All Aboard the Rocky Mountain Train in Canada

It was early afternoon when engineer Don Angus steadily eased the throttle on the 3,000-horsepower diesel electric locomotive along the main line at mile-marker 114 out of Vancouver.

Passengers aboard the train crowded the open vestibules, cameras poised, while those inside lined up before the large picture windows.

Twenty yards away appeared Pyramid Falls, cascading majestically down Canada’s Mt. Cheadle. We heard the roar of water and caught the scent of pine.

This was just one of the attractions along the Monashee Mountains area of the Canadian Rockies between the towns of Kamloops in British Columbia and Jasper in Alberta Province.

Few railroads accommodate passengers as does the Rocky Mountain Daylight Train. Organized last year, the run will be repeated again from spring until early autumn by Via Rail Canada, the Canadian counterpart to America’s Amtrak railroad system.

Maximum Sightseeing

On June 4, and continuing every Sunday morning through Oct. 15, the train will leave the Canadian Northern Railroad Station in Vancouver, British Columba, at 9 a.m. and head east.

For two days it will move along a route on a schedule designed to provide the maximum sightseeing opportunities through some of the most spectacular mountain scenery on the North American continent. And passengers won’t miss attractions at night, as the train stops every evening.

Until last year, passengers got only bits of the Canadian Rockies as they traveled aboard another trans-Canadian train that operates between Vancouver and Montreal.

Because of complaints from passengers over missing much of the scenery, the new train was placed in service.

From Vancouver, after an all-day run, it arrives at the little town of Kamloops where passengers overnight. The next morning the train is split into two sections.

Retracing Their Runs

One group of four cars heads for the resort town of Jasper in the heart of Jasper National Park, the other six continue to Banff National Park.

On Thursday morning both trains retrace their runs back to Kamloops for another overnight and a return to Vancouver. Travelers have the option of going one way or round trip. Overnight accommodations at Kamloops are included in the price (this year about $230 one way or $400 round trip).

One-way passengers to Jasper have a variety of transportation choices for any additional excursions: They may rent a car, take a motor coach or go by train from Jasper to Banff, and then travel to Calgary. Banff/Calgary vacationers can continue to Jasper.

Assigned to each car on the train is a service attendant who serves meals, complimentary soft drinks, tea and coffee and provides detailed information about sights along the route.

On a typical eastbound Rocky Mountain by Daylight run, each car can take 35 to 55 passengers.

Because the train has no dining car, meals and refreshments are served to passengers at seats.

Changing Panorama

Of more importance is the constantly changing panorama unfolding outside the coach windows. As the train moves through the wilderness it passes small settlements and sawmills. Fishermen wave from rivers and lakes and rafters sweep through rapids.

After leaving Vancouver there are the flatlands of the Fraser Delta as well as the 850-mile Fraser River that was the primary transportation route for trappers, hunters and gold seekers in western Canada’s early days.

At the end of this trip passengers arrive at Moose Lake, headwaters of that same mighty river.

To the east loom a stately parade of peaks--Hope, Ogilvie, Squeah and Spider--and to the west rises Mt. Baird, The Old Settler and Mt. Urguhart.

Later the train moves past Hell’s Gate, where the waters of the Fraser churn in white fury.

Ahead are more miles of scenery: mountain peaks, glaciers and tumbling waterfalls.