Travel Deluxe Canadian And Get Real Enjoyment, Published 13 September 1956 No
more delightful travel prospect faces a man than when he boards the
gleaming silver train known as The Canadian at Winnipeg. I was now
completing my trip from San Francisco to Ottawa, courtesy of the
Canadian Pacific Railway. Sharp on the dot the long 16-car diesel train
moved out, as serene as a flying carpet and with music. The sun poured
into the dome car as I fought for a seat and kodaked my way through
eastern Manitoba. While Debussy and Strauss filtered into my roomette,
J. A. Letourneau, dining car steward, came through to ask me when I
wanted lunch. No long queuing up for meals; you sit by appointment and
at leisure. That night I savored the famous $5.50 steak as I leisurely
exuded delight through the taste buds. Imagine the glories of
photogenic Northern Ontario over a T-Bone! Glided Softly The long silver snake (I know I've said that before) glided softly across the Ontario line west of Ingolf, it paused to permit grubby kids to sell baskets of fresh blueberries at forelorn Ignace, and it crossed the height of land between the Arctic and the Atlantic, at Upsala, 1,585 feet above sea level. Then the lights of Fort William and Port Arthur (the latter named for President Chester A. Arthur of the United States), before night knit up the ravelled sleeve of care. Morning at Sudbury where, like the mechanical worm it was, the two halves parted, one for Ottawa and Montreal, I for Parry Sound and Toronto. I had adventure in my veins that day, and it was the first time I had been down the MacTier subdivision in 34 years. So through grim Burwash and delightful Muskoka we circled and semicircled, till we came to the lush acres of Hon. Earl Rowe's Simcoe county, and finally into Toronto. The Canadian has two outstanding features for a Canadian train. It has first of all, those glorious domes, both for day coach and sleeping car passengers. It also has music and a public address system, Time passes quickly, the scenery is passed you before you know it and life glides by in a soft lullaby. This diesel-driven, distance-defying, deluxe-delivered Canadian is truly the way to travel. From the blown rose floating on the glass bowl in the diner, to a sun-soaked afternoon past shimmering lakes and fret-work land-scape, The Canadian is easily the equal of the Super Chief, without the extra fare. It also, cuts down one day across the continent. The Canadian is truly a Canadian institution. |