An Epic Journey Through Canada
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The Canadian
Welcome to The Canadian!
It's strange how fate works. Some people booked their train tickets over a year in advance, while others may have had to wait for an opportunity to get their tickets, and some may have even booked their trip last minute. However the way they got their ticket, the people on this train were in for a trip of a lifetime. There were many people from different walks of life, whether they've retired from a long and illustrious career, to ones who are in the prime of their careers, or just a young person who has so much life ahead of them, all these collective life experiences were shared with one another, no matter how mundane one may have thought of themselves. It didn't matter what corner of the world we came from, we all somehow ended up on The Canadian at the right time and we all enjoyed every single minute of it.
We start in Toronto, Ontario at Union Station, winding through the city and suburbs northward towards farmland, then through the lush landscape of Cottage Country, to the rocky and lake-filled Canadian Shield and onward to the gentle rolling hills of the prairies, and finally through the majestic Rocky Mountains, ending at the west coast at Pacific Central Station in beautiful Vancouver, British Columbia. Come along in this journey through this beautiful vast country, through five days and four nights of ever-changing scenery as the train travels through over 4400km, 96 hours of amazing Canadian landscapes, this trip of a lifetime is one that we will never forget.
Enjoy the coming photographs of this epic train journey through three time zones and five provinces of this stunning country.
The Ocean
Welcome to The Ocean!
For some, the train is seen as simply a way of getting from place to place, and for others, it's a way to experience a different landscape that's different from home. For me, it's both. If there's a way to get to a destination by train in Canada, I'll do the trip in a heartbeat. Yes, flying is a lot faster, but you don't see much when you're 30,000 ft. in the air. Taking the train is relaxing to me; you step into the train station, wait for your train to arrive, have your ticket scanned, and just hop onboard. When you're flying, you have to deal with the hassle of being at the airport 2-3 hours early, going though security, making sure that all liquids you're carrying does not exceed 100mL per container, and all those containers together don't exceed 1L... It's too much. Boarding a train much simpler, although like planes, there is a weight limit to your baggage.
The Ocean is Canada's oldest operating named passenger train, beginning service in 1904, and running around 1350km and 22 hours between Montréal and Halifax. The tracks takes us through the St. Lawrence and Matapédia valleys, the south shore of Chaleur Bay, through the forests of New Brunswick, and through the farmlands of Nova Scotia. There is a lot of variation in the landscape, from the ancient mountains of the lower St. Lawrence valley, to the wide rivers through the Gaspé Peninsula, and as the train crosses the Isthmus of Chignecto on New Brunswick and Nova Scotia, you'll see a series of dykes that snake across the landscape.
To see the country roll by through the train window is something everyone should try at least once in their life. You never know what lies on the other side of the glass as you're steaming past the vast landscape of Canada.