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Published: June 19th 2009
May24
Train: Vancouver to Kamloops, Rocky Mountaineer Gold Leaf
Hotel: Kamloops Towne Lodge We had asked if we could get on the bus shuttle to the train station as many people on the train were also staying at the Fairmont. They wanted $20 apiece though so we decided to catch a cab instead. The bright orange Prius cab only took a few minutes to get to the Rocky Mountaineer station (they have their own station separate from the CPR passenger terminal) through the deserted Sunday morning streets. We hadn't had time to grab breakfast and had hoped there was something to eat at the station, unfortunately they only had coffee. There are separate checkin lines for Gold Leaf and Red Leaf passengers; the Gold Leaf one seemed to take forever with only a few people ahead of us. Checkin was easy; they took our bags and tagged them with the destination. The station didn't seem to be too busy but then the tour buses started arriving.
We finally boarded the train around 7:30. It turns out our seats were in the last Calgary/Banff car, on the right hand side. The train splits up in Kamloops where the other half of
the train goes to Jasper. The Gold Leaf cars are double decker and have a glass dome ceiling for viewing the scenery, the dining area is below. Most of the other passengers in the Gold Leaf car were on different tours. The seats are light gold in color, cloth and leather. I have wide shoulders though so to me the seats still seemed a bit narrow. The cabin attendents Brad and Larissa introduced themselves then offered everyone an introductory mimosa. We soon set off, traveling through the suburbs of Vancouver before crossing the Fraser river. Breakfast and Lunch are served in two seatings; the first day the back half of the car eats first, on the 2nd day the front half of the car is seated first. We were in the front half so had to wait awhile longer for breakfast; luckily they had a fruit bowl onboard to temporarily stave off our hunger.
Finally around 10AM it was time to eat. There were several choices for breakfast; croissants, eggs benedict with Canadian bacon, pancakes, or scrambled eggs with salmon and caviar. The train continued on through the lush green Fraser river valley, the mountains getting ever closer. The
sky was gorgeous clear and we could see all the way to Mt. Baker in Washington state. We entered the Fraser canyon, heading towards Hells Gate, the narrowest part of the canyon just over 100 feet wide. The Canadian Pacific and Canadian Northern railways run on opposite sides of the canyon; one is used for eastbound and the other for westbound rail traffic. The terrain started getting drier here in the rain shadow of the mountains. For lunch, we had a choice of:
Aged Triple "A" Alberta Top Sirloin
With roasted nugget potatoes, balsamic demi glace
& flakes of blue cheese.
Black Tiger Prawns
Simmered in a west coast bouillabaise broth,
over a sticky rice cake topped with sauteed vegetables julienne.
Fraser Valley Chicken Breast
Encrusted with wild BC mushrooms, panseared,
served with garlic mashed potatoes & a blueberry relish.
Vegetarian Appeal
Traditional penne pasta tossed in garlic parsley olive oil
& asparagus over a rich tomato sauce.
Light Choice
Fresh vegetables layered with wonton crisps,
balsamic vinegar molasses, garlic & herb coulis.
We soon left the Fraser river and started climbing up the Thompson river canyon.. the two rivers are different colors
and you can just catch a glimpse of the two colors mixing. The Thompson canyon was definitely much drier with scree slopes and avalanche sheds protecting the rail lines on both sides. The Trans-Canada Highway follows the rail line for most of the canyon. The river has several world class rapids but it was a bit early yet for rafting season. It's best to have a seat on the left side of the train for this section if headed eastbound. We finally approached the Kamloops lake, a huge lake on the Thompson river. Very few boats but mirror smooth reflecting the blue sky.
We arrived in Kamloops just after 5PM; they already had our hotel room keys for us as we got off the train. The town was bigger than I expected; it's a crossroads of road, river and rail and an important transportation hub. Kamloops means 'the meeting of the waters', where the North and South Thompson rivers join. The train coming through must eat up a good number of the hotel rooms in town! We caught the shuttlebus to our hotel (Kamloops Towne Lodge), where our bags were already waiting (they bus them in from Vancouver; only 5 hrs by road but all day by rail). The night in the hotel and dinner are included in the train fare. They put on a show at night for the train passengers, Rhythm of the Rails.. it's not included though and at $50 apiece didn't sound too appealing. The hotel was nice enough, a bit of an older hotel with a huge inner atrium. The room had a huge flatscreen TV. For those interested in points there was a Hampton Inn just across the street and a Sheraton Four Points nearby. The next day the shuttlebuses were arriving at 6:15AM so we called it an early night.
May 25
Train: Kamloops to Banff, Rocky Mountaineer Gold Leaf
Hotel: Fairmont Banff Springs A long day in store today, 12 hours on the train from Kamloops to Banff. The shuttlebuses showed up at 6:15 to pick up everyone from the hotels. We left our bags in the room, they would be picked up and delivered to our hotel in Banff tonight. Our driver today was quite a character; instead of taking the highway to the train station he took us on a tour through town, down the 'Marigold Mile' and telling jokes all the way. The agents at the station had radioed him to find out where we were.
The train left on time this morning at 7AM.. ours was the last car today as the other cars would be heading to Jasper. That meant we would get a clear view back down the tracks from the vestibule at the end of the car. The Rocky Mountaineer newspaper is provided at every seat; this gives a detail of the route sections and history on the building of the Canadian railway through the Rockies. The route today left Kamloops, crossing over Notch Hill, down to Salmon Arm, then across the Colombia River at Revelstoke, across the Rogers Pass and through the Kicking Horse canyon before crossing into Alberta near Field and ending at Banff. We would go through 4000 feet of elevation gain today, Kamloops is only at 1100 feet and the Kicking Horse Pass between Alberta and BC is over 5300 feet. We were in luck with the weather today, clear and sunny.
The train set out, passing through small towns along the Thompson river. We were the first seating for breakfast today, I had the pancakes with maple syrup. The route climed gradually through Notch Hill, then down to Salmon Arm. The glacially carved fjord-like lakes around here are very popular for renting boats, from the simplest pontoon to hitech with jacuzzis and flatscreen TVs. Soon after we passed Craigellachie; site of the 'last spike' where the first trans-Canada railway was completed in 1885. The name came from Scotland; when the president of the CPR was trying to obtain funding to complete the railway, he telegraphed back a clan motto 'Stand Fast, Craigellachie!' when he was successful. The route soon crossed the Colombia River, then started climbing up and up towards the Rogers Pass. There are two tunnels here built after the original route over the mountain turned out to be too treacherous during the winter. The train still passes through several avalanche sheds; the mountainsides here are steep and avalanches occur every year. We took the higher tunnel, the Connaught, a 5 mile tunnel. This upper route allowed us to pass over the famous Stoney Creek bridge, although you can't really see it from the train itself. The train descended from here, then down through the town of Golden, crossing the Colombia River again. There had been some bear sightings along the route here; I missed it but someone had caught a blurry picture of it as it crossed the tracks behind us.
The train next headed up the Kicking Horse canyon, deep dramatic cliff walls on either side and the raging river mere yards away. The train crosses the river 7 times so there are good chances to get pictures of the whole train. The weather had clouded up a bit by now. We passed a few rafters on the river before reaching the town of Field. We were approaching the Sprial Tunnels. Originally when the railway went over the Kicking Horse pass, the grade was 4%!.(MISSING) twice as high as anywhere else on the line. Extra engines had to be added on to get the train cars up and over the pass. All extra weight was discarded; even the dining cars would be disconnected on either side of the pass. In the early 1900s, this was remedied by building two 'spiral' tunnels; these tunnels circle around inside Cathedral mountain, increasing the length of the rail just enough to decrease the grade to a more manageable level. At the time this was quite a feat of engineering; building the tunnels from both sides they met in the middle only inches off. Again not much to see from the train itself, though there are a few spots where you can see both the entry/exit of the lower tunnel. Just after passing through both spiral tunnels, the train crosses the Kicking Horse Pass and the Continental Divide into Alberta. We also had lost an hour; crossing into eastern BC and Alberta where clocks are on Mountain Time while Kamloops and Vancouver are on Pacific Time. The train next passed through Lake Louise, though you cannot see the lake from down below in town. The train route follows the dramatic route along the Bow River with mountain peaks on both sides. Finally the train pulled into Banff station where our train adventure came to an end.
Unlike last night, we did not get our hotel keys ahead of time. We had booked a transfer to the Fairmont Banff Springs hotel on the train at $10 each, assuming that finding a taxi at the train station might take some time with so many passengers. Most were on tours though and were already pre-booked onto the bus shuttles. We got a bit of tour through town, which seemed very neat and clean, lots of restaurants, shops and hotels. Banff gets visitors all year, we were there in late May which is just the start of the high summer season. We arrived at the Fairmont, a huge grey stone chateau-style. The Fairmont was one of the original hotels built by the CPR to attract tourists to the train. I'd seen pictures but was still impressed with the size of the place. It's located a bit out of town itself along the Bow River and just above the Bow River falls. We used the FPC checkin and found out we had been upgraded to a huge King Suite in the conference center wing. The view was stunning, over across to the main building with Tunnel Hill behind it. Like the night before, our bags were already waiting in the room, so again they must bus the luggage in from Kamloops. We went down to the German pub for dinner where we met Alan, a Kiwi who had been sitting behind us on the train. The hotel has a bit of everything, from tennis to a bowling alley. There are several restaurants here, a German pub & restaurant, fine dining, Italian and Japanese. There is also a minimart where you can buy usual supplies.
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Massey F. Jones
non-member comment
Outstanding Service
We left for Vancouver via Jasper on VIA, several days ahead of our Rocky Mountaineer booking and would not have been home to receive the final details by mail. After a couple of emails, the Rocky Mountainer Vacation people couriered the final details to us and we were able to do a bit of planning. Some of it involved my wife, which has to use a walker, as a result of a badly twisted knee. RMV was exceptionally accomodating, including transporting her on the service elevator, from the dome to the lower level for meals etc. They also put us into the last dome car from Kamloops to Calgary and I was able to get some pretty decent photos and movies. My only complaint is that the front windows on the dome were quite streaky and it spoled a few otherwise front-looking photos. Except for that, the service and food were superb and, if I had ready moolah, I'd do the trip all over again.