I have been enamored of trains ever since childhood, and as a four-year-old I used to beg my mother to take me to the station near our suburban home outside Chicago where I would eagerly await the arrival of the local commuter trains. Later, as a teenager, my first romance was ignited in the dome car of the California Zephyr on a rail trip from Chicago to Los Angeles. Over the years, my fascination with rail travel has intensified, and I have been fortunate to enjoy many memorable train rides worldwide including France's high-speed TGV from Paris to Lyon Japan's Bullet Train from Tokyo to Kyoto and the American Orient Express through Mexico's Copper Canyon.

(Photo courtesy VIA Rail Canada)
All aboard for the epic journey

It was a little after 8 a.m. on a recent Tuesday morning when I made my way from Toronto's Royal York Hotel across Front Street and into cavernous Union Station en route to VIA Rail's Canadian, the famed transcontinental train that first entered service in 1955. Soon after came the call of "All Aboard" booming through the public address system, and upon entering the train, I was escorted to the sleeping compartment that would be my home away from home for the next three days and three nights. I was traveling in Silver and Blue Class, which besides my sleeper included three meals a day plus access to several spacious lounge cars including three dome cars and the Park car at the end of the train with its intimate Mural lounge and adjacent bullet lounge with wraparound windows.

One of the world's epic rail journeys, the Canadian departs three times a week out of Toronto and covers more than 2700 miles on its 72-hour cross-country odyssey.

Railroads played a key role in Canada's expansion as they opened up the west to settlement more than a century ago by forging the first coast-to-coast link upon the completion of the Canadian Pacific Railway in 1885. Like other long-distance rail projects, the construction of the transcontinental railroad was a spectacular engineering feat as tracks had to be laid across the rugged Canadian shield north of the Great Lakes, then across hundreds of miles of desolate Manitoba and Saskatchewan prairies and through the treacherous mountain passes of the Canadian Rockies before the final push to Vancouver on the west coast of British Columbia.

Overflowing with lakes

During the first day's journey westward, the train races across a mammoth swath of southern Ontario that is one of the most "liquid" areas on the planet. As a matter of fact, the word "Ontario" means "shining waters" in the Iroquois language, and the province contains an astonishing one fourth of the world's fresh water. By early afternoon we arrived in the town of Parry Sound , a favorite destination of boaters that is gateway to the world's largest concentration of islands, known as the 30,000 islands. This is an especially colorful region in the fall when the maple trees and other hardwoods are ablaze with red, orange and gold leaves.

Breadbasket of Canada

The second day the landscape gradually flattened and dried out, and by the end of the day the train was flying at around the maximum speed of 90 mph across the fertile fields and farms of Manitoba heading toward the Saskatchewan border. That night I had some difficulty sleeping and decided to take a seat in one of the dome cars around 2 a.m. and watch the night unfold. Luckily the moon was full, and it radiated a mellow yellow glow as we streaked across a vast stretch of Saskatchewan prairies, passing huge grain elevators that dominate this province known as the bread basket of Canada (more than 50% of the nation's wheat is produced here).

(Photo courtesy VIA Rail Canada)
The Canadian Rockies

The last day on the train heading west is the most scenic as the train wends its way higher and higher through the heart of the Canadian Rockies, passing several snow-capped peaks including mighty Mount Robson rising more than 12,000 feet. It then descends gradually until all is flat again as the train approaches Vancouver.

Stopping off along the way

While many passengers stay onboard for the entire crossing, you have the option of getting off at select stations along the way and resuming the journey at a later date. I left the train on Thursday afternoon upon arrival in Jasper, a lovely town in far western Alberta province situated in the heart of the Canadian Rockies. This is a popular place to disembark as many tour groups as well as individual passengers leave the train here as I did, spending two days at the fabulous Fairmont Jasper Park Lodge bicycling, hiking and boating amid a stunning landscape of glacial ice, azure lakes, jagged mountain peaks and aromatic forests of pine and spruce. I felt totally rested and refreshed when I got back on board the Canadian on Saturday afternoon and spent my final night on the train prior to arriving in Vancouver the next morning.

If you go:

It's a good idea to get to Toronto at least one day in advance since the train departs at 9 a.m. The most convenient place to spend the night is the classic Fairmont Royal York Hotel situated downtown on Front Street directly across from Union Station. You can take the train round trip (Toronto-Vancouver-Toronto or vice versa) or one way‹I took the one-way option and flew back to New York from Vancouver. There are three weekly departures from both Vancouver and Toronto. You can fly daily from New York (LaGuardia) to Toronto via Air Canada. For current rates, reservations and other information, contact VIA Rail Canada at www.viarail.com or call 1-888-842-7245.

For those who want to get off along the way and stay at the Fairmont Jasper Park Lodge, the phone number for Fairmont Hotels is 800-441-1414 or contact www.fairmont.com.

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