Winter by rail
Why would I travel by train? Why not? I’m not anticipating any time on the rails in the short future, but an article I found this afternoon reminded me of my past adventures. First of all, a link, so you can get a feel for winter in Canada.
There, are your toes warm again? Most of my nights in coach, back in the ‘70s and early 80’s were made on older equipment than those cars mentioned above. Steam-heated cars. Although the locomotives have been Diesel (for all of my life), the manifest included one or more steam generation cars, to handle the need for heat. And as with anything else, the system would break down. Believe me, you kept your socks on when traveling CN/Via.
But, I loved it. My longest straight trip lasted for 32 hours; hardly like a journey across Russia, but much longer than your average plane ride. I also didn’t have the personal budget to enjoy seated meals (except for my final years on behalf of my employer), so I learned to savour wrapped ham-and-cheese sandwiches washed down with warm beer (in cans) out of the bottom of my backpack.
Through the years, I also learned the value of knowing where to go when you got to a particular station; transfers from one train to another was the first thing to suffer, when hours had to disappear from a timetable that had fallen apart. Scramble, lad! Your next train is already loading!
Would I do it again? For sure. Just checked a tentative trip; the “not available on this date” is a clue that the trains don’t always run on time.
