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Reclaiming BC Rail For My Sobriety 4/12-16/2001

With all the intercity miles in Canada ridden, I turned my attention to the one piece of rail that I truly always wanted to ride in that country, Canadian Pacific's mainline between Vancouver and Calgary. The Rocky Mountaineer gives the traveller two route destination options, Jasper on the Canadian National line that the VIA Rail's Canadian runs over, or Banff/Calgary on Canadian Pacific Railway. I wanted the most mileage for the money so one simple telephone call resuulted in a roundtrip Red Leaf coach ticket from Vancouver to Calgary. I cashed in some of my Alaska Airlines miles I earned riding Amtrak for a roundtrip sleeper from Los Angeles to Seattle then purchased a Seattle- to-Vancouver round trip with Amtrak Cascades north and the bus south. Finally, I bought a round trip ticket from North Vancouver to Lillooet on BC Rail to reclaim that route for my sobriety.

Once all those arrangements were made, I lived, worked and rode trains until the day of departure arrived.

My mother dropped me off at the Santa Ana Station so I could start the journey with a short ride to San Juan Capistrano on Pacific Surfliner 566 and met Pacific Surfliner 769 to take me to Los Angeles, where I was planning to visit with Bruce Telfer, the Lead Service Attendant on that train for a longer period of time than I otherwise would have been able to do. At least, that was my plan. Pacific Surfliner 769 was running on time but its counterpart, Train 566, was running an hour late. As a way of using that extra hour, I decided to take Metrolink to Irvine and I could also have a maple bar there and I enjoyed it while waiting at the Irvine platform in the bright California morning sun.

I rode from Irvine to Los Angeles in an Amtrak California café car and chatted with Bruce for the duration of the trip. The only delay was a missing crossing gate at McFadden Avenue (I just cannot get away from the McFadden name), but that did not stop us from arriving in Los Angeles ten minutes early. Bruce wished me well on my journey and with the Coast Starlight not yet in the station, I patiently enjoyed more of our wonderful California sunshine.

As the Starlight reversed in, I was very surprised to see Caltrain F40H-2 913, built by Electro-Motive Division locomotive in 1985, on the point so I walked down for a picture before settling into Room 3 in the 1432 car. I decorated the room's window with the articles about me from the Honolulu Advertiser and the OC Register which ran locally and in other places such as San Diego, Palm Springs, Monterey, California, Houston Texas and Myrtle Beach, South Carolina, to name a few. I also taped the front page of my new website with a map showing the routes I have travelled by rail. Everything was proceeding nicely on Day 2,276 of my sobriety with the Starlight ready to depart for Seattle.

We departed without our connecting passengers from the Southwest Chief, who would be joining us at Martinez due to that train's lateness. I was relaxed and ready to be taken to Seattle then enjoyed a beef burger and Turtle ice cream cake for lunch, napped in the inland side room and took the Union Pacific track maintenance in stride. Dinner was the Coastal Classic Pork Chops, which arrived after Salinas and I watched the History Channel's program on Streamliners in the Pacific Parlour Car theater. At San Jose, the Caltrain loco was removed and after I had fallen asleep, three Road railers were added to the rear of our train in Oakland. I slept very soundly all the way to Dunsmuir, where we arrived two hours late after a freight train had to set out a car with flat wheels which delayed our progress during the night.

4/13/01 Our tardiness gave me an excellent view of the upper Sacramento River Canyon so in every negative, there can be found something positive. Weather-wise, the low clouds were effectively blocking the view of Mount Shasta and Black Butte. I enjoyed a nice breakfast with a family who was going on the Empire Builder then we were stopped by a freight train at Andesite with a light snow falling. I was so glad to be sitting inside the nice warm train while wearing my usual shorts. Once on the move again, the Starlight sprinted to Klamath Falls where I detrained for a much-needed fresh air stop in the very cold mid-April morning. We were now late enough that our connecting passengers for the Empire Builder detrained here and bussed to Bingen-White Salmon, Washington to make their train.

The family I had breakfast with had been bussed to Martinez yesterday and were not too happy about being bussed again and I could perfectly understand why. They had paid for a train trip not a bus trip, so I made sure to suggest they call Amtrak for a Service Guarantee Certificate for all the trouble that they had been put through on their vacation. We departed and about an hour later, I enjoyed a leisurely lunch before we crossed the snowy landscape of Cascade Summit then was the sole viewer of "Daylights along the Padre Trail", a Southern Pacific film, as the train approached Eugene for another fresh air stop. Prime Rib and a Turtle cake was dinner as we proceeded up the Willamette Valley and following a brief fresh air stop in Portland, I watched "Chicken Run" before returning to my room to listen to music for the final hours into Seattle, where we arrived three hours late. It was a quick cab ride to the Kings Inn and a hot shower before I called it a night.

Since I was travelling to Vancouver one way by rail, I decided to ride Business Class to enjoy a more comfortable ride and business class passengers detrained and went through Customs first. My Talgo was the one built for the Los Angeles-to-Las Vegas service, which still has not started due to problems in getting a second track built over Cima Hill caused by the desert tortoise population there. This Talgo will be run in Cascade service until whenever that service.

We departed on time and plunged into the downtown tunnel and I had my first meal in the Talgo restaurant car of a children's plate of pancakes and sausage, as I was not all that hungry after all the excellent food on the Starlight. Mount Olympus was visible prior to our station stop in Everett, after which the film was "Tea with Mussolini", which I saw on my last northbound trip, so I listened to music and enjoyed the views the rest of the way to Vancouver. Upon entering Canada and nearing New Westminster, we were delayed by a slow-moving freight train for about twenty minutes and once across the Fraser River, I took note of the construction of the new Skytrain line.

I detrained and passed through Customs with just one question asked. Speaking of transit, upon arrival at Pacific Central Station, I learned that there was a bus strike, so when I boarded the Skytrain bound for Days Inn, all the machines must have been union-friendly as they would not accept any money, so I received a free ride. Why is it every time I come to Vancouver some group is always on strike! My luck continued at the Days Inn where due to a slight problem in checking me in, I was upgraded to a suite and spent a relaxful rest of the day preparing for tomorrow.

My trip to reclaim the southern end of BC Rail for my sobriety, because of the three drinks I had with a young lady on the southbound trip during Expo 86 on my first train ride in Canada, started with a 5:15 wake up call and a fifteen cent (yes, that is correct) cab ride over the Lions Gate Bridge to the BC Rail station in North Vancouver. This was the trackage that I had tried to ride in 1986 but was not able to do that because of a BC Rail strike, so was trying it again. The taxi arrived in plenty of time to walk by the steam shops and down to the engine terminal and I boarded the fourth RDC for my journey to Lillooet on Easter Sunday 2001.

We departed on time passing through the BC Rail yards then under the Lions Gate Bridge then as we passed the many homes in West Vancouver, my memory worked well and I started to remember where things were before we reached them and am always amazed how good my memory is! The RDC's do not have their dutch doors anymore, so my photography was be restricted to through the window pane.

I enjoyed the journey along Howe Sound to Squamish with a breakfast of cereal before we started to climb the Coast Range.

The Cheakamus River Canyon was as spectacular as I remembered it and Brandywine Falls was a highlight. At Whistler, most of the passengers detrained for a day here, while others were on ski vacations. We departed on time and lined ourselves into Mons for a meet with a southbound freight train then descended to Pemberton, crossing the Lillooet River with a great view of Mount Currie. We followed the Birkenhead River towards the top of the grade before descending along the Gates and D'Arcy Rivers to the shore of Anderson Lake, which we paralleled for sixteen miles to Seton Portage.

We picked up a few more flagstop passengers before running along the west shore of Seton Lake.

The two lakes were one during glacial times until a large landslide occured at Seton Portage and created the portage itself.

Seton Lake's colour is a dark green and different from any other lake on the entire BC Rail system. As we arrived in Lillooet, a fire was burning below the grade along the river and we arrived thirty minutes late, and I had now reclaimed BC Rail for my sobriety.

What a beautiful sunny day it was as I detrained and photographed our RDCs, then walked up the short hill to a hotel and had a French Dip sandwich with fries. Back at the station, I bought "Route of the Cariboo" by Adolph Hungry Wolf prior to working on my sun tan. The time passed much too quickly as boarding time for my southbound train arrived and the crew put me in the lead RDC so I could photograph any meets along the way back to North Vancouver.

I was looking at my new book as we departed then met a northbound freight at the south end of the Lillooet yard and avoided deer along Seton Lake, as well as passing some llamas that had been roped up along the cliff. Further south along Anderson Lake, we met another northbound freight and after sitting on the bottom of the cliffside of the train, I was amazed by all the creative ways that chicken wire had been used in trackside maintenance against slides and falling rocks. I also noted there was a depression along the tracks to catch any falling rocks, thereby keeping them off the tracks. Add to all this that BC Rail runs a hi-rail vehicle in front of all trains year-round, one realizes how BC Rail manages to operate through this difficult terrain.

The Prospector continued south after losing time with each of its meets then ran straight to Pemberton and made the climb up to Whistler. My turkey dinner was the worst meal I have had on a train and next time, would pack my own meal. The Cheakamus River Canyon easily made up for the poor dinner selection and I thoroughly enjoyed it in the last light of the day. We went into the siding at Cheakamus for another northbound freight as business must be booming then made it to Squamish and Howe Sound in the last of the twilight of the day with the lights of Woodfibre pulp mill shining brightly across the Sound. The rest of the trip to the big city lights of Vancouver would be in the darkness and we went into the siding at Horseshoe Bay for yet another freight before arriving in North Vancouver. I was first off and into a cab back over the Lions Gate Bridge to the Days Inn and after a call to my mother, was off into dreamland, all within twenty minutes of arrival.

Sleeping in late by my standards, I had breakfast, did a little Skytrain riding and bought a ticket to that evening's NHL playoff game at GM Place. I had never been to a playoff game before and tonight, the Colorado Avalanche defeated the Vancouver Canucks 4-3 in overtime with Colorado scoring the winning goal with too many men on the ice. That was two players too many. I had a great seat with an excellent view of the entire ice surface for my first Stanley Cup Playoff game. It had been a fantastic day but I knew in my heart that tomorrow would be even better!

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