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Riding VIA Rail Train #1 "The Canadian" from Toronto to
Vancouver.
Friday, May 2, 2025
"Oh, bury me not...on the lone prairie!"
During the night, we crossed the remainder of Manitoba and rolled into
Saskatchewan. Our journey is half over. Fog covers the landscape, but a hazy sun
is beginning to penetrate the mist.
Melville, Saskatchewan. We are 1 hour and 19 minutes off the advertised. We are
now, also, on Mountain Time. I notice VIA has erected its own depot (white
building) as the original station (green building) is being restored.
Melville was featured in a National Film Board of Canada film:
RAILROAD TOWN
1956.
It's too early for breakfast (they don't start serving until 0630), so I pay a
visit to the sparsely-populated dome and look around.
As we head northwest towards Saskatoon, the rolling prairie spreads out before
us. Behind us, the rising sun is still working on the murky clouds. It looks
like it's going to be a beautiful day.
Green signal ahead. Lack of dome-sitters is explained by the frozen rain
diffusing the view. We must have hit a shower squall somewhere. It was 32
degrees when we left Melville, but is now warming up. ALSO...my brother
will be glad to know...there appears to be a steady wi-fi signal pretty much all
the way to Edmonton.
At breakfast,
I was seated with Rob from Port Coquitlam, BC. Pancakes and (Yum!) Canadian
Sausages for me. And look, VIA gives you an entire pitcher of syrup. I can't say
enough about the good food and service in the diner.
Train spotting from the diner. We actually OVERTAKE a long freight at speed on
the double track out of Melville.
0800 That's Rob, the land surveyor from PoCo, up in the dome as we head to
another green signal (I'm saving my brother a seat).
The Birds! Millions of them!
Send in Hitchcock!
It is surprisingly hilly and curvy on this portion of railway. Not the flat and
featureless terrain I was expecting. We are only managing about 30-40mph, but
still overtake a couple freights. It is grain elevator country, so I've got my
eyes open for them.
The village of Semans (proud member of the Saskatchewan Wheat Pool) has a rustic
elevator as we pull alongside.
0823 Mark's coffee cup appears to hover over this well-ballasted rail line at
Nokomis, SK. (researching...) This is a
Canadian Pacific
branch line coming up
from Regina (CP's mainline) to the area around Prince Albert, SK. Possibly to
tap wheat fields or some of that lovely potash Saskatchewan has in abundance.
0845 Watrous, SK has a well-maintained prairie skyscraper on the north side.
0900 Triple Meet coming up. Young, SK. A Monster Double Stack (CN #3878) holds
the main, as we work our way into the siding...already occupied by a westbound.
It will be a close fit as the dispatcher talks us past the red signal.
Once we are in the clear, the DS lines CN 3878 eastward and he takes off.
The DS then backs #1 out, until we get a green signal for the westward. We then
pass the WB merchandise (CN #3806). Finally, there's the Saskatchewan Pool
(Young, SK) grain elevator. We are out of there at 0935.
One more elevator at Bradwell, SK, we meet two freights (work train and unit grain),
and just like that, we're on the banks of the South Saskatchewan River.
Who is
this Gordie Howe fellow?
Saskatoon! (10:30/11:37)
Today's walk-the-train stop. And there's the frikken diesel fuel truck which
means, "No pictures of our locomotives for you, railfan swine!" DANGER! FOUL! SOS! Looks like Jasper,
AB, will be the only engine access this trip.
For some reason, the Saskatoon station is on a stub track, meaning VIA #1 will
have to back all the way to the mainline switch (about a mile and a half). Also,
the big S was featured in the movie
Festival Express 2003 which included a train
trip on CN.
"Hey, Mark", I said. "Why don't we amble back to Laurentide Park and take a
selfie?" Thus, selfie stick in hand, we set up a shot of the classic Budd dome.
First, I took a picture of the car by itself.
Then, I had a good shot lined up...and this happened. OLD FART, PHOTO BOMB! In a
red shirt, naturally.
Old fart and his wife started putzing around and putzing around, until Mark,
making the best of a difficult situation said, "Hey, how about I take a picture
of the two of you?". Mark took several images suitable for framing, so the
situation was resolved.
Of course, they reciprocated. Win-Win. Shades on, shades off.
Back on board, we headed for the diner and lunch (smoked meat sandwich). With
the Montreal seasoning, it tasted like Pastrami. Very yummy!
It was a long backup shove to mainline rails. Once moving forward again, you
could see the station across all the yard tracks and WHOA! A couple of GMD
dinosaurs are still earning their keep. CN 4780 is a GMD GP38-2W and CN 7213 is
a chop nose GMD GP9Rm originally built in the 1950's.
On the road again. Winding through wheat fields, Lindsay and Mark enjoy the dome
life on the route of Canadian National
Railway's Super Continental.
Biggar, SK (but not necessarily, better), comes and goes at 1300. We are now
just 20 minutes late.
At 1400, May comes up in the dome to interpret our journey so far. She's part of
the onboard train crew that boarded in Winnipeg. She's either Belgium or French-Canadien
(I never was clear on that) and has the most marvelous accent. For example,
PRAIRIE as in prairie dog is pronounced, "Pah-REE".
1500. CN Yonker West, SK. We are crawling along at 30mph following someone's
yellow signals. The terrain is starting to change and we twist and turn uphill.
Beaver lodge! (Big beaver, small pond.)
1535. Eventually we stop at Killarney Lake. All red signals. They make an announcement we
are holding for trackwork ahead. We wait.
1600. Reluctantly starting up again, we meet a Richardson unit grain train.
1617. We passed a double stack train, cleared the work zone, and crossed the
border into Alberta. "CN - Courtesy and Service".
1845. Viking, AB has a nice, little two-story depot.
1930. Horses and Cattle on the plains. It's starting to get dark.
At dusk, we cross the North Saskatchewan River into Edmonton. Passing through
CN's massive freight yard, we come alongside this olive-green relic from long
ago.
Alberta Prairie Railway #903717 appears to be a bay window caboose with extra
windows added and a logo similar to the old Canadian National emblem.
2100 I started the day with a sunrise and will end it with a sunset. Three old
warhorses can just be glimpsed: CN 7201/CN 204/CN 7401, GMD GP9Rm/slug/GMD
GP38-2.
2130 Arrived in Edmonton depot. Once again, the VIA station is on a stub track
near the north end of CN yards. Our #1 pulled in, and would later back out. Too
dark for a depot picture, I'm going to bed. The train will wait at the platform
until departing at midnight, OT.
Tomorrow, Jasper, Alberta, and my brother and I's harrowing attempt to get our
motive power pixilated!
 
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