Reverts To First Love When Plane Grounded, Published 24 December 1955 Here
I am aboard the Super Continental. That's the train which slices off a
day between Winnipeg and Ottawa, and which gives you speed and luxury
at the same time. How I landed on the Super in the midst of a plane
trip is a case of a man reverting to his first love. I had a confirmed
flight ex-Winnipeg around 2.10 a.m. that would take me to Ottawa before
noon. But the Trans-Canada functionary at Winnipeg grounded the whole
plane, thus throwing such an exalted personage as Handsome the
Honorable Bob Winters back on his feet. The TCA man said Toronto was
all covered with sleet and ice and it might be a couple of days before
we got to Ottawa. It was then that I thought of the railway. I could see myself snug and cosy in my Super Continental train bedroom, lots of room to lounge in, plenty of time to read and a dining car with deft help to serve me. But this above all: I could pursue my regular hobby of being rear-end brakeman. So on the Canadian National we sped in the brilliant Manitoba sunshine across the level acres till somewhere around Elma we said goodbye to the open country and embraced the bush. On we rolled, smooth, serene and Super. The divisions seemed to pass like a picket fence. There was Redditt, and the sectionman's house; there was Sioux Lookout with the Imperial Bank closed and the Hudson Bay store open. There was Armstrong and a brave full of booze was trying to take an eastbound train west to Sioux. Then Nakina and a change of power, where we left the old National Transcontinental for Sir Henry Thornton's cut off. We sped onwards and eastwards. There were clouds but I did not care: trains don't stop for clouds. There was a snowstorm but I did not care either for the Canadian National does not get grounded just for a snowstorm. Then finally the towers and spires of Ottawa. Journey's end. I rode the plush in style to end my 6,332-mile trip from Ottawa to Alaska and Whitehorse return. Over 1,000 miles by train, about 1,000 more by sea, and the balance by air. Guess I'm about due for a bus trip, now |