I'm posting an account of this trip from eight years ago (2007) because it fits in with my theme of rail travel across Canada for this summer.
The iconic VIA Rail transcontinental train, The Canadian, is well known to many people who have never been to Canada. Its four-night run from Toronto to Vancouver gives an unequalled panoramic look at the breadth of Canada.
What many people do not know is that Vancouver is not the only port on the British Columbia coast accessible by passenger train.
Far to the northwest of Vancouver, just a few miles south of the Alaskan border, lies the port town of Prince Rupert. This was the western terminus of the Grand Trunk Pacific, the ambitious railway project of the early twentieth century by which the powerful Grand Trunk Railway hoped to regain its ascendancy over the Canadian Pacific.
Under Prime Minister Wilfred Laurier, Canadian entrepreneurs built not one but two new railroads stretching from east to west. The Canadian Northern was cobbled together by its developers who bought up existing railroads and built the connecting links between them. The Grand Trunk Pacific was the Winnipeg to the Pacific half of a peculiar hybrid railway. The eastern half, built entirely by the Canadian government, was called the National Transcontinental. When it was completed, it was handed to the Grand Trunk to operate. This entire hybrid scheme was built far to the north of previously developed areas to try to stimulate further settlement and development of resources. The Klondike Gold Rush of 1897-99 was certainly one of the inspirations for this concept.
Alas for human ingenuity, the two new railroads across Canada suffered massive financial indigestion from their building binge. Both went bankrupt, and had to be taken over by the Canadian government, which could ill afford to lose their cargo capacity at the height of the first great World War. In time they were combined with the Intercolonial Railway, becoming the basis of Canadian National Railways, now known as CN.
Many stretches of the old NTR and GTP still host trains operated by VIA Rail, as they provide the only links to a number of remote settlements along those routes. VIA Rail's thrice-weekly Jasper-Prince George-Prince Rupert train is one example.
It's an unusual train in many ways. As a form of point-to-point travel, it is mainly of value to the residents of the major towns and cities along the route -- only about a dozen of them, all told. Today, a large part of its bread and butter is the tourist trade. Because of that, the train runs as a day train only -- two days travel time in fact, with an overnight stop in Prince George. Through passengers have to make their own hotel reservations in Prince George.
The train's consist includes a baggage car, one or more standard coach cars, and a regular "Park" car with a 24-seat scenic dome, the same kind used on The Canadian. On certain days during the summer a "Panorama" full-length glass-topped dome car is also included, and here is offered the special "Touring Class" service which includes all meals with coffee and tea -- one cold continental breakfast, two cold plate lunches, and two hot dinners (which include wine) for those making the entire two-day journey.
When I did this trip back in 2007, it was possible to come up from Vancouver on The Canadian and connect directly to the Prince Rupert train. The schedules have now been set in such a way that it is impossible to connect to or from the Prince Rupert train in either direction without making at least a one-night stopover in Jasper.
Mind you, there are worse places to be stuck for a night or two than Jasper! It's a tourist town, to be sure, but it's far less overblown and overdeveloped than Banff. Impressive mountains looming around, spectacular sights tucked in among them, a cableway to the top of a nearby peak with an amazing view -- all these elements are there, but just not as jam-packed with visitors. I'll be writing about Jasper in more detail later in the summer.
The train leaves Jasper westbound at 12:45 pm, and soon is rolling across the summit of the Yellowhead Pass. The Yellowhead is the lowest and by far the easiest of all the major passes in the Rocky Mountains, which helps to explain why both the Grand Trunk Pacific and the Canadian Northern used it -- their tracks often ran within mere feet of each other. The scenery here is neither as rugged nor as spectacular as farther south on the CPR line -- at first. After passing along the shores of Yellowhead Lake and Moose Lake, the line divides in two at Red Pass Junction, these being the original two separate railways. The Fraser River spills out of the west end of Moose Lake, beginning its long journey to the Pacific at Vancouver.
The two lines both have been maintained here by CN because the old Canadian Northern line has a much gentler grade spread over a longer distance. It is used by eastbound trains. The somewhat steeper Grand Trunk route is used by westbound trains descending the mountains. Below the train the Fraser river can be seen, foaming over wicked rapids in the bottom of a steep-sided canyon.
Before long, a truly spectacular sight appears on the right hand side. Mount Robson is the tallest mountain in the Canadian portion of the Rocky Mountain range. It towers far above its near neighbour peaks, and with its imposing bulk is perfectly capable of generating its own weather. I had the rare privilege of seeing the entire mountain completely in the clear, an experience which is said to happen only about 20 days of the year on average.
The train makes only one regular scheduled stop on this first day, at McBride, and all other stations are flag stops only. This means that an intending passenger will stand beside the track -- but not too close -- and wave at the locomotive when it comes in sight. It works because the running speed on this line is moderate. We did in fact make one other stop, beside the abandoned station building at Dunster. A small tour group which had taken the scenic ride across the mountain range was picked up here by a van to be returned to their starting point in Jasper. At McBride there is a pause of several minutes so you can get out and stretch.
If the train is on time, it will rumble across the Fraser River bridge shortly after 7:00pm and stop a few minutes later at the station in Prince George. It's about a 5-minute walk to the Ramada Inn which I found very comfortable and pleasant.
The second day's run is much longer -- over 12 hours -- but with more stops. The train rolls out of the Prince George station promptly at 8:00 am and breakfast is served right away. The countryside you see now is much more placid, even pastoral, with extensive views of the Nechako River (a tributary of the Fraser River) and Fraser Lake -- plenty of pretty pictures but no huge spectacles for a while.
In time, some low mountains begin to appear and close in again, but nothing really spectacular appears until the afternoon. The approach to the sizable town of Smithers, shortly after 2:00 pm, is dominated by a huge glacier-laden mountain massif which towers in splendid isolation over the railway station and everything else for miles. This huge peak is called Hudson Bay Mountain (I haven't been able to find out why), and the glacier which used to reach right down to the base is called the Kathlyn Glacier. Our car guide told us that in former years on hot summer days the crews of steam locomotives used to hang outside the open doors to get a whiff of the naturally chilled air flowing from the glacier!
The train is now following the Bulkley River to the point where it empties into the larger Skeena River, at Hazelton. The remainder of the route stays with the majestic Skeena south and west to the Pacific, following its guiding waters right through the Coast Range mountains. Among the first of these to appear are the impressive Seven Sisters, on the south or left side of the track beyond Kitwanga. The rail line keeps curving around this range of snowy, storm-crowned peaks for quite some time, giving some great angles for photographs.
On this stretch, the track is on the west or right bank of the river, and the highway on the east bank. This little detail helps to explain the survival of this particular route, since it passes through several tiny hamlets in this region that are not otherwise accessible by land except by hiking through the bush. The train has one last scheduled stop at the town of Terrace, and now follows the widening sweep of the river west and southwest. It was in this area that we first became conscious of the aroma of salt in the air and knew we had reached tidewater. The air was also increasingly shrouded with rain and mist, and with night coming on (because we were running almost 2 hours late) we had no more views beyond this one of an island in the river.
It's for this reason that I would strongly recommend that anyone planning to take this fascinating rail tour should start instead from the Prince Rupert end of the line. That way you'll be getting all the really eye-popping mountain scenery in daylight. As a small bonus, you'll also get to sleep in during the stopover at Prince George a bit longer, because the eastbound train doesn't have to leave there till 9:45 am!
Sun, alas, cannot be guaranteed. This north coast is notoriously foggy, cloudy, and rainy. Local lore claims that a clear sky is known as "blue clouds". The easterly part of the line lies in the dry zone of the British Columbia interior, but the western end is definitely in the temperate rain forest of the west coast zone.
Prince Rupert exists only because of being built as the terminal harbour for the railway. It's a city of around 12000 people, and has a distinct rough-edged, hard-working feel to it. You can sense right away that you are in a place far remote from the country's major urban areas. The harbour sees everything from fishing boats to large car ferries, with container ships and bulk freighters thrown into the mix as well.
From Prince Rupert you can proceed twice a week by the Alaska Marine Highway ferries all the way north to Juneau and Skagway, and on from there to Whittier near Anchorage. The B. C. Ferries run every second day south to Port Hardy on Vancouver Island, and daily to Skidegate in Haida Gwaii (formerly the Queen Charlotte Islands). The Prince Rupert airport, on nearby Digby Island, handles several daily flights to Vancouver, about two hours flying time south. There's a sizable selection of hotels available -- but don't expect to find the well-known chains represented. If you are proceeding by ferry, and the timing is right, you can make a really direct connection: the VIA Rail station is right beside the two ferry terminals. On the other hand, it's a fair hike to the hotels in the centre of town, so you will probably want to call for a taxi.
If you are leaving Prince Rupert by air, there is a free shuttle bus which picks up airline passengers at the high-rise Highliner Inn downtown, and takes them right through to the airport, driving aboard the Digby Island ferry enroute. A helpful hint: hang behind at the very back of the crowd when boarding the bus. Your checked baggage will be the last ones loaded onto the bus or its trailer, and thus at the airport will be the first ones unloaded. It's the only way to beat the lineup to the check-in desk! The same bus also brings arriving passengers back into town from their flights.
The little-known but very scenic train journey along the line from Jasper (Alberta) across the breadth of British Columbia to the northwestern BC port of Prince Rupert.
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