The Rocky Mountaineer
The Rocky Mountaineer is a tourist train that runs through the Canadian Rockies via three separate routes, in this particular case, the "First Passage to the West" from Vancouver via Kamloops to Banff. Along the way, it offers panoramic views and gourmet meals in a very comfortable first class environment.
Day 1
My Goldleaf railtour of Western Canada, to include all its free flora, fauna, food, and drink, started the way every tour does: standing in line to board a motorcoach entirely too early in the morning. Fifteen minutes later, I was standing in the Rocky Mountaineer Vancouver Train Station with 681 other guests, sipping coffee,¹ listening to live music (piano and bagpipe), checking out the gift shop, and perusing all thirteen of its World Travel Awards (to include the 2012 Travel Weekly Magellan Awards "Gold Advertising Campaign California Campaign").
Then we boarded Car 12, a "Goldleaf Stadler bi-level glass-domed coach, with kitchen and dining room in the lower level where gourmet breakfast and lunch is served." Notice how I again mentioned "Goldleaf" as I want the reader to understand that I did most definitely not travel in a "SilverLeaf single-level dome coach, rebuilt from RedLeaf coaches with a delicious breakfast and lunch served in the comfort of your seat." As all passengers have assigned seats, you can board anywhere between 7:30 and 8:00, there is no mad rush to your assigned seat, it's all very civilized.
Soon after a prompt 8:00 a.m. departure, I was sipping a Rocky Mountain Sunrise (or what non-Rocky Mountaineers call a "mimosa") and, after that, was in the dining room enjoying a delicious B.C. Farmer Sausage & Roasted Red Pepper Skillet while discussing the finer points of riding the rails and my recent visit to Sydney with two Australians who had just travelled some 20 hours from Perth to partake in this Canadian epiphany.
The first two hours were spent departing the Vancouver environs, and therefore the sights from my Goldleaf domed-coach were a little pedestrian (as was the speed) but then, as the velocity increased, so did the verdant sights that paralleled the Fraser River. This brought us to noon and me a Lions Gate lager. Our two onboard hosts, Harrison and Brent did an outstanding job of pointing out the various natural wonders that included Hells Gate, the Cisco Bridges, Black Canyon, and various Big Horn sheep, goats, ospreys, and bald eagles. They delivered the perfect amount of talk, enough to illuminate but not enough to dominate (all while getting me another Lions Gate lager).
Then, just after entering the high desert of the Thompson River Valley, it was lunchtime, where we joined two Houstonians in the dining room to discuss Space City medicine and the lack of American booze on Canadian shelves, over a delicious Alberta Striploin Steak and Lions Gate lager. Here and there along the way, we saw the results of current and past forest fires, which we had been made well aware of by the news and our sense of smell.
Pulled into Kamloops a little after six and were given an envelope with our hotel room keys and tomorrow morning's rally time. We were then whisked to the Best Western Premier Aberdeen Kamloops by motorcoach. Since our bags were not loaded on the train in Vancouver, and instead trucked to Kamloops, they were now waiting for us in our room. Rocky Mountaineer staff had also checked us in, so we could bypass the front desk, like we were too important to waste our time--a very nice touch (they also picked up our luggage in our room after we departed the next morning and trucked them to Banff before we arrived that evening). I wasn't too excited about staying in a Best Western, though it was only for 11 hours, it was a Premier, and I was very tired.
Though not too tired to visit the nearby Table twelvefifty per Harrison's recommendation, to have a beer while looking at stunning forest fire smoke enhanced sunset. As I had done some Kölsch research whilst in Vancouver, I went with the Mt. Begbie High Country Kölsch. Unfortunately, the fires were bad enough to close the outdoor balcony but not bad enough to really enhance the sunset.
Day 2
As if to say today's journey will be even better than yesterday's, we had to be on the motor coach back to the train at 6:15 a.m. And then, after promptly boarding our Goldleaf domed coach, we sat on the tracks until 7:47 a.m. I was hoping that the delay was due to a passenger oversleeping so I could focus my wrath on a person, but it was due to a freight train ahead of us having to clear the tracks. I spent the time breakfasting with two Minnesotans and some delicious Boursin Cheese & Chive Scrambled Eggs.
Our Goldleaf Stadler bi-level glass-domed coach had two very efficient washrooms on the lower level.² One of which was handicap accessible, which provided me a little more space for thinking great and relaxing thoughts. I mentioned this lavatorial aspect to some fellow passengers, which may have been a mistake as it subsequently made for decreased availability. Just forward of the washrooms was an open-air viewing platform that allowed unobstructed viewing of the scenery, as well as unobstructed smelling of the scenery, the locomotives' engines, or the washrooms (depending on the direction of the wind and the speed of the train, but mostly on the speed of the train).
By the late morning, we were finally clear of Kamloops. Up until this point, while there was a fair amount of natural beauty, it was often marred by a fair amount of rusted corrugated-steel buildings, derelict telegraph poles, abandoned earthmoving equipment and car-filled roads.³ We now reached the best part of the two day journey: crystal clear lakes running up against forested hillsides, the view of river valleys from overpasses, a majestic 12-point elk, and snowcapped mountains.
The engineering high point of our tour was the Spiral Tunnels. These two ~3,000-foot tunnels spiral through two adjacent mountains and enable rail traffic to pass over the Rocky Mountains. Prior to their construction in1909, trains had to use a rail line with a 4.4% grade. As the normal safe grade is 2.2%, there were more than a few accidents. Note: The problem is not the going up, but the coming down.
We also viewed the location of the last spike of Canada's first transcontinental railway. Located in Craigellachie, look for the modest marker, as it can't be missed due to its location adjacent to the gift shop. Though I did miss the subsequent Continental Divide marker. When I asked Mrs. AAR about it (she was sitting right next to me), she replied offhandedly, "You missed it; it was a few miles back." I drowned my sorrows with a Lions Gate lager at lunch with the two Minnesotans, where I had a delicious Crispy Skin Kuterra Steelhead.
Because of the delayed start to our journey that morning, we were now looking at a 9:00 p.m. arrival into Banff. I recommended to the conductor, that in order to make up time, as the last car was a Silverleaf coach, we detach it order to increase our speed. Also, that maybe we should only slow down at Lake Louise instead of stopping to let off a small group of passengers; I figured that since their luggage had been sent ahead, a slight shove in the back would do the trick.
Well, even though my recommendations weren't followed, I think they had the intended effect, as the train really booked it from Lake Louise to Banff. We must have been doing 65 miles per hour as Mrs. AAR and I, freezing, held on to the railing in the open air viewing platform, wind in hair, as the car jerked back and forth with the whistle sounding. I felt like George Peppard in the penultimate scene of How the West Was Won, with him screaming "Engineer . . . open it up wide open!" It was a great way to end our two day rail adventure.
The Tips
Get a good night's sleep the night before you depart and during your overnight in Kamloops. The days will be long and you don't want to take a snoozy just before you don't see a grizzly bear standing in the rapids, snatching a salmon mid-air in his mouth.⁴
Spend some time on the outdoor viewing platform, where you can get unobstructed views, sounds, and smells.
Book early.
Understand the T&Cs, as management can "modify, alter, or substitute any part of its service" as well as cancel without passenger recourse or, more importantly, refund. Travel insurance is offered, but I don't roll that way--as, much like the rest of my life I don't bet on the odds, I bet on myself. Well, that and I don't have the time nor inclination to read seven pages of fine print to ensure adequate coverage.
Endnotes: I wanted to provide some very specific details that, while vaguely interesting, did not contribute to the overall narrative. Perhaps just wait until the end to enjoy.
¹ At Kamloops, the train was effectively split, with with half of us continuing on to Banff and the lesser half to Jasper.
² In the Great White North, the bathroom is more fittingly called the washroom, which I think we can all agree is more pleasant-sounding than the toilet.
³ Yes, that's telegraph poles, not telephone poles. A telegraph was run for communicating with trains to transmit signals to ensure efficient operations and prevent collisions before the advent of wireless communications.
⁴ There was no Grizzly bear.
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