Via Rail - Experience the romance of magnificent stainless steel rail cars cruising Toronto and Vancouver .
Welcome to ViA Rail Canada ’s flagship Western transcontinental, the Canadian ® . this spectacular four-day journey offers some of the most breathtaking scenery found anywhere in the world. From the serenity of the Muskoka Lakes to the stunning beauty of the Canadian Rockies and the vast expanse of the prairie grasslands, you’ll experience a portrait of the geographic diversity that is so uniquely Canadian.
As you travel from town to town you can sense the mosaic of cultures that have shaped the country through the centuries and the character of a nation whose identity is as colourful as the land itself. this is a travel experience unlike any other!
Schedule:
Vancouver→Toronto Departs Tuesday, Friday, Sunday @ 8.30pm / Arrives 9.30am +4 days
Toronto→Vancouver Departs Tuesday, Thursday, Saturday @ 10.00pm / Arrives 9.30am +4 days
1 Toronto
Mile: 0 Population: 2,503,281
Toronto is Ontario ’s capital and the heart of business activity in
Canada ’s most populous province. Appropriately, Toronto is the
Huron word for “a place of meetings.” Huge office towers dominate
the skyline along the shores of Lake Ontario – a spectacular view
best experienced from the observation gallery of the 180-storey
CN Tower. The train boards at Union Station, immediately across
from the imposing Royal York Hotel. Harbourfront, Yonge and Bay
streets are just a few blocks away.
2 Washago
Mile: 98 Population: 600
Gateway to the Muskokas, this railway junction point at the head
of Lake Couchiching is popular with cottagers, fishing enthusiasts
and outdoor lovers.
3 Parrysound
Mile: 150 Population: 5,818
Parry Sound marks the eastern edge of the rugged Canadian Shield,
that region of billion-year-old exposed bedrock that covers half of
Canada, between the Great Lakes and Hudson Bay, and parts of
northern United States.
4 Sudbury
Mile: 262 Population: 157,857
Whether due to a volcanic eruption or the impact of a meteor, the
Sudbury area has been blessed with a rich abundance of mineral
resources. The city is known as the nickel capital of Canada. At
381 metres high, the INCO smokestack dominates the skyline.
5 Capreol
Mile: 276 Population: 3,817
The landscape around Capreol is a combination of rugged and
exposed bedrock of the Canadian Shield and “muskeg,” a native
Indian word describing unstable and deep soil with high water
content.
6 Gogama
Mile: 86 Population: 550
Gogama is typical of the small, relatively isolated settlements along
this section of the railway that were created in order to service
locomotives and were placed at approximately 240-kilometre intervals.
7 Hornepayne
Mile: 296 Population: 1,209
The community started as a railway town but the major industry
today is wood, as evidenced by the piles of logs and pulp and plywood
plants that border the railway tracks.
8 Longlac
Mile: 100 Population: 1,750
Located at the northern tip of Long Lake, the area played an
important role as part of the historic canoe route for fur traders.
This is a multilingual town (52% of the population speak English,
44% speak French and 4% speak other languages).
9 Armstrong
Mile: 243 Population: 1,155
This town is located at the north end of magnificent Lake Nipigon,
which reaches 96 kilometres from north to south and 64 kilometres
at its widest point. The area offers some of the best fly-in fishing
and hunting in the region.
10 Sioux Lookout
Mile: 138 Population: 5,183
Located on the English River/Lac Seul waterways, the community
is a magnet for sport fishermen and outdoor enthusiasts in addition
to its vocation as a centre for the pulp industry.
11 Ontario-Manitoba Border
Mile: 159
A sign on the north side of the steel rails denotes the border.
On the Manitoba side is the undeveloped forest and lakes of
Whiteshell Provincial Park, well known for its canoeing and
fishing. Its 200 lakes, some of them formed by meteor craters,
offer some of the best northern pike, perch and lake trout fishing
in Western Canada.
12 Winnipeg
Mile: 0 Population: 633,451
Manitoba’s capital was originally the hub of the Canadian fur trade,
given its strategic location at the junction of the Red, Assiniboine
and Seine rivers. Today, The Forks is a downtown meeting place
that includes some of Winnipeg’s better restaurants, shopping
and live entertainment. The Winnipeg Art Gallery houses the
world’s largest collection of Inuit sculpture and art. Winnipeg
is home to over 50 ethnic communities. In celebration of this
diversity, the city holds its annual Folklorama, which features
the food and cultural activities of the many communities that
choose to make Winnipeg theirs.
13 Portage la Prairie
Mile: 55 Population: 12, 728
The city is so named because during the era of the North American
fur trade, it was a resting area for voyageurs carrying canoes
between the Assiniboine River and Lake Manitoba. Today, the
major industry is food processing, largely due to its location,
surrounded by some of the richest farmland in Manitoba.
14 Manitoba-Saskatchewan Border
Mile: 213
The Canadian is near the mid-point of its transcontinental
journey.
15 Mwlville
Mile: 280 Population: 4,149
The community is named for Charles Melville Hays, President
of the Grand Trunk Pacific Railroad Company who died in the
sinking of the Titanic in 1912.
16 Watrous
Mile: 129 Population: 1,743
This area is famous for its mineral hot springs. The accumulated
salt in adjacent Little Manitou Lake gives the water greater
buoyancy than the Dead Sea.
17 Saskatoon
Mile: 191 Population: 202,340
Founded in 1882 as a temperance colony, this city is named after
the abundance of delicious purple berries that are found along
the banks of Saskatchewan River. Saskatoon is a Canadian
leader in the high technology and mining industries, and is home
to the University of Saskatchewan. The Ukrainian Museum of
Canada is a tribute to the early settlers of the province and the
influence this community has had is evidenced in the heritage
architecture of the city.
18 Biggar
Mile: 247 Population: 2,033
The tiny town prides itself on its sense of humour. Thus the slogan
“New York is big but this is Biggar.” In fact, Biggar boasts an
unusually large number of museums for a town this size.
19 Unity
Mile: 57 Population: 2,147
The community is known for its local salt production mined
1,127 metres below ground.
20 Saskatchewan-Alberta Border
Mile: 101
This provincial boundary also marks the division between Central
and Mountain time zones.
21 Wainwright
Mile: 140 Population: 5,426
Home to a Canadian Forces Training base that is also the site
of the Canadian Wildlife Service Peregrine Falcon Hatchery,
Wainwright is characterized by the bobbing pumpjacks that tell
you this is oil country.
22 Viking
Mile: 184 Population: 1,085
Named for the many Scandinavians who settled the area in the
early 1900s, the area around Viking was significant for the Plains
tribes that hunted buffalo before the arrival of Europeans.
Points of interest:
(mile 149): The Canadian makes an airy crossing 61 metres
above the Battle River on a steel trestle 884 metres long.
(mile 147): The immense Battle River Valley can be seen on
the northern side of the train.
23 Edmonton
Mile: 0 Population: 730,372
Alberta’s capital, Edmonton is regarded as the gateway to the north,
given its role as the staging point for explorers and adventurers
from the early days of fur trading to the Yukon gold rush and the
Alberta oil discoveries of 1947. The city is located on the banks of
the North Saskatchewan River, which form a 27-kilometre greenbelt
of parks, bicycle paths and green spaces. A few minutes from
downtown, the gigantic West Edmonton Mall offers an amazing
array of shopping, dining and entertainment possibilities, including
an “indoor ocean”.
24 Edson
Mile: 129 Population: 8,098
This community is midway between Edmonton and Jasper National
Park. From Edson, westbound passengers have their first view
of the Rockies.
25 Hinton
Mile: 184 Population: 9,738
A coal mining town at the turn of the century, Hinton is a centre
for winter sports and is well known for Nordic skiing in addition
to a complete range of summer adventure activities such as
canoeing.
26 Jasperr
Mile: 0 Population: 4,265
World-famous for skiing, hiking and outdoor sports, Jasper
attracts tourists from around the world and is said to be among the
country’s most-photographed places. Because Jasper National
Park is a wildlife sanctuary, it is common to see all sorts of wild
animals in their natural habitat. Elk and mule deer often wander
the main street of the town.
27 Yellowhead Pass
Mile: 17.6
The crest of the Yellowhead Pass is the border between Alberta
and British Columbia and the division between Mountain and
Pacific time zones. The Pass is one of the lowest points in the
entire North American Continental Divide and all water systems
flow either east or west from the Divide.
28 Mount Robson
Mile: 52
As the highest peak (3,954 metres) in the Rockies, Mount Robson
is easily recognizable and is often referred to as the “Monarch of
the Canadian Rockies” or “The Dome.”
29 Valemount
Mile: 74 Population: 1,018
Located at the junction of the Rockies and the Caribou, Monashee
and Selkirk mountain ranges, Valemount is a small lumber town
on a long arm of water that was created by the huge Mica Dam
almost 100 kilometres to the south.
30 Blue River
Mile: 132 Population: 269
The town is home to one of the province’s many heli-skiing outfitters
and is a popular centre for fishing and outdoor adventure.
Points of interest:
Pyramid Falls (mile 113) is briefly visible close to the tracks on
the east side, like a partly collapsed set of rock shelves.
31 Kamloops
Mile: 0 Population: 92,882
The town began as a trading post in 1812 and became a boomtown
during the Caribou Gold Rush of 1862. The area is a study in
contrasts. Here, the lush forests turn to the rolling hills of the
arid high country scored by deep river canyons, which are fed
by the many high-altitude lakes.
32 Ashcroft
Mile: 48 Population: 1,664
Very little precipitation annually makes it the “driest town in
Canada.” Here, you can see cactus, sagebrush and the trademark
hoodoos – isolated pinnacles of rock that remain after a hill is
worn away.
33 Lytton
Mile: 95 Population: 235
This is a tiny town at the junction of the Thompson and Fraser
rivers. Here, the two mighty rivers run side by side in the same
channel.
34 Boston Bar
Mile: 125
This is the location of Hell’s Gate, the most famous stretch of rapids
in the province where the current is so swift that a fish ladder
was built to help salmon swim upstream to spawn.
35 Vancouver
Mile: 131 Population: 2,116,581
This city is home to half the population of British Columbia. And
rightly so, given the fantastic setting between the Pacific Coast
and the dark green forests of the Coast Mountains. Here, land is
at a premium and the city skyline of Vancouver’s West End seems
to rise right out of the Strait of Georgia. A city of rich cultural
diversity where North America and Asia meet, Vancouver is
home to the second-largest Chinatown in North America. The
market area of Granville Island and spectacular Stanley Park
give Vancouver a relaxed cachet all of its own.
To view the rail cars, please click here
Rail list
Part of SempleTravel 3rd Floor, Sterling House, 20 Renfield Street, Glasgow G2 5AP Tel. 0845 601 8991