Canadian Railroads > A few cars on the Canadian - Dec 82

1) Stopped at Chaplaeu on the westbound Canadian, had a chance to get a few shots.

2) Riding Mountain Park
Ex-CP dome observation lounge with 3 bedrooms and a drawing room.
Built by Budd in 1954.

3) Chateau Denonville
Ex-CP 8 duplex roomette, 4 sections, 3 bedrooms and a drawing room
Budd 1955

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4) Chateau Salaberry
Ex-CP 8 duplex roomette, 4 sections, 3 bedrooms and a drawing room
Budd 1955
The Chateau series were interesting cars.

5) Evelyn
Ex-CN 8 duplex roomette, 4 double bedroom and 4 roomettes
Pullman-Standard 1954

6) 1350 diner
Ex-CN - Pullman-Standard 1954
I wonder if the dog is one of those "station" dogs that lived there and greeted every train.

Any of these cars (I guess the CP ones) still in service ?

Gary

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The dog looks like a relative of the Bozeman, MT. beagle that always met the North Coast Limited. They both knew where the dining cars were.

Another great set. As for the dog, he made me smile. I can just hear him think, "Ho hum! Another train."
Bob

It was always disappointing to be assigned an ex CN sleeper or have an ex CN diner on the Canadian. CN diners were particularly bland with the fake false ceilings compared OR the former CP cars. 

A very interesting and excellent passenger car series.
Dog is sitting where one might expect, by the diner. 
Thanks for your insightful posting.
ALLEN

The dog ain't dumb!!!!

gcm Wrote:
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> Any of these cars (I guess the CP ones) still in
> service ?

Riding Mountain Park was never converted to head-end power. It was sold to a private individual in 2004, and then to the Adrian and Blissfield RR in 2005. By 2016 it was up for sale through Ozark Mountain Railcar and there's a 2018 listing online from the same source, marked "Price Reduced."

Chateau Denonville and Chateau Salaberry are among the eight Chateau class sleepers converted to Prestige Class specifications.

VIA/CN E-series sleeper 1157 Evelyn was withdrawn from the active roster in 1996 and sold to the Okanagan Wine Train operation in 1998, which in turn sold it to the Three Valley Gap museum in 2002, where it remains today. I was particularly interested in that one, having ridden it on the Atlantic in 1988.

I don't know what became of VIA/CN diner 1350, but sisters 1346 and 1347 were sold to the Heber Valley Historic Railroad last year (by the NRHS, BC Chapter), and 1347 was flipped to CP before it left Canada, and is now in Calgary awaiting conversion for use in CP's business car fleet.

Most of the above is from various editions of the Canadian Trackside Guide.

 

andersonb109 Wrote:
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> It was always disappointing to be assigned an ex
> CN sleeper or have an ex CN diner on the Canadian.
> CN diners were particularly bland with the fake
> false ceilings compared OR the former CP cars. 


Until refurbished by VIA....the exCP car interiors were getting pretty dowdy and thread-bare. Where over at CN most of the equipment had been rebuilt from the mid '60s on with a much more modern image.......and just what the railway should be portraying!

On my first trip west as a teen in the early '70s......the Ocean and Super Continental were long and packed with youth like myself. A fun trip! But returning on the Canadian.....a shorter consist with a more sedate and older 'Silver & Blue' Haired group of passengers......and long before VIA initiated that name for Sleeper Class!

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ghCBNS Wrote:
-------------------------------------------------------
> andersonb109 Wrote:
> --------------------------------------------------
> -----
> > It was always disappointing to be assigned an
> ex
> > CN sleeper or have an ex CN diner on the
> Canadian.
> > CN diners were particularly bland with the fake
> > false ceilings compared OR the former CP
> cars. 
>
>
> Until refurbished by VIA....the exCP car interiors
> were getting pretty dowdy and thread-bare. Where
> over at CN most of the equipment had been rebuilt
> from the mid '60s on with a much more modern
> image.......and just what the railway should be
> portraying!
>
> On my first trip west as a teen in the early
> '70s......the Ocean and Super Continental were
> long and packed with youth like myself. A fun
> trip! But returning on the Canadian.....a shorter
> consist with a more sedate and older 'Silver &
> Blue' Haired group of passengers......and long
> before VIA initiated that name for Sleeper Class!

I was also one of those disappointed when an ex-CN diner was used. By the late 1970s and early 80s their modern interiors were dated - more about that later.  The condition of the CN cars was becoming increasingly poor and they had a tendency to leak in the rain. One time in 1981 my wife and I had to move quickly  to another table when a waterfall started on the window. The ex-CPR diners were indeed getting threadbare and needed a lot of work. That is why there wasn't one in operation on any VIA train for a year or two.

Not all passengers preferred the "un-dowdy" redesign of CN equipment from the 1960s. Dropped ceilings with garish fluorescent lighting was all the rage then - not just on CN's diners, lounge cars and club cars (the successor to the parlour cars). By the early 1970s all artwork on CN cars was replaced with multi-coloured splotches.  As I recall purple and orange were the dominant colours preferred by CN's artists. The CPR kept its real silver cutlery, sugar-bowls and cloth napkins (admittedly cloth only at dinner towards the end) whereas starting around 1966 CN got modern with cheap stainless steel and paper napkins. CN's food was still fairly good, though.

I admit to never being a "young person" even when I would be expected to be part of a crowd of young people. I preferred the scintillating conversation with mature travellers on The Canadian to the younger crowds on the Super Continental.

One other comment: although CP did not have any smoking restrictions on their trains, The Canadian and the Atlantic Limited never had as many smokers as the CN trains. Many times we would be seated in a CN diner when the centre-piece on the table was an overflowing ashtray. On one trip on The Ocean shortly before VIA took over the waiter was quite perturbed when we asked that the ash-tray be emptied before our breakfast was served. With a look of disgust he grabbed the ashtray which had been so full that several pieces of its disgusting contents fell on the table. After that trip our annual visits to Halifax were put on hold for several years until I was convinced that VIA had begun to improve the air quality on their trains. It was a long time before VIA banned smoking completely in the diners.

railsmith Wrote:
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> gcm Wrote:
> --------------------------------------------------
> -----
> > Any of these cars (I guess the CP ones) still
> in
> > service ?
>
> Riding Mountain Park was never converted to
> head-end power. It was sold to a private
> individual in 2004,

Thanks for the info on the cars.
Gary

andersonb109 Wrote:
-------------------------------------------------------
> It was always disappointing to be assigned an ex
> CN sleeper or have an ex CN diner on the Canadian.
> CN diners were particularly bland with the fake
> false ceilings compared OR the former CP cars. 

I'll certainly agree with you about the ex-CN diners, but my first experience in a section was on the E- Series "Emerald" so have always had a soft spot for them.

I had a great trip on the Riding Mountain Park across Maine on an eastbound Atlantic one night in May 1989.   The crew knew I was a railfan and allowed me to ride in the dome with the brakeman. 

Tom Coughlin
Stow, MA



Edited 1 time(s). Last edit at 07/27/20 13:33 by tomcough.