End Of The Line, Feb 5 1990

Documentary about the last Via Rail & Canadian Pacific passenger train "The Canadian" in Calgary on Sunday January 14 1990. Aired Monday February 5 1990 at 7:00PM, on CFCN channels 4 (air) & 5 (cable). Thanks to Ted Maria for providing this to Blendeture.
Credits:
Producer/Director: Ted Maria
Writer/Host: Bill McFarlane (misspelled in credits)
Photographers: Kevin Green, Doug Hanley, Jim Moule
Research: Graham Bond
Production Assistant: Donna Chambers
Online Editing: Peter Gillespie
Technical Producer: Alan Anderson
News Director: Murray Cunningham
Special Thanks: Via Rail, CTV News
Executive Producer: Dale O'Hara
CFCN News Production ©1990

[@erikdevries9208]

My In the 1970's, when I was about 10, father bought me a ticket from Banff to Field, so that I could ride in the dome car through the spiral tunnels. He took the same route by car and was waiting for me at the station in Field. That was a fun summer holiday all around.

[@thundersonic342]

If Mulroney never cut VIA service to Calgary, Calgary would have still been serviced by VIA Rail to this very day

[@damiboi5119]

No shit Sherlock

[@Play_fare]

Every government made cuts to VIA, Liberal and Conservative. I suspect CP wanted VIA trains off of its lines, and since CN at the time was a crown corporation, it was obliged to keep and absorb the services on its lines. With that being said, I took the Canadian from Toronto to Vancouver in 1986, the RDC run from Calgary to Edmonton, and the Super Continental from Edmonton to Winnipeg and then rejoined the Canadian to Toronto. The line that a liked most was the CP line. Couldn’t be beat for scenery along the entire route. I wish I had been able to take the Canadian from Montreal via the Chalk River sub, but I missed that chance when that section of the Canadian was discontinued. Now that entire line is gone, the opportunity lost forever.

[@oldie5300]

Very interesting and heartbreaking! I really miss taking the train 😭 We lost such an important part of our heritage with the loss of our train travel. Good to see Bill McFarlane on the train! ;)

[@sbmatt]

I think it was Murray Dale?

[@oldie5300]

Matt, Bill was the reporter on the train.

[@sbmatt]

Your right I rewatched it

[@therandomytchannel4318]

Grew up in Edmonton but as a kid in the 70s I can remember riding those Budd RDC rail liner cars on that not so smooth track down to Calgary at 70 plus mph lol Canadian hi speed rail in Alberta, haha!!

[@sbmatt]

During these unprecedented times ...in a prefect world in would be great to board a train Calgary to Banff. One can hope...

[@alexlovelock4648]

I think there is a proposal for a commuter train on this route. It makes sense considering a need for vehicular traffic reduction in Banff National Park

[@JuanSanchezGuerra]

@@alexlovelock4648 Yep, that foolish little train that will go nowhere.

[@JuanSanchezGuerra]

@@Milepost93Productions That part is true. How they plan on going about it is the foolish aspect.

[@JuanSanchezGuerra]

@@Milepost93Productions The idea of building an entire second line along an incredibly fragile ecosystem is just laughable. Particularly when you keep in mind that there are far better ways to go about it. The CP Laggan Subdivision (Field, BC-Calgary) is already in great shape. It would have a 70 mile top speed for passenger trains, and is equipped with CTC. The line between Calgary and Cochrane is relatively strait and flat, therefore it could easily be double-tracked with the right amount of funding. A new passing siding would be required in Canmore, and the Banff yard would need some modifications to allow for freights to bypass passenger trains at their station stops, and allow for the trains to lay over there. The Banff wye could also be extended to accommodate longer, peak season trains. Smaller stations would have to be built in both Cochrane and Canmore, with proper track configurations so as not to delay freight trains. In Calgary, the site of the former VIA Rail station in Tower Centre is ideal, in fact the platforms are still there. A new, larger facility could be built at the intersection of 9th Street and McLeod trail. A maintenance facility could be built at CP's Ayleth Yard. Also, how about running a train from Kamloops to Edmonton in all daylight? Or daylight corridor trains to Regina? The track is all there, and mostly in pretty good shape. It would provide many great connections to other major cities. Notice how this plan, high-performance rail dos not need to build a flashy new line. It uses and improves existing rail lines to best serve corridor passenger trains and freight operations, while creating as little a disruption to existing operations as possible.

[@JuanSanchezGuerra]

@@Milepost93Productions A properly done HPR plan would quickly make associations with CP and the province of Alberta to get these issues hammered out. I would roughly estimate a cost of around 70 million dollars for improvements to track, and 300 million for new Siemens Venture equipment. Tower Centre is an absolutely perfect place to host a station. Elevators and corridors could quickly be negotiated with the Tower Centre people. Or a new station could be built in the CP Pavillon in Calgary, or on provincial land near McLeod Trail. If Aylth doesn't suit your fancy, Ogden Yard could also be an option. Were this done to be done as a proper regional plan, a better idea would be to build a maintenance centre in South Edmonton, shared with VIA, serving corridor trains from Calgary and Saskatoon, deadhead equipment coming in from Calgary, and cars on/off the Canadian.

[@seankunz3066]

Biggest Mistake that they got rid of this train! They need service back on the CPR! It would be a No Brainer! Have train split up in Kamloops & then the both of them can reconnect to meet in Winnipeg. Finish up in Toronto. VIA Rail Sure needs train On Here along with Vancouver Island. Don't forget on BC Rail Route.

[@amberlantern9328]

@Juan Sanchez AGREED!! Bring back the Continental and the TRUE Canadian!

[@JuanSanchezGuerra]

@Juan Sanchez I sadly have to retract this statement. The idiots at VIA refuse to do anything for their train.

[@bobjohnson205]

@@JuanSanchez-sq7rs Yes, I remember that. It was the summer of '80 and we had trains 1,2,3 & 4 running on the CPR line. The Super Continental was known as the 'Crazy Train'! lol The guys preferred to work the 'Canadian'.

[@harrisonofcolorado8886]

I'd personally would love to see Via serve Calgary once again even if I live in the states.

[@lucasquintanilla1673]

I didn’t expect to see you here. By the way, what do you think of Canadian pacific Hudson 2816 starting on its trip from Canada to Mexico in the last day or so?

[@harrisonofcolorado8886]

@@lucasquintanilla1673 I think it's gonna be an interesting thing to see, especially the fact that a steam excursion star will be traveling through Mexico.

[@billestew7535]

I worked on the station job for C.P as a young Machinist Apprentice in the 80s servicing steam generators on A and B units and then going outside to knock off ice and change brake shoes, the Carmen had the thankless job of hooking up Barcos and servicing the cars in winter you had to do it quickly and efficiently or the train could freeze up, the best part was having lunch in Palliser Square, then we would service the Budd car back at Alyth diesel shop, I would never ride the Budd car anywhere, it was a dangerous vehicle, you could just tell.

[@PeterNGloor]

Mulroney cut the best-known connection. No more trains to Banff? Only in Canada....

[@trav4oilers]

Wish they would bring back the original line,. would allow so many more to experience the canadian and rail travel

[@ScotMatheson]

I was there for the last departure from Toronto to Vancouver

[@THEREALLYFATPONY]

When the train that built the country stops running, what does it say for the future of the country.

[@bobjohnson205]

It's been gone for 33 years and the country is still here. That about says it all!

[@Jinxterman69]

Great footage, but what a sad day that was.

[@aaazzz090]

thanks for making this channel. lots of cool stuff,, that will never feel Old or ancient to me .. The Downtown Calgary Skyline from the mid 1980's into the 2000's ,was a beautiful skyline, that they shouldn't have ruined by putting in ugly new buildings....

[@BB-uo1qy]

And in 2024 this line still runs!

[@thedude5599]

I travelled from Winnipeg to BAnnf by train in 1988. It cost me like 100 CDN I think maybe more not much more thou. .Now Vancouver to Banff is like 5000 CDN only for the rich.

[@higgy04]

Back when local TV stations produced awesome documentaries. Today, they can't even put a newscast together without incorporating tonnes of yellow journalism to dominate the program. That's what forces me to turn off the TV on a daily basis. Never knew Bill MacFarlane had a moustache (moved to Calgary in 1991) and Kevin Green is still a reporter now at CFCN (CTV Calgary today). Great photography in this documentary.

[@trav4oilers]

Hey Blende, love your stuff. Would it be okay if i use some of your clips for an upcoming video project on the grand railway hotels of Canada. I’ll credit you appropriately on screen for everything. Thank you

[@Blendeture]

Hello, thanks for asking! But unless it's my home movies, you don't owe me anything. A link to the original video in your description would be nice, so people can access it and read the full credits. But yeah, ultimately you're free do as you like. Thanks for watching, and all the best!

[@trav4oilers]

@@Blendeture absolutely! Do you have an email I can send you a private demo?

[@dianarendon5845]

Hard to not think that the elder passengers shown at the beginning of the video, most must have passed on by now, if this coverage is 30+ years ago and they were seniors then. and the guy that said he’s been taking the train since the 1940s.

[@TheSicamousman]

I had the task of disposing all the documents from the Calgary office.

[@Belleville197]

CP Rail is also to blame... they HATED this train and did everything they could to get rid of it.

[@JuanSanchezGuerra]

No, they really did not. They went out of their way to provide prompt and reliable service for VIA.

[@Belleville197]

LOL@@JuanSanchezGuerra

[@JuanSanchezGuerra]

Check out their timekeeping and all the times they saved VIA's dying engines. Many CP men in the day had also worked on passenger trains and ran them well. Often, it was ancient VIA equipment failing that caused the massive delays.@@Belleville197

[@elizetes7313]

Is this train back?

[@angusdrummond6719]

Mulrooney ruined EVERYTHING railway....allowing the abandonment of way to many rail lines. Canada is light years behind other major nations on the railway.

[@crushingvanessa3277]

Big chin cut a lot of stuff back then, who remembers Avro Canada? The Canadian died, our aviation heritage died, CF-18s went to Montreal. But some see that as the best government we ever had.

[@crushingvanessa3277]

Why didn't they keep filming into Winnipeg? Oh ya, back then no one wanted anything to do with us.

[@bobjohnson205]

This was produced by a Calgary CTV station.

[@bobjohnson205]

There was plenty of coverage of this story by your Winnipeg stations.

[@tedmvideos]

I produced and directed this program. We ended our program in Calgary because that was where we were from. In addition the prairies offer little in scenery sorry to say.

[@RailfanVal]

VIA The Canadian didn't die

[@Historymaker-2001]

For all intents and purposes it did. The “Canadian” that runs today is really just the old Super Continental with the former CPR equipment.

[@oliver9089]

In my public works experience, the railways have more power than god and the prime minister combined. I believe if CP didn't want the passenger traffic clogging up their lines with lower revenue trips, the prime minister would have no choice but to do as they ask and take the blame for it too.

[@billestew7535]

Partly correct, time sensitive bulk container traffic is top priority with CPKC next is potash or unit trains, again time sensitive that is the reason the passenger train sits on the siding it is lower priority and it will fit on the siding, the railways C.P and C.N divested in passenger service when it was no longer profitable. The only way Via could run passenger rail like in Europe or Japan would be to have their own trackage

[@JuanSanchezGuerra]

And now Brian Mulroney is dead.

[@bobjohnson205]

He lived to a ripe old age. That proves the old saying that the good die young! 😉

[@FreedomLovingLoyalistOfficial]

I'm so Confused about what this Doc is talking about.

[@JuanSanchezGuerra]

Why?

[@williammcfarlane4681]

Dear Freedom: it's basically a short history of passenger service on the Canadian Pacific Railroad, specifically a beautiful streamliner called The Canadian. The passenger train used to go through Calgary, Banff and Lake Louise and through arguably some of the most spectacular mountain scenery on it's way to Vancouver. The End of the line takes aboard the East bound Canadian- the last regularly scheduled CP/via passenger train to go from Vancouver through Calgary and then across the prairies to Winnipeg all the way to Montreal. We were fortunate in 1990 to document that last run from the coast to Calgary. I hope you are not confused any longer. Thanks for watching our short documentary feature...when we given less than 30 minutes to tell a rather substantial story. Cheers

[@JuanSanchezGuerra]

@@williammcfarlane4681 Mr. McFarlane, Do you know if I would be able to acquire any other film/writings/material on this last run anywhere?

[@williammcfarlane4681]

@@JuanSanchezGuerra On this specific last run I have no idea...I recall we were the only TV crew on that train on that run. I imagine there would be lots of other material including video, film, written material etc...available...you could try contact the Canadian Pacific Railway archives. There might even be more on You tube. Cheers

[@JuanSanchezGuerra]

@@williammcfarlane4681 Thank you! There were many more crew runs on the westbound train, although I don't know what stations they reported for.

[@Belleville197]

This is what you get with 'car culture' and our insane obsession with the private automobile. The private automobile is pushed in our society precisely because of how wasteful it is... and the atomizing effect it has on society. Separate people into isolated realities in as many ways as possible. The train brings people together... cars isolate and put people at odds with each other.

[@Historymaker-2001]

Given a choice, I’d rather take the train somewhere. But being that “somewhere” has no rail connection right now, I am forced to drive.

[@AyaansCornerYT]

It drives me insane, everyone think car culture is the standard way of living, we have to wake up, we need to see how the car shouldn’t be the only way of transportation.

[@bobjohnson205]

@@AyaansCornerYT I agree! I can't wait until I get my flying car! 😉