My wife, Marjorie, and I love train travel. As a splurge, at most once a year, we would book a compartment on Amtrak and go to New York City from our home in Charleston. We would leave Charleston at about 9 PM; sleep in our tiny compartment; wake up for breakfast in the dining car near DC; enjoy the view of the many beautiful monuments to our great Nation’s history; then on for about three more hours, before arriving at Penn Station in midtown Manhattan.

A short taxi ride would bring us to the Edison Hotel in the heart of Times Square’s iconic Broadway theater district. It was now about noon. Too early to check in, but the Edison would let us safely stow our luggage in their lobby area, while we ate a great lunch somewhere close and killed some time sightseeing or maybe browsing the Hershey factory store nearby. Back to the Edison to check in at 4pm. Then to the theater, a great restaurant or a visit to my wonderful, crazy cousin who has lived in the City most of her life.

For us train lovers, a logical, magical upgrade would be a three-day, cross continent, vacation trip on Via Rail Canada from Toronto to Vancouver, British Columbia, through the majestic Canadian Rockies.
It’s a significant upgrade because of their reputation for outstanding customer service and top notch food service.
We finally found the time and dollars to afford booking such a wonderful adventure. We first visited with some dear friends who lived near Toronto. They gave us a ride to the train station and went on their way to their daily doins. We made our way to the baggage check in area. When we arrived there, we heard the stinging words, we still hear in our minds after over 20 years.
“No Train Today!!” announced the baggage handler. To which we muffled, “Wha!?”
We were pointed to a VIP Lounge and were told someone from “management” would come and let us know our options.
Sure enough, a manager soon came onto the scene. He explained that a freight train derailed on our track. No train could get to us from Winnipeg. There would be No Train Today. Our options were :
1. A full refund
2. Get booked on next train 3 days from now.
3. Get bussed to Hamilton Airport and board a charter flight from there to Winnipeg. Board our train there. Have dinner on train. Get a tour of Winnipeg. Start tomorrow on an on time train schedule toward the Rockies and Vancouver.
Almost every booked passenger opted for Option 3. It’s very doubtful that Amtrak would offer such an option.
A major challenge was to rearrange our luggage to meet air travel rules and needs. We all packed for a train ride. Requirements are much less for train travel.
After that challenge was met, we boarded a luxury charter bus to Hamilton Airport. And then onto a charter airliner to Winnipeg. We were on our way. At Winnipeg we boarded our train, got settled in and then Via Rail offered us a guided tour of Winnipeg.
We had some time to kill, since our train was scheduled to leave Winnipeg early the next morning. After a guided tour, a fine dinner on board and a good night’s sleep on the train, we’ll depart westbound in the morning. What an adventure. Hooray for Via Rail.
Via Rail turned a passenger catastrophe into a fun, positive adventure, which has paid dividends for them in terms of reputation and sales.
The next part of the adventure was splendid. After a long, fairly level ride through some beautiful sunflower fields and lotsa corn, we met the foothills of the Rocky Mountains. The miracle of engineering that allowed the railroad to carve its way through the Rockies is nothing short of spectacular.
The final crisis occurred about 30 minutes before were were scheduled to arrive in Vancouver. The train pulled into a sort of depot area and came to a stop. After several minutes someone announced that the engineer crew reached their maximum crew time for the day. That meant we needed a new crew. They told us the new crew was on the way and we would be on our way shortly. That was over an hour ago.
When we finally arrived in Vancouver, it was three hours late. Our son and family were waiting. They had been informed of our delay, so. they weren’t concerned. Only impatient.
We thoroughly enjoyed a great visit with our Seattle Scoolers and then truly enjoyed an uneventful, but wondrous Via Rail trip back to Toronto. Enuf