Rolling down the track

Saturday, March 18, 2017
Parry Sound, Ontario, Canada
March 17, Friday
 
We weren’t sure if breakfast between 6:30 and 8:00 meant Manitoba or Ontario time, so we didn’t take any chances and were just about the first ones there . Breakfast was probably really good (it sure looked good) but I was on Day 2 of a miserable cold, and didn’t have much of an appetite. Same story for lunch and dinner and the rest of the day I pretty much spent in my bunk. What a perfect place to be sick. I loved the swaying, rocking, clickety-clack of the train and drifted in and out of sleep all day. The scenery through that part of the world is boreal forest through the Canadian Shield. I like it but you really don’t miss much if you close your eyes for awhile. Debbie spent the day in the dome car. She actually got off a few times when the train made an extended stop. I never got off until we reached Toronto. 
 
I should explain why the train was so late, and apparently often is. ViaRail runs on tracks that belong to CNN and maybe even CPR at times, so they don’t have priority, and when a freight train is heading west, ViaRail has to get out of the way and wait it out at a siding. We apparently waited in a siding for two hours, soon after leaving Winnipeg . Also, some of the freight trains are 300 or more cars long and wouldn’t even fit into the siding, so ViaRail waits. Anyway, the second night I could feel the train clipping right along for a few hours, presumably to make up some time. However, at one point we slowed down and moved over to a siding and within minutes a freight train came whizzing down the track beside us. Pretty amazing how closely timed all the train traffic is. 

Something else I learned, later that day, is that CNN and CPR share the tracks going through the Fraser Canyon and a few others places in Canada as well, so all the trains going to Vancouver use the tracks on the north side of the river when they’re heading west and the south side of the river when they’re heading east. I’d never really thought about that before, but it does make perfect sense. A few more factoids: apparently Bill Gates is either a major owner or shareholder of ViaRail; railroads in Canada measure distance in miles not kilometres.

March 18, Saturday

I was feeling somewhat better and enjoyed a gorgeous sunrise in the dining car during breakfast. We were seated with a chatty couple from Newfoundland. They travel by rail whenever they can. Spent the rest of the day until we arrived in Toronto, watching the world go by from either of the dome cars or the Park car lounge. Didn’t move fast, or far, or often. Just enjoyed. 
  
We arrived in Toronto around 1:15 and were lucky enough to catch the GO train (a double decker commuter train) to Burlington 15 minutes later. It was a one hour ride and my brother and his wife were there to pick us up. They drove us through some byways to Niagara Falls were Debbie and I got out to get some photos and experience the awesomeness of the falls. They really are impressive. The weather by then was cold, wet and windy so we didn’t stay too long. Then we drove through the city of Niagara Falls and Debbie was totally disgusted with the commercialization of this lovely Canadian tourist attraction. It really is pretty bad. 

By then it was getting dark so we carried on to Vineland and a lovely dinner and early to bed.

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