SIOUX LOOKOUT, Ont. — The official beginning of VIA Rail Canada’s takeover of passenger service came 40 years ago today, on Oct. 29, 1978, with the departure of the former Canadian National Super Continental from Montreal to Vancouver, British Columbia.
Since then, the company — which also took control of former Canadian Pacific passenger service — has [as reported in Trains’ November 2018 cover feature, “Reflecting on VIA Rail Canada at 40”] been buffeted by shifting political winds in a country that, like the U.S., lacks a defined passenger rail policy with consistent funding.
VIA’s major investment in Bombardier’s “Light, Rapid, and Comfortable” (LRC) fleet of the early 1980s is still paying dividends, with a far more robust service between Toronto, Ottawa, Montreal, and Quebec City than its predecessors ever offered. And the company is finally seeking replacement of the rapidly deteriorating LRCs.
Despite the limits to its support, VIA management continues to provide gradually diminishing mobility to the nation’s far-flung communities. It does so using legacy equipment it was allowed to keep at its founding or later purchase second-hand and refurbish from Amtrak, which discarded older cars with the arrival of Amfleet, Superliner, and Horizon equipment.
Nowhere is VIA’s resourcefulness — and its shortcomings — more on display than on its transcontinental Canadian. Except where tracks to Montreal from Capreol, Ontario, have been torn up, today’s train follows the same Toronto-Vancouver route of CN’s Super Continental, with passenger cars built as early as 1954 by the Budd Co. for its Canadian Pacific namesake.
That’s right: the cars are 24 years older than VIA! Even so, rigorous maintenance and remanufacturing of the domes, diners, coaches, and sleeping cars mean they seem as spotless and fresh as they must have looked the day they were delivered. All upholstery, paint, and electrical systems have been renewed a couple of times; steam heat pipes removed; retention toilets installed; and section no. 4 in each sleeper has been replaced by a shower; but the cars retain thoughtful design elements like big windows that caused admiration in the 1950s and do so even today.
Sure, except for the stimulus-funded transformation of eight Chateau sleeping cars and four Park dome observation lounges into pricey Prestige Class, cruise-ship-worthy accommodations several years ago, the train may not be “contemporary” (whatever that means). And VIA’s expedient decision, in conjunction with CN track maintenance, to reduce the Canadian’s frequency across the prairies east of Edmonton, Alta., and northern Ontario forests to twice per week next summer clearly hurts its relevance. But combined with a first-rate onboard staff, the train soldiers on as a one-of-a-kind tribute to the company’s first 40 years.
