Canadian Railroads > Budd and Alberta Winter - VIA Rail and The Canadian

Winter in Alberta can be a most amazing and warm season, and then in a quick blow and change of weather, it can transform in to something colder than even Edmonton wants to withstand.  In the Rocky mountains, anything can happen around a corner, or over a range of mountains.  One side of a range can be very frigid and full of snow and on the other, almost nothing for snow and with a warm breeze.  

VIA Rail Canada's inception in 1977, thanks to one of our most disliked (and I'm being kind) Prime Ministers and the Liberal government of the day, now made Canada's national passenger trains a distinct entity and no longer under the ownership and management of each class one railroad.   Motive power and rolling stock remained the same and in the beginning all that changed on The Canadian was the color of the banner stripe adorning each car.  In time, cars would be intermixed, creating odd combinations of stainless steel and smoothside, a mix of CN and CP equipment, and motive power. In time, the trains would be overhauled and switched from steam heat to HEP.  New locomotives would need to replace all the aging and worn F-units in the next few years.

This is December 1985, almost 10 years in to the VIA realm, along the north shore of the Bow River slightly west of Banff. VIA #2 hustles east at a swift speed that kicks up plenty of snow. A whisper of steam emanates from the steam heat line on the rearmost car, the Park car.  Ahead of the Park are two Manor cars, a Chateau and then another Manor. The train and its passengers are only minutes away from making a grand arrival in the tourist town of Banff, nestled in the....Banff National Park.  From there, Calgary was another couple hours and a major servicing point, located just outside the mountains, where the foothills meet the prairies.
Cheers
Park



Edited 2 time(s). Last edit at 03/18/19 19:52 by Parkcar.

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Parkcar Wrote:
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> VIA Rail Canada's inception in 1977, thanks to one
> of our most disliked (and I'm being kind) Prime
> Ministers and the Liberal government of the day,

An ironic comment, given your TO name. That would be the prime minister who went to his final resting place riding in the observation liunge of Yoho Park. Thousands of people who don't share your political views lined up along the tracks to pay their respects.

Perhaps Lyin' Brian was more to your taste.  I sincerely doubt his remains would be accorded such sympathy.

> now made Canada's national passenger trains a
> distinct entity and no longer under the ownership
> and management of each class one railroad. 

And what would you prefer?  That passenger service had remained in the hands of one railway that was completely hostile and another that had become indifferent after giving it one last "college try"?

I will not get into politics in general, but it is impossible to discuss VIA Rail (or any Crown corporation) without mentioning the history of politics affecting that entity. Although I was not a fan of the elder Trudeau, I had to agree that the formation of VIA Rail saved passenger trains in Canada. Throughout the early to mid-1970s trains were being discontinued with alarming frequency. In order to get a subsidy, the railways had to apply to the Canadian Transport Commission to discontinue an unprofitable service. If the CTC ruled that it was in the public interest to continue the service a subsidy of 80% of the losses would be paid to the railway.

The CPR was not pleased with having to cover 20% of the losses and were hoping to eventually get rid of the Canadian. A few CPR employees, both on train and station staff, showed me a letter the company sent in the mid-1970s. It suggested that staff who wished to continue in the employment of CP should apply for another position "of a more permanent nature." In fairness to CP, the Canadian was fairly well run right up to the time VIA took over. It ran on time almost always. I never felt that the CPR didn't want me on their trains. Although the food was simplified after 1972, it was still well-prepared and tables set with real silver and in the peak season the traditional rose in a brandy snifter. On CN, with a much larger passenger network, many on-train staff were actually hostile to passengers. One of my uncles said he would no longer travel by train on business because: "I will not get down on my knees and thank them for the privilege of riding their trains."

There was a major cut of 20% of the VIA system under the Trudeau Liberals in 1981. Mulroney promised to restore those cuts if elected. He was and restored some - but not all - of those trains in 1985. This didn't last long. It is well-known that in 1990 there was a 50% cut. It was widely reported that Mulroney wanted to get rid of all VIA services. Joe Clarke is credited with persuading Mulroney to limit the cuts and to keep some transcontinental service, namely the tri-weekly Canadian which was, of course, on the CN route of the Super Continental.  My local Conservative MP was, to me, a dreadful man in many ways -  but he was honest. I had several conversations with him. He assured me that passenger trains were still in their target and if Mulroney won a third term the other 50% of the trains would be gone. Of course, Mulroney stepped down before the election and I have no idea if Kim Campbell was hostile to passenger rail.

DrawingroomA Wrote:
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> There was a major cut of 20% of the VIA system
> under the Trudeau Liberals in 1981. Mulroney
> promised to restore those cuts if elected. He was
> and restored some - but not all - of those trains
> in 1985. This didn't last long. It is well-known
> that in 1990 there was a 50% cut. It was widely
> reported that Mulroney wanted to get rid of all
> VIA services.

The Atlantic had been cut in 1981 but was restored in 1985. It was to have been cut again in Jan 1990 leaving only a 6 day/week Ocean between Halifax and Montreal but at the last minute the Atlantic was saved. Now you had a 3 day/week Atlantic via Saint John and a 3 day/week Ocean via Campbellton.