My experience riding on VIA Rail for the first time.
Vancouver to Toronto. Four five days. Can I do it?
Yes.
Day one (Monday): Scaling the rockies in British Columbia
Nothing major. We left Vancouver, suffered the delays of existing in Vancouver, and then watched the scenery. Not much new scenery- most of the Fraser Valley looks the same.
Sleeping was a nightmare, but I’m betting it’s just lack of experience. I tried so many different configurations, having special success with ‘fetal position over two chairs’ and ‘on your side hudded between bags,’ but still I’d like to find a more comfortable approach.
Day two (Tuesday): Crossing the prairies.
At 01:00, I woke up in Kamloops. So did everyone else. Probably just a smoke stop or something, not very clear. It was a nightmare to get back to sleep.
At 06:30ish, I woke up for realsies. I think I got a nearly adequate amount of sleep, and no drowsiness could keep me from the stunning views outside my window. TLDR: The Rocky Mountains are very beautiful. (I’d attach a photo but this blog system is bare-bones enough as it is)
By noon (in Mountain time!) we made it to Jasper. Never been there, but it’s quite a beautiful and cute little town. I got myself a hot chocolate (because of course I did) and something to eat for lunch. Following that, our train started the process of finally leaving the rockies, onto the next part of Canada. The praries.. sort of. Because there’s snow and all it’s all quite visually pleasant and makes you feel rather cosy inside your cabin. I hope that we can keep seeing snow all the way into Toronto!
17:00. The snow is sparse, and often gone- but is still holding on. Mostly replaced with what I can only describe as the beigest province, Alberta isn’t very high-ranking in the scenery department. Now, this isn’t really their fault.. but perhaps if they had a dedicated corridor for passenger rail traffic I wouldn’t have to spend so much miserable time looking out the window.
June 2025: An update
It’s been a while, and I’m sorry for not finishing this! I’ll give a quick summary of the rest of the trip.
Day two ended with us passing by Edmondon. Not to be mean to Albertans or anything, but not very memorable. If there is anything positive to say about my time in Alberta, it’s that it’s more visually interesting than Saskatchwan. Speaking of Saskatchewan, that leads us to…
Day three (Wednesday): The more interesting prairies
We woke up somewhere in the middle of Saskatchwan on day three. Not very interesting, but lots of tall shacks. I’m not really in the mood to Google what these are- but most likely they are to deposit grains onto trains. The day was rather uneventful other than this, until we made it into Manitoba. Around 10PM, we made it into Winnipeg.
It was rather nice getting some fresh* air in the station! (I also got a vending machine hot chocolate.)
Day four (Thursday): Literally just forests
Day four begun and ended in the same place- the forests. Whether this be Manitoba or Western Ontario, the same golden rule held true: Beautiful scenery, receding snow, and no cell service. (Did I mention that the Internet was broken the whole trip?) By the afternoon, we did end up somewhere rather special: Hornepayne.
While not the most interesting of towns- it did provide one respite: a grocery store. I went to a Freshmart and picked up something I had longed for so long (and was recommended by a fellow passenger)- that being fresh fruit. I don’t think I’ve ever been so happy to eat an apple.
As the sun set, we made our way toward the finish line.
Day five (Friday): Toronto Toronto Toronto
We woke up in hot pursuit of our goal; a shining light in our sleep and shower deprived state- Toronto. It was rather exhilirating the moment we made it into GO territory, and then following that skyscraper territory.
This might come as a shock to those who know how North American passenger rail tends to go- but we got there about two hours early.
Closing thoughts
All-in-all: One of the most fun trips I’ve had in my life. Going from never leaving my timezone to suddenly seeing so much of Canada in such a short amount of time is breathtaking. I have to thank the many passengers I met with on this trip (who helped me keep from going insane), and VIA Rail for getting us there on time.
If there is one thing that I wish could change, it would be this: Could we give the passenger train passing priority instead of the freight one?
LoR