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Riding the rails - across the decades
May. 27th, 2014 07:07 pmI love traveling by train. The trip I do most often these days is the Ottawa-to-Toronto run, and nowadays I always travel business class on that route. When I do a shorter hop - say, Ottawa-Montreal or Ottawa-Kingston, I go regular economy class.
I became a regular train-traveler in the 1970s after beginning studies for my library degree in London, Ontario. Every couple of weeks, after my Friday morning of classes was over, I would head for the train station to buy my ticket (economy class in those days, as I was on a student budget). A two-hour trip to Toronto, a wait of a couple of hours, and a five-to-six-hour trip from Toronto to Ottawa. Yes, it took longer in those days, and the train was late even more often than it is nowadays, especially in the winter. There was also an overnight train on the Ottawa-Toronto route in those days, leaving around 11:30 PM and getting in the next morning.
In those days, you walked between cars, teetering precariously as you heaved open the door of the car you were about to go into or through. I was young and reasonably agile in those days but it must have been difficult for anyone who wasn't! They didn't bring any food around either (except in business class), and not every car had its own snack concession - you might have to walk two cars ahead or three cars behind. You could buy alcoholic drinks but you had to go to a special bar car for that - and if it happened to be a Sunday, you could only order alcohol if you also ordered a "two-course meal", which often consisted of peanuts and potato chips!
Back then, I didn't usually pre-order my ticket - I just showed up at the station and assumed I'd be able to get a ticket. Until one day, they were actually sold out of economy class and only had room in the "club car" (first class - what's now known as Via1 or business class) at a substantially higher price. Then as now, they provided a meal. Then, unlike now, they came around with coat hangers and hung up your outdoor clothing, returning it to you just before you were getting ready to disembark.
When I went back to London, leaving Ottawa Sunday on the late afternoon train, I relied on making a connection in Toronto. If the train was only a little late getting into Toronto, they would often hold the train. But one time, when it was seriously late, they couldn't do so without seriously inconveniencing a lot of passengers. So they put us up in a sleeper car at Toronto Union Station and gave us vouchers for a free breakfast at one of the station's restaurants. I got the first London-bound train in the morning, arriving in time for my first class of the day.
Train travel for me is more relaxing these days but it somehow feels much more self-contained and less interactive - at least with other passengers and real people. Almost everything you need is right there at your seat. People (myself included sometimes) sit at their seats and connect to the wi-fi and send and receive e-mails and watch videos and play games and are generally in their little air-tight cocoons.
And another sign of the changing times - VIA Destinations, that wonderful little in-train magazine, has put out its farewell issue - volume 11 no. 2, with a cover date of March-July 2014. I'm going to miss it.
One of these days I'd like to travel in the rest of Canada. Or do more international train travel. Maybe a famous route like the Orient Express? Much closer to home, is there any hope of some day reviving the steam train to Wakefield? So many places to see...
I became a regular train-traveler in the 1970s after beginning studies for my library degree in London, Ontario. Every couple of weeks, after my Friday morning of classes was over, I would head for the train station to buy my ticket (economy class in those days, as I was on a student budget). A two-hour trip to Toronto, a wait of a couple of hours, and a five-to-six-hour trip from Toronto to Ottawa. Yes, it took longer in those days, and the train was late even more often than it is nowadays, especially in the winter. There was also an overnight train on the Ottawa-Toronto route in those days, leaving around 11:30 PM and getting in the next morning.
In those days, you walked between cars, teetering precariously as you heaved open the door of the car you were about to go into or through. I was young and reasonably agile in those days but it must have been difficult for anyone who wasn't! They didn't bring any food around either (except in business class), and not every car had its own snack concession - you might have to walk two cars ahead or three cars behind. You could buy alcoholic drinks but you had to go to a special bar car for that - and if it happened to be a Sunday, you could only order alcohol if you also ordered a "two-course meal", which often consisted of peanuts and potato chips!
Back then, I didn't usually pre-order my ticket - I just showed up at the station and assumed I'd be able to get a ticket. Until one day, they were actually sold out of economy class and only had room in the "club car" (first class - what's now known as Via1 or business class) at a substantially higher price. Then as now, they provided a meal. Then, unlike now, they came around with coat hangers and hung up your outdoor clothing, returning it to you just before you were getting ready to disembark.
When I went back to London, leaving Ottawa Sunday on the late afternoon train, I relied on making a connection in Toronto. If the train was only a little late getting into Toronto, they would often hold the train. But one time, when it was seriously late, they couldn't do so without seriously inconveniencing a lot of passengers. So they put us up in a sleeper car at Toronto Union Station and gave us vouchers for a free breakfast at one of the station's restaurants. I got the first London-bound train in the morning, arriving in time for my first class of the day.
Train travel for me is more relaxing these days but it somehow feels much more self-contained and less interactive - at least with other passengers and real people. Almost everything you need is right there at your seat. People (myself included sometimes) sit at their seats and connect to the wi-fi and send and receive e-mails and watch videos and play games and are generally in their little air-tight cocoons.
And another sign of the changing times - VIA Destinations, that wonderful little in-train magazine, has put out its farewell issue - volume 11 no. 2, with a cover date of March-July 2014. I'm going to miss it.
One of these days I'd like to travel in the rest of Canada. Or do more international train travel. Maybe a famous route like the Orient Express? Much closer to home, is there any hope of some day reviving the steam train to Wakefield? So many places to see...
