Canada by train in winter reveals dazzling Great White North

“It’s as if we’re in a permanent postcard,” Karin Gedge said, gazing at the snow-swathed evergreens slipping by the broad dining-car window. “No, better, a permanent Christmas card. All that’s missing is the cardinal.”

It was last January, and my wife, Laurel, our friends the Gedges and I were well past the halfway point of our 2,775-mile, four-night journey from Vancouver to Toronto aboard VIA Rail Canada’s flagship, the Canadian.

The morning before we’d paused at Saskatoon, a brave city in the heart of the vast Saskatchewan prairies, where, figuring in the wind chill, the temperature was 22 degrees below zero Fahrenheit. Many train passengers think only mountainous British Columbia is worth seeing, and it is glorious, but the prairies of Saskatchewan and Manitoba as well as Ontario’s rocky, lake-pocked Canadian Shield, a true wilderness, are parts of Canada’s northern majesty not to be missed.

What possessed us to travel across Canada at this time of year? Friends had posed that question, and we had a ready answer. The dead of winter, we think, is the Canadian’s finest hour.

Why winter?

In the warmer months, the more popular time to ride, the train is more expensive and swells to as many as 30 cars. By comparison, our train had only nine cars in use after we left Jasper, where the passenger count had dropped enough so that two sleeping cars were taken out of service.

In winter there is little to no wait for seats in the dome, lounge or diner. The crew is relaxed, and it’s easier to get to know your fellow travelers in an atmosphere that’s as congenial as a house party. Beyond those practical considerations, the snowscapes were magnificent. We followed the North Thompson River, flowing frigid and framed by snowy evergreens, for the better part of our first full day. Across Saskatchewan the cold was palpable, a mist of ice and snow crystals on a brightly sunny day. All this made our snug train a pleasure.

Train as time machine

In April 1955 Canadian Pacific Railway launched a stainless-steel streamliner that has proved to have admirable staying power, the Canadian, which linked both Montreal and Toronto with Vancouver. Though today it runs just to Toronto and on rival Canadian National rails, it’s remained much the same train through two major rehabs, but now with showers in all the cars and electric instead of steam heat, which could freeze in winter. The Canadian offers the nostalgic joys of 1950s railroading made efficient and contemporary.

The domed observation lounge at the rear of the train — called the “park car” because all cars of this type are named for Canadian national or provincial parks — is at the heart of the Canadian experience. Its rounded-end Bullet Lounge has a new layout, with banquettes upholstered in designer fabrics. Walk upstairs from the Bullet Lounge and you’re in the dome; it’s a world-class observatory on rails with two-dozen seats and 360-degree views. Below the dome is another space, a restyled bar-lounge with tall tables. This is home base for the car’s attendant, who welcomed us with Champagne and hors d’oeuvres as we left Vancouver at 8:30 p.m.

“Dinner in the diner, nothing could be finer,” according to “Chattanooga Choo Choo,” the 1941 Glenn Miller hit, and the pleasures of dining on rails in that era survive on today’s Canadian, with all meals — included in the fare for sleeper passengers — freshly prepared and properly served on white linen. Our favorites were the rack of lamb and roast beef dinners, cream of asparagus soup at lunch, crab Benedict at brunch one day, and the usual eggs, omelets, pancakes, bacon, sausages and potatoes at breakfast. There were also fish and vegetarian dishes.

Where do I sleep?

There was a serendipitous bonus on this trip. By happenstance, we were introduced to a new addition to the Canadian, five years in the making and finally ready: Prestige Class, a luxury sleeping-car option that outstrips anything the train has offered in 60 years of service.

A dozen of the railroad’s original cars have been rebuilt for this service: four Park Cars and eight sleeping cars. The Laurentide Park, with one Prestige bedroom and a wheelchair-accessible room as well as the public spaces, happened to be on our train. It had been the only Prestige car regularly in service since the previous August; the full-scale Prestige launch would occur May 1 when the Canadian shifted from a twice-weekly schedule to three times a week. Now, when demand warrants, each train will have two rebuilt sleepers and a rebuilt Park Car.

The rebuilt sleepers are all new inside, with six Prestige Class cabins served by a concierge who also sleeps in the car in order to provide round-the-clock service. Prestige Class rooms have oversize windows, double Murphy beds that fold out of the wall to face those windows, private showers with heated floors and flat-screen video monitors. All beverages, including alcohol, are included in the fare, and Prestige passengers have priority reservations for the dining car.

The Sleeper Plus accommodations are more modest and should be familiar to anyone who remembers pre-Amtrak railroading in the U.S. There’s the compact “roomette,” which VIA calls a “Cabin for 1,” with a bed that folds down to fill the room and must be raised for access to the toilet. A “Cabin for 2,” the old “double bedroom,” makes down into upper and lower berths at night; the toilet is in an annex, and there are two chairs for day use.

“Open sections” feature facing seats for day use that convert to upper and lower berths at night, separated from the aisle by heavy curtains the sleeping-car attendant hangs. Some may recall open sections from “Some Like It Hot” and other movies, but they fell out of favor in the States in the ‘60s. They’re thrifty and popular in Canada, however.

What’s there to do?

For many passengers, me among them, sitting in the dome and watching the world go by was activity enough, and the book I had with me received only intermittent attention. There’s more to do aboard, however, all worthwhile. There were daily wine tastings, augmented by one beer tasting. “Dome discussions,” presentations on local or rail history and lore, were offered morning and afternoon. Our favorite was “Life on the Rails,” recounting the ups and downs of railroading on the Canadian.

VIA’s Artists on Board program trades transportation for performances, and our trip featured singer-songwriter-guitarist Chris Gheran twice daily in the Bullet Lounge. A self-styled war buff who often performs at military bases, he nonetheless seemed a gentle soul, with a day job making all-natural soap.

“This is my first time on a train,” he told his audience, “and I’m loving it.” Laurel and I were loving it too, though it was our umpteenth.

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If you go

VIA Rail Canada, (888) 842-7245, www.viarail.ca/en. All accommodations except Prestige Class, which is never discounted and is priced the same year-round, are periodically offered at a discount. By creating a profile on VIA’s website and requesting email notifications, travelers can learn about these opportunities, including weekly Discount Tuesdays, good until midnight. We took advantage of a sale and paid $796 (U.S.) each, including tax, for our “Cabin for 2,” about a quarter the cost of Prestige Class.

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