Passenger Trains > Follow-Up on Foods on My Most Recent VIA Rail LD Trip

Here is a follow up post to posting pictures of foods that I ate on the VIA Rail trip. Many of the pictures were taken of the meals that I ate in the dining car on the Canadian. Unfortunately, I didn't eat too many of the meals in the Skyline Car Cafe on the Churchill train. With the limited selection of food items offerred in the cafe car, that's why my friends and I decided to just get most of the essential food items from the grocery store in Downtown Winnipeg, at the Northern Store in Churchill. We all ordered lunch and dinner options from Santa Maria Pizza in Thompson to the Thompson Station. I would like to thank all of the dining car, Skyline Car Cafe, and the train crew for their wonderful service. The food in the dining car was so good. I enjoyed the pizza that I ordered to the train in Thompson.

1 and 2. These images were of the VIA Rail Dining Car menu on the Canadian.

3. I had this shrimp meal for lunch in the dining car on the westbound Canadian on 4/14/24.

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4. This was like a pretzel and it was in the dining car

5. Dinner on 4/14/24 was steak, rice and vegetables

6. One of the best slices of chocolate cake and take a look at what else is on the plate!!

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7. Nothing like a great railroad dining car burger meal

8. This chicken that I had was for dinner only a few hours before arriving into Winnipeg

9. On 4/17/24, this was the pizza that I had for lunch in Thompson. This was delivered to the train.

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All looks really pretty good.  I do think that having white table linens does add a layer ambience.  Just my opinion.

Our trip last year featured a similar menu and the food was delicious and nicely presented.  Linens and china lent an air of elegance reminiscent of the pre-Amtrak streamliners.  As a wine enthusiast, I'd like to point out that the Canadian vintners featured were all very,very good.  Service could not have been better.

-John

That pizza looks delicious! Loved your posts on this trip, thanks for sharing. 🍕

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Thanks everyone! The presentation of the plates, cups, and food was outstanding. VIA knows how to do that. I would love to see the dining car return to the Churchill train but unfortunately that probably won't happen for a very long time, maybe not even until after the new equipment comes into service.

It's honestly not that hard or expensive to spruce up a train dining car, if one really wants to. VIA knows how to do it. Amtrak struggles to figure out it out with consistency year to year. Makes no sense to cost cut in dining decor when there's bigger expenses to cut if Amtrak really wanted to - just saying! Right now, the Superliner Diners with the traditional dining is decked out pretty well.....

Thanks for posting!

The Skyline Dome car has a grill/kitchen below the dome and can easily substitute for a Diner. I'd rather see VIA up there game there than bring back a dining car and remove the Skyline Dome Car. The Chaleur - train to Gaspe - operated a Skyline Dome car as lounge, diner, cafe, dome and it they did a great job with it! Again, best pancakes I ever had was on the Chaleur heading out to Gaspe in the Skyline Dome "dining" section.