VIA's train number 6 departed the Fairview station at the B.C. Ferries terminal at precisely 08:00 hrs., Friday February 22, 2008. My wife Laura and myself were scheduled to be riding this train between Prince Rupert and Jasper and return for the next four days. Via unit number 6412, day coach number 8125 and Jasper Park dome, number 8711 completed our consist. It was interesting to note that at no time in our travels did we see a container train coming to, or leaving from Prince Rupert during this four day period. I understand that these trains move mainly during the night.
Our first stop was at Tyee siding where we had to wait for an on coming coal train. Our wait was quite short and we were once again headed off to Terrace. We arrived in Terrace ten minutes late but departed right on scheduled at 10:20hrs. The Skeena River was well covered with ice as is usually the case at this time of the year. Kitselas Canyon was quite dramatic with its "mountains" of ice. The weather for the whole trip was absolutely stunning for the four days. The skies were blue and partly covered with large white clouds, and very mild.
We encountered three meets with either coal or grain trains between Prince Rupert and Prince George on the Friday. Interestingly enough, with all three meets we had no sooner pulled in to the siding, when a headlight appeared in the opposite direction. As a result our longest wait was about ten minutes. As it turned out all of our meets for the four days worked out amazingly well.
Very clever with the four lined tunnels between mileage 121.9 and 122.8. All CN had to do was to remove about half the ballast under the rails and there was enough clearance for the container trains. One does notice though the ride is a bit on the rough side through the tunnels but nothing serious. The engine crews tell me that they notice a bit of a "dippity-doo" with the locomotive as they approach the tunnels. The locomotives with the relatively short wheelbase make a bit of a dip as they approach or leave the last tunnel in the group. As a passenger in the long wheel-base coaches one does not feel a thing.
There are now several of the two mile sidings now between Prince Rupert and Prince George and it appears to me as though this is one of the reasons that our meets were so good. CN crews tell me that that two mile long sidings are also planned for "Skeena" as well as "Sockeye" sidings.
With all the flooding problems at Telkwa encountered last spring, we noticed two very large back-hoes building a berm. I would estimate it to be about six to eight feet high along the Bulkley River at this location. The berm seems to be quite substantial so it will hopefully work well for the upcoming spring thaw. As I said earlier, the first of four days journey concluded about twenty minutes early in Prince George. A cab took us to the Best Western Motel. It was then off to White Spot for a late supper followed by a good nights sleep back at the motel.
Day two, Saturday, February 23rd., our day started off with train #6 departing Prince George on time at 07:30hrs. We loafed along most of the day, stopping of course at Penny B.C. to drop off Her Majesty's Royal Mail. With CTC now in place and operating between Prince George and Harvey B.C., there is now no need for an operator at the Hansard Bridge at mileage 99.1. Even the trailer once occupied by the operator is gone. Oh well, such is progress !
Our day progressed so well that we did not stop at McBride and continued on to Jasper arriving over an hour ahead of Via #1 west. This gave Laura lots of time to head for the craft shop in Jasper and load up with some quilting supplies. As always, we stayed at Whistler's Inn directly across the street from the Jasper station. There was hardly any snow on the ground in Jasper. In fact there was a cross country ski competition scheduled for the weekend, however it was cancelled due to a lack of snow. Kinder-Morgan is in the process of laying a new oil pipeline through Jasper. While the area currently looks like a bomb landed on it, Kinder-Morgan claim that by the time they are finished with the project in the park, no one will never know they were there. We'll see.
Day three, Sunday, February 24th., our departure time from Jasper was 12:45hrs. Mountain Time. Our consist for Via #5, included the same two cars as on #6 the previous two days, but included unit 6421 on the head end. The trip west started with a beautiful view of Mt. Robson. The mountain was clear all the way to the top with beautiful blue sky as a backdrop. The tourists loved it. Speaking of tourists. a tour company in Jasper is selling train tickets to ride Via #5 from Jasper to Harvey, it takes an hour and a half. These people disembark the train at Harvey and a motor coach picks them up for a leisurely return trip to Jasper for the rest of the afternoon. We had fifteen riders on board our train for the Jasper-Harvey tour.
The train stopped at McBride for a few minutes to allow some of the tourists to pick up a little something from the artists cooperative at the old CN station. The station has been rejuvenated quite nicely. At Loos, CN is in the initial stages of constructing another two mile siding. There are now several of these mega sidings between Prince George and Harvey. There is also another mega siding at mileage 17.1 west of Prince George under construction.
At mile 122 west, Giscome B.C., things got a little interesting on the train. As we approached Giscome, we were confronted by a flashing amber board followed by the steady amber board. We cleared the highway crossing only to be staring at a red board on the main. Unusual I thought, to be stopped on the main. I had not finished my thought when out of nowhere we are faced with locomotive headlights headed in our direction. Not good I thought !
A CN freight with two locomotives heading east from Prince George was going in the hole to let us by when both locomotives stalled. Half of the train was on the main line while half of the train was on the siding. The dispatcher asked us to disconnect the VIA locomotive from #5 and go to the assistance of CN a mile or so ahead of us. So, with all the necessary paperwork completed, our locomotive passed the red signal and went to the aid of the stalled train. Meanwhile CN crews had managed to restart one of the locomotives, but that was not quite enough to move the stalled train. So, our locomotive went nose-to-nose with the stalled train. Between the Via Locomotive and the operating CN locomotive, they were able to pull the train off the main completely and on to the siding. Our locomotive reversed back to the highway crossing, connected to our train and we were off to Prince George once again. This time we included the engine crew of the stalled CN train as well. Even after rescuing the stalled train we still arrived back in Prince George on time.
Monday February 25th. we departed Prince George at 08:00hrs. headed west for Prince Rupert. We made great time all day with no major delays at all. The Nechako River seems to be back to normal. the river was clear of ice from Prince George for four miles. For the next three or four miles, there was large patches of free running water within the frozen river. From about mile 10 and beyond the river was frozen solid.
The rest of the day was very uneventful as our train wound it's way west to Prince Rupert. the only other excitement happened later on in the evening when we rounded a curve just west of Cedarvale. The locomotive headlights found a back packer standing between the rails jumping up and down waving his arms frantically trying to stop the train. He jumped off the tracks, the train stopped, he climbed on board. I hope the passenger attendant talked to him about this business of standing between the rails while flagging a train is not a great idea. He, along with about fifteen others got off the train at Terrace, and the last ten or twelve of us carried on to Prince Rupert and home for us.
In summary, this was a great trip and we cannot think of a better way of spending four days. We have made this trip several times. Spring, Fall and Winter are the best times to make the trip as the fares are quite reasonable. The train was well patronized particularly heading east. We left Prince Rupert station with thirty one passengers and picked up another twenty from Terrace going east on Friday. Even during the month of February we had visitors from all over with us. They were all thoroughly enjoying themselves.
About the only downer on the whole trip was the unburned droplets of oil from the locomotive landing on the forward window of the dome car. It certainly did not enhance the view from the dome. Hopefully, after the fleet of locomotives compete the major rebuilds they are currently going through, this will eliminate this annoying problem.
For a nice relaxing four day weekend, take a ride on "The Rupert Rocket". It's the best kept secret in the north.
