the VIA Rail Canadian is a wonderful train. I have usually ridden it during the off season, because I was somewhat intimidated by the large crowds the presumably filled up the long summer trains. But then I found a relatively cheap roundtrip from Vancouver to Jasper among the bargain "Express Deals" that VIA occasionally offers. It had been years since I had ridden in a REAL roomette, so I grabbed it. It was a great trip. The old style roomette with its comfortable seat, folding bed, toilet, wash basin, and numberous cubby holes to store stuff is a wonderful space for a single person. As usual for VIA the service was great and the dining car served good meals in a very civilized manner. And much to my surprise the train did not feel crowded. Eastbound I was near the Park car and it was no more crowded than during my winter trips. Westbound I was at the front end of the train but a Skyline dome worked just fine. I could always find a seat in the dome. The train also had one of the ex-BCRail panorama cars which took a lot of the pressure off the domes.

One of the nice things about the schedule for me is the train spends about 90 minutes at Jasper. So with an on time arrival that gave me time to detrain, pick up a rental car, check into my hotel, and still have plenty of time to drive east of town and get a picture of the train I arrived on.

And as far as I'm concerned this is how God (and Mr. Budd) intended a passenger train to look.

A 21 car Canadian

JBWX