Down East by Rail -- Again # 1: The Journey from Woodstock to Montreal

Relax and refresh.  That's what rail travel does for me.

I think this week's trip marks the fifth occasion in ten years that I have taken the train from my home in Woodstock, Ontario, to Halifax, the biggest Atlantic port city in Canada.

You'd think that by now I would have it all covered, but this journey still endlessly fascinates me -- and every time I make this rail voyage, I find new sights and make new discoveries.

In the course of the trip, I have to travel on 3 trains using two different kinds of equipment.  The first two legs of the journey are part of VIA's "Windsor-Quebec Corridor" network, and normally use this kind of train -- the Canadian-built LRC's, which date from the 1980s.

VIA Rail Photo

The "Ocean," running from Montreal to Halifax, is normally equipped with the Renaissance cars, built in Europe in the early 2000s and bought by VIA when their original planned use disappeared.  At the end of the train is one of the iconic stainless steel "Park" cars with a scenic dome and rounded-off "bullet lounge," built in the 1950s for the CPR's cross-Canada train, The Canadian.

However, on this trip the Halifax train was a bit different -- as you'll see in Part 2!

If I were doing the whole trip in one go, I would be boarding the train in Woodstock at 08:07 for the first leg to Toronto.   One of the useful things to know is that on many, if not all, days, that early morning train (# 70) from Windsor and London to Toronto uses the same train set that will become the connecting train # 64 to Montreal.  On days when this happens, an announcement is made before arrival in Toronto and you may -- if you wish -- simply remain on board the train during the 80-minute stopover.

On this occasion, though, I was spending two nights in Toronto for my birthday party on Friday and a day-long culture-fest on Saturday, so I went up to the city at lunchtime on Friday, on board train # 72.  This train is booked to make the run from Woodstock to Toronto in 1 hour 40 minutes, including 3 enroute stops.  In theory, I could drive from my home to downtown Toronto in that amount of time.  In practice, I could only drive that quickly at about three o'clock in the morning, when the roads closer to Canada's biggest city are mostly empty.

Anyway, the train is so much more relaxing and civilized -- especially when I am cashing in my VIA Privilege loyalty points and going all the way for free in Business or Sleeper class.  The Woodstock-Toronto run makes up the bulk of my yearly VIA Rail travel, including most of my multiple trips into the big city for theatre, concerts, opera, or dance events.

With that, here's a map illustrating all three stages of this rail journey.

Passing lightly over my two-night stay in Toronto, I arrived at Union Station at 10:15 on Sunday morning for an 11:30 departure to Montreal.  First order of business: check in my big suitcase.  Train # 64 offers baggage car service on the days when it connects to # 14 for Halifax.  Trust me, you need to use that service.  The sleeping compartments on the Halifax train are nothing if not cramped.  You have to bring a small bag containing only what you absolutely need for that one night on the train.  The checked baggage service is free of charge and sends your bag all the way to your destination.

From the baggage room I made my way back up the ramp to the station's iconic Great Hall.  It's been said that the great urban railway stations were the cathedrals of the Railway Age, and the Great Hall of Union Station certainly calls that image to mind.

Just off the west end of the Great Hall is the VIA Business Class Lounge.  It occupies a large space which I think may originally have been a café when the station opened in 1927.  That's my guess because one pillar still has a painted sign on it with an arrow which says "Please Pay Cashier."  The lounge offers newspapers and magazines, free Wifi, work stations, comfy chairs, and non-alcoholic beverages.  The machine produces a more than acceptable cappuccino.

VIA Rail photo

About half an hour before the train was due to leave, an announcement called Business Class passengers for their priority boarding time down in the lower concourse.  It's an easy walk down the ramp to the gate, and then up an escalator to the train platform.  Your ticket gets scanned for the first time at the foot of the escalator.  Once you're on the train and settled into your seat, the ticket gets scanned again, either just before or just after departure.  Hint: I've learned to keep my phone handy until after that second round of scanning.

So here's the seat I occupied in the Business Class car.

The onboard service began right after the train rolled out with the drink trolley and a small package of snack mix, followed by hot towels.

Lunch was served about an hour after departure, with warm bread rolls and wine included.  The menu normally offers several main course choices, one of which is vegetarian but not vegan.  Today's lunch menu offered cannelloni with tomato sauce and cheese, trout with an Asian soy-ginger sauce, or a cold potato salad with sliced roast beef (my choice).  The meal tray comes with a small appetizer course and a small dessert.

Coffee, tea, and cold drinks were again offered after the meal, and as a finishing touch, small chocolates -- a choice of plain dark or dark with raspberry.

If you're wondering what the cost might be for this kind of deluxe Business Class travel, it's actually competitive with (and sometimes even cheaper than) economy class on the airlines.

And what's the outside world look like on this leg of the trip?  There's actually not a lot to see, or at least not much that might be called "spectacular."  A large part of the way, the line runs through a green alleyway lined with dense vegetation.  You do get a few views of the wind-tossed expanse of Lake Ontario which might as well be an ocean as far as the eye can see.

You cross a trestle above the Ganaraska River in Port Hope....

…and a lower bridge over the much wider Moira River in Belleville.

You get the occasional view of traffic along the parallel freeway Highway 401.

Once into Quebec, the train rolls across the Ste Anne rapids where the Ottawa River squeezes through several narrow channels to empty into the mighty St Lawrence.

On the way into Montreal, the train twice crosses the historic Lachine Canal, here repurposed as a recreational waterway and park area.

Then, on the other side of the train, there's a splendid view of the great skyscrapers in the downtown area of Canada's second-biggest city.

Train # 64 managed to remain on time right up until the suburban station at Dorval.  There, we had to hold for some minutes, waiting for an outward bound train to leave the station.  From then on, it was one delay after another, and the train finally pulled into Central Station 50 minutes late.  Grrr!!!

Among the best features of Central Station are the raised platforms, which make it unnecessary to climb stairs up into or down out of the trains.  This feature is possible because no freight trains with their wider and lower cars are ever routed through this station.

If you wish, you can plan a stopover for one or more nights here in Montreal when you purchase your ticket (VIA allows one enroute stopover at no extra charge on all tickets).  The Fairmont Queen Elizabeth Hotel is directly connected to the Central Station through an underground shopping mall, and several other upscale hotels are within a 1-2 minute walk.  Hotels and Airbnbs in the historic Vieux Montreal district (my favourite area of the city) are only 5 minutes or so away by taxi.

But for me, there was only a stopover of two hours before the next leg of the trip began.