be the westbound leg of one of those trips. Chatting in the lounge, I quickly learned he and his family would even be in the same sleeping car as us (in combined bedrooms E and F, just down the hall). It would be a real pleasure getting to hang out and catch up over the next couple of days on board (more on that in Part 2).

In the lounge, we checked in and made our lunch and dinner reservations. On peak season trains, passengers are grouped into two dining cars, depending on their location in the train. We would be in dining car B, the rear-most of the two diners. For lunch and dinner, reservations are made for either early or late sittings, and done as pairs – if you choose the early lunch, you also get the early dinner (and vice versa). Breakfast or brunch (depending on the day) would be first-come, first-served. The only option left for us on the first day was the early lunch and dinner, at 11am and 5pm, so that’s what we’d work with. As it happened, we would soon find that to be our preference, and stick with it for the entirety of both our west and eastbound trips.

We wouldn’t have a long wait in the lounge before boarding began. We made our way down and out to the platform, and there it was! The Canadian, at peak-season length and in all its stainless steel glory. Iconic, and unmistakable.

Union Station - the single best train you can board from these tracks!

This was a very different feeling from the last time I boarded this train, as the schedule has now been changed. Instead of a late evening departure from Toronto, the train leaves in the morning. This makes for a fairly full first day on board, and a lot of daylight sights heading out of Toronto and north. Unfortunately, it means that most people really need to be in Toronto the night before to be ready for the morning departure.

As we head out to the train, lets’ have a look at the consist for our westbound trip. Lots of notes below.

VIA #1 – June 23, 2024 – Toronto to Vancouver

6458 F40 Locomotive

6431 F40 Locomotive

6421 F40 Locomotive

8608 Baggage

8112 Economy (Refurbished, blue stripe scheme)

8108 Economy (Refurbished, Teal/yellow scheme)

8510 Skyline (Economy) (old blue/green interior)

Elgin Manor (09)

Cornwall Manor (10)

Sherwood Manor (11)

8509 Skyline A (brown/yellow interior)

York Dining Car A (refurbished)

Bell Manor (12)

Franklin Manor (13)

Carleton Manor (Crew Car)

Laird Manor (14)

Bayfield Manor (15) *Upper/Lower Section 2

Abbott Manor (16)

8500 Skyline B (brown/yellow interior)

Frontenac Dining Car B (refurbished)

Chateau Dennonville – Prestige (30)

Chateau Jolliet – Prestige (31)

Laurentide Park – Prestige (39)

 

*Line numbers in brackets

Passengers in cars 09, 10, 11, 12, 13 assigned to Diner A. Passengers in cars 14, 15, 16, 30, 31, 39 assigned to Diner B.

Having 3 locomotives was somewhat unusual, as even at peak times the train usually operates with just 2. The third was likely being relocated west, as equipment is regularly moved around to and from the western maintenance centres on this train. We had no deadhead equipment up front otherwise, so it looked like a "proper" train!

A quick look back at our actual seating area. This is our open section (#2), in its daytime configuration. The seats are wide and comfortable, but with so many other places to hang out and socialize on the train, we spent hardly any time here during the day. These would fold out to upper and lower berths at night - photos of that will follow in subsequent posts. 

 

After the orientation from our attendant, we made our way back to Skyline B (8500). While passengers are assigned to a dining car, there is no explicit assignment of Skyline cars. In practice, most passengers would end up going to the car that is most conveniently located, so it seemed most people who were going to and from diner A ended up in Skyline A, and vice versa. Though we would go check out the forward Skyline at some point, we ended up spending the majority of our time in Skyline B. During peak season, the Park car at the rear is reserved for Prestige passengers only from 6am-4:30pm, and has many of the dome seats reserved for Prestige passengers. We would eventually check out the Park and spend some time there, but the lack of Park access wasn’t as much of an issue as some people would suggest. More on that later.

The Skyline cars are the hub of activity for sleeper passengers. In addition to the lounges and dome seating, there is coffee/tea/hot chocolate and snacks on offer through the day, a bar beneath the lounge (alcoholic drinks cost extra), and the dedicated Skyline attendant runs a variety of activities. A whiteboard next to the café section shows the list of activities scheduled for the day. We noticed the nature and extent of these activities varied depending on the specific host/activity coordinator. These ranged from talks on areas we passed through, to games like trivia and Bingo, to regional wine and beer tastings.

As we departed, there was a sendoff with sparkling wine or a non-alcoholic cranberry cocktail, with an assortment of canapés on offer.

Rain on the dome pulling out of Union Station. We'd see a mix of weather along the way, but this rain would be very short-lived, and the coating on the dome windows would help them dry off quickly.

Skyline B activity schedule for day 1, with host/attendant Marie-Anna. She would be covering this car until the crew change in Winnipeg.

This is the self-serve takeout area in the rear of the Skyline, just ahead of the café seating area. Coffee and hot water (with various teas and hot chocolate) are available on the left. Water (in a jug, or from the tap just out of frame on the right) and various snacks are also available all day. 

Skyline forward views, heading away from Toronto.

We departed on time at 9:55am. It had been raining in the morning, but the skies would clear up as we made our way out of Toronto. On the westbound departure, the Canadian heads west, onto the Newmarket Sub, and then makes a backing move at Snider to get onto the York Sub heading east. This then allows them to make a left turn at Doncaster onto the Bala Sub, to head off into Northern Ontario. There is theoretically a more direct route, which the eastbound Canadian uses, but this allows the train to not need to be completely turned around at the Toronto Maintenance Centre. Eric Gagnon has an excellent post about the Canadian’s Toronto routing, which you can see here. https://tracksidetreasure.blogspot.com/2022/07/via-canadians-route-out-of-toronto.html

We enjoyed the views leaving the city, and before long we were in for our first lunch. This would set an excellent high standard for the trip, which held up all the way along. In the dining car, passengers are generally seated with others to fill up the 4-seat tables. This makes for an excellent opportunity for socializing, and is one of the many nice ways to meet passengers along the way. We did, however, have a couple of meals where we ended up seated just the two of us at a table. 

Dining car service operates with waiters who take orders, and a dining car steward/manager who runs the car and handles all drink orders. There are two chefs in the kitchen, who do a really, really impressive job. Menus change daily, with varying side dishes, and lots of flexibility. Passengers can also order special dietary requirement meals in advance, and there is also a dedicated kids menu.

Dining car set for lunch. Place settings vary for each meal, but are always very nicely appointed.

Lunch menu, appropriately branded for the Canadian.

Lunch menu, day 1. There are always several options, with a soup to start and different desserts each day. Tea/coffee and soft drinks are complimentary, beer/wine can be purchased. 

Our first soup - chicken and rice, I believe. 

The veggie burger - my choice for lunch #1. Really excellent!

My brother opted for the shrimp skewers. This came up a couple of times between our two directions, and unfortunately the scallops were never available.

Our first lunch dessert. Keen-eyed observers might notice that this is exactly the same as the caramel carrot cake that has been a dessert on the Ocean recently. The half-sized serving was nice with lunch, especially with everything ahead of us in the coming days!

We spent a good chunk of our lunch waiting on the first freight train meets of our trip. There would be many! I decided to keep a tally, and we’ll circle back to that at the end of the westbound trip.

Through the afternoon, we made our stops at Washago (2:01pm), and Parry Sound (3:49pm) (where the train uses two different stations depending on the direction, due to the directional running over CN/CP).

Rear-looking Skyline views, with a bit of rain returning.

Quiet in the dome, during the second lunch. Sunnier skies are back - the first day would be a mix of sun and rain.

Skirting along Lake Simcoe, the largest lake we'd pass on this part of the trip - but only the first of many of varying sizes that we'd see over the next two days. 

The lower lounge at the front of the Skyline, during a bit of a lull. Very comfy seating. The wide angle lens stretches the near seats a bit. 

Skyline lounge, viewed from the vestibule. Stairs up to the dome can be seen in the middle. The bar/canteen area is down the hallway to the right, which leads back to the café seating. There is also a small washroom in this car, just behind where I'm standing.

At the café end of each Skyline, there is a little display case with a variety of artefacts from the Canadian's history. This one features relics from the original CP era. 

A peak at the menu in this case - interesting to compare this, likely from the late 1950s, to our menus today. 

Passengers in the Skyline take in one of many (many, many) freight meets along the way. Jason and co. are set up in the front quad seats. 

Freight train, rolling by. An extremely common sight. 

Views crossing the high trestle into Parry Sound, on the CP line. 

More Parry Sound views. 

We would head off to our first dinner at 5pm. Again, top notch service, and superb food. I’ll let the images speak for themselves.

Plaque at the entrance to diner Frontenac, noting its name as well as the proud work of Rail GD, who performed the most recent refurbishment work on these dining cars. 

Dinner menu cover. The various covers are all the same, but thought it worth highlighting each of the different meal versions at least once. 

Dinner menu, day 1. Each dinner features a soup (different from lunch) or salad choice to start, four different main options, and yet another dessert.

One of the salads.

Dinner rolls of some sort are offered before every dinner. For the first two days, the option was this pretzel roll, which was really good. These are baked in the kitchen on board, and come out hot!

First dinner - the beef tenderloin. Cooked exceptionally well, very tasty mushroom gravy.

Our first dinner dessert - a dulce de leche cheesecake. For every dinner dessert, there is an option between a daily feature or a triple chocolate cake, which is always available. We'll see that one in a few days' time. 

After the first dinner, we headed back to the Park car, as it was now open to all sleeper passengers after 4 pm. If space is in short supply in the Skylines or Park car, a good idea is always to wait until one of the dinner calls, as many people will leave to go for their meals, and this will open up space.

The classic Park car tail-end views. The squat rear dome windows are thanks to the higher roofline in the rear lounge. 

In the Park, around Subury Jct. Note the reserved signs on the back of many seats, indicating those rows are for Prestige passengers only. 

Park car dome. The biggest advantage with this dome is the orientation with stairs to the rear, which allows for no facing seats and a reflection-free view at the front.

Park car seats are the same as those in the Skyline, but feature a different upholstery style

The Park car, with its Prestige class refurbishment, is a really nice space. Unfortunately for non-Prestige passengers, most seats in the dome are off limits. While unfortunate, this does make sense, as one of the perks that Prestige passengers are paying top dollar for is getting a guaranteed seat in the dome; and at the end of the day, those Prestige tickets cover a huge chunk of the Canadian's operating expenses, helping to keep the train running and more affordably priced for the other sleeper and economy fares. They appear to block off as many seats in the dome as there are Prestige passengers on the train, which may mean 100% of the seats. The rear-end lounge, however, remains open. A lot of people bemoan the restrictions on the Park car, and I definitely agree that it’s a nice car to have accessible. However, during the course of this trip, I actually found I much preferred the Skylines. With such a long train, having a spot in the middle of the train where you could watch cars stretch out in both directions was really nice. The tail end view from the Park car is neat, but I realized it’s not actually my favourite spot on the train.

At Sudbury Jct., after our stop we ended up waiting on the main for a freight. The train eventually arrived, crawling past us. It turns out it had 10mph switches for that siding, so it was sloooooooooow. Shortly thereafter, one of the engineers arrived in the Park car. He explained that there was another long intermodal train on its way, and to avoid an even longer delay, the VIA crew had asked the Rail Traffic Controller (RTC) if they could back out and take the siding, which would allow that intermodal to pass at 25mph instead, making it a much shorter stop for everyone. The RTC obliged, and we made that move around. I was impressed with this bit of flexibility, a reminder that those running the railroad do legitimately want to minimize excessive delays where they can!

Backup move at Sudbury Jct - one of the engineers watches the tail end, and radios directions to the engineer up front. There are several backup moves that are part of the regular operation, but this was an extra one to keep things running smoothly. 

Forward views from the Park - that's a lot of train ahead!

Collection of interesting railroad stuff at the Northern Ontario Railroad Museum and Heritage Centre, on the approach into Capreol. 

We made our stop at Capreol around 7:30pm, the first opportunity to get off for a fresh air stop and a stretch. This also marked the end of the Bala Subdivision, over which we had travelled some 270 miles since Toronto, and the beginning of the Ruel Sub.

Evening light at Capreol ON.

The head end of the train was a long way away, but the Park car makes for a superb tail end sight.

Capreol, with a mural highlighting the town's railway history.

Bala Sub ends, Ruel begins. 

Capreol, ON.

After leaving there, we enjoyed the Northern Ontario scenery, appreciating the long daylight hours that came with travelling so near the solstice.

More tail end views, in the evening light.

One of the many pristine lakes and bogs in Northern Ontario. Some people (including at least one vocal passenger on this trip) think this part of the country is boring; I couldn't disagree more. It is really stunning rugged beauty. 

Still lakes and evening sun.

More views, because I just couldn't get enough of these scenes. 

Last bits of the fading sunset.

Here's the issue with the ceiling lights in the dome. Once the light gets low, your view gets ruined by reflections! Thankfully we were able to get the lights turned off in our Skyline, but I felt bad for folks using the Park, where the crew refused to lower the lights (though there didn't appear to be anyone still around when we called it a night)

Tail end bullet lounge in the Park car. I was also disappointed to see that the crew never used the dim lighting setting in this area, which makes for a vastly better ambience. 

Looking forward from the rear lounge. 

While we were still in the Park car, I asked about turning off the ceiling lights in the dome. This is a long standing standard practice, as it makes it possible to see outside in lower light. Floor lighting ensures you can still safely find your way in and out. Unfortunately, the attendant informed me that this was no longer allowed due to "safety concerns", and the best he could do was turn off half. This really didn’t help much, so as the light got lower close to 10pm, we decided to make our way back up to our section of the train. The safety issue seems rather baffling to me, given that the entire point of the lights along the floor is to ensure safe movement. 

In Skyline B, we decided to ask our attendant if she could turn off the lights. In contrast to the Park, she immediately said “sure!”, and turned them off. Success! We were then able to enjoy the night-time views from the dome, watching the last light, and then the train snaking its way around the winding lakes and forests of Northern Ontario, with the trackside signals glistening off the roofs of the stainless steel train. The lights in our car would remain off for the duration, and we would find very inconsistent application of the lights on/off rule in both directions depending on the car. But we were happy, and this helped encourage us to stick to “our” Skyline for much of the rest of the trip.  

Through the evening, we passed Laforest at 8:39pm (no stop), McKee’s camp ay 8:48pm (no stop), Felix at 9:05pm (with a stop), and Gogama at 9:57pm (no stop) [Edit - Oh yes! We saw a moose shortly before Gogama, swimming in a lake next to the train. The engineers gave a heads-up to the attendants, who made a quick announcement in our Skyline car. They are good about trying to give heads-up about wildlife, but you do need to be observant along the way]. The remoteness of this area was very apparent as we made our way. Cell service was non-existent, except for very limited service at some major stops.

Eventually, we decided it was time to head off to bed. We made our way back to our section, which had been made up for the night during the second dinner call, and got comfy in our berths. I took the upper for the first night and my brother the lower, though we’d subsequently swap around and find that was our preference for the rest of the nights.

So with that, I’ll leave it here for the time being. In Part 2, we’ll make our way across the remainder of northern Ontario and into Winnipeg, as we head for the Prairies…  

Trackside signals illuminate the roof of the train ahead. This is one of the most enjoyable things to watch from the dome at night, but virtually impossible to photograph well...