Aboard The Canadian: Toronto > Vancouver by Rail

It takes just over four hours to fly from Toronto to Vancouver, and just under four days to complete the same journey on the railway. Naturally, when posed with the choice, Mum and I choose the latter. We don't regret it. For four days of travel in comfort, with really great food (so much food), unbeatable views and good company it really was good value (especially considering the whole thing was two for the price of one!)

By rail, you get to travel straight through the endless lakes of Ontario, pass through the Prairies and then - most beautiful of all - go right through the heart of the Canadian Rockies. All of this can be seen from the comfort of the Panoramic Carriage, a specially designed elevated car at the back of the train with a domed glass roof offering 360 degree views (and free tea and biscuits 24 hours a day, I mean what more could you want). I mention the glass for two reasons, first because it is just a super cool thing to have as part of your train and secondly, because it serves as the excuse for the quality of some of my photos; they were nearly exclusively taken through a window . . . some cleaner than others. The journey got progressively more picturesque as it went on, so bear with the first few photos, they just give you a sense of the experience as a whole.

Chilling on a snow lounge-set in Winnipeg. We were meant to stop here for 4 1/2 hours, but as we were delayed this was cut to 45 minutes. Mum and I managed a highly successful whistle stop tour, however!

The cabin (note the net on the upper bunk, to hold me in in times of heavy breaking).

Train perhaps not as weather-proof as a Brit would have expected . . .

The Rockies at sunset.

We were meant to arrive at the Rockies during the early afternoon. However, by this point we were running over eight hours behind schedule. This was as a result of freight trains always having priority over our passenger train, and there was a heavy back log of such trains due to a derailment several weeks ago. We were all initially very disappointed at the prospect of heading through the mountains in the pitch black, however ultimately we were incredibly lucky. By perfect moonlight, the snow capped tips of the mountains were breathtakingly clear (although beyond the capabilities of my point and shoot camera). We even got to see Mount Robson, Canada's highest peak, in its full glory. I have been told that the mountain is only visible in full - without clouds covering its peak - on twelve or so days a year. So that was the beginning of our good fortune.

Due to our delay we woke up to Fraser Canyon, somewhere normally passed through in the dead of night. Route enthusiasts on board who had taken the train across Canada in excess of twenty times had never seen this portion of the journey in day light - and what a thing to have missed out upon! The canyon was stunning in the early light of morning, that's for sure. These are just a couple of photos we managed to snap before breakfast:

Can you see the freight train winding across the other side of the canyon? Over two miles long it total . . .