Canadian Railroads > CP musings from the 1956 ORG

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Edited 2 time(s). Last edit at 06/22/20 17:05 by yooperfan.

The "Dominion" often ran in multiple sections west of Calgary. Banff had the "garden" tracks where US sleepers were parked. This was a steady traffic base in the summer. Depending on where the cars came from in the US, they either came up to Moose Jaw over the Soo Line or the Great Northern into Vancouver BC.

Previously, there was the Chicago-Vancouver BC "Mountaineer" which operated during the summer season as a Soo Line train, and which featured an open air observation car west of Calgary.  Off season, the "Soo-Dominion" train operated Chicago-Moose Jaw to connect with the "Dominion".

The third train was a mail and express train, which had a rider coach on parts of its journey. It had a working RPO. A friend used to ride it west from Calgary as a teenager, it was a very leisurely journey, but there was enough passenger train and bus service that he could get from Calgary and the Rockies all in one day.

The CN operated at least two transcontinental trains each way during the summer season as the Montreal-Vancouver "Super Continental" and the Toronto-Vancouver "Super Continental" operated as separate trains all the way across Canada. Jasper also had "garden tracks" for US sleepers.

Ever since 1892, "Brewster" tour buses have offered train passengers a ride from the train stations to the scenic highlights in Banff and later Jasper National Parks.

Many talk about having fantastic family vacations in the 1940's and 50's by train to the Canadian Rockies.