Rail Innovations - The Canadian (1955) (VHS)

Here's a good one for the incredibly niche hobby of "railfans" (more commonly known as Trainspotting). Don't know much about this train at all, but there's probably someone that does. It doesn't say anywhere on the tape or the box when the physical VHS tape was actually distributed, so I put the date of the film in question.
"Direct from the archives, Canadian Pacific's classic 1955 film introducing "The Canadian". Tour the train, then ride west from Montréal to Vancouver. Superb views of the Streamliner at Mink Tunnel, Banff, The Spirals and Vancouver. Brand new F units alng with Budd Stainless Steel, all in the splendor of Canada. A must if you like passenger trains."
Recorded off of a Toshiba D-VR5SC
This was uploaded for archival and educational purposes as the format of the VHS is slowly disappearing. As always, this is not uploaded for financial gain, but simply for the preservation of limited and sparse footage.

[@James_Knott]

As a former CN employee, I never rode the Canadian (enemy territory y'know 🙂). However, I often rode the CN equivalent, the Supercontinental. I first rode it in 1974, when I took it from Toronto to Vancouver and back on my vacation. As an employee, my basic coach fare was covered, but I had to pay for my sleeper. I had a berth both ways, with meals included with my ticket. The next year, I started working out of Capreol. Back then I was a technician with CN Telecommunications and in my work traveled extensively over much of Ontario. However, in Northern Ontario, I frequently traveled on trains, often freights, along the CN main line between Capreol and Armstrong. In fact, I was on the Super so often the conductors stopped asking me for my pass. Back in those days, there were separate Supercontinental trains for Toronto and Montreal during the summer, but they were combined at Capreol in the winter months. When my co-workers and I went for coffee in the morning, we'd have to pass through the train to get to the restaurant across the street from the station. There was also one weekend, when I took the Super from Armstrong on Friday night to Winnipeg, returning to work on Monday morning. I saw the first Star Wars movie in Winnipeg that weekend. For a guy who has long been a rail fan, this was a dream job!

[@jeremiahjeremiah1319]

I used to take trains from Toronto to capreol. No I'm back down south again just north of Belleville Ontario. Capreol was brutal in the winters!

[@James_Knott]

@@jeremiahjeremiah1319 "Capreol was brutal in the winters!" Try Armstrong! 🙂

[@bobjohnson205]

I was very fortunate to have worked on this train as a trainman, baggageman and assistant conductor during its early Via Rail days. Via Rail dropped the formal 'The' and called it the 'Canadian'; still do. Great train and great memories!

[@James_Knott]

I was working for CN Telecommunications, back when VIA took over and then, a few years later, CNT and CPT merged to become CNCP. It cost me my rail pass.

[@bobjohnson205]

We lost our rail pass at about the same time, too. Our unions negotiated it away for something that I can no longer remember. @@James_Knott

[@stevegreiner3618]

Rode this lovely train summer, 1971. I was a 10 year old with my grandparents. Drove up from Seattle to Vancouver. We had the only 3 bed room on the train, in the dome car at the end. It was huge. (At least it seemed so!) those coaches were unique, and were named after provincial parks, known as the Park Series. Ours was called “Kootenay Park” We rode from Vancouver to Montreal and back. I’ll never forget that trip. I couldn’t appreciate it until years later. Some beautiful country up there. Amtrak blows, I’ve traveled it, not impressed. I think VIA is maybe in the same league.

[@matistysk79]

What a fantastic time document and great scenery of old Canada. A pitty that this times gone bye. My greatest wish is to travel like this some day through all of Canada the Transcontinental way by train. Thanks for upploading this great video.

[@m-bronte]

Took a train twice as a kid through the Rockies, it's one of my best memories.

[@merc340sr]

Great video! The nice thing about the Canadian today is that there are showers. The drawback to today's Canadian is that it does not hug the north shore of Lake Superior, one the most beautiful parts of the country. Shame.

[@davidlisowski5245]

There was one shower on the original Canadian: in the dormitory section of the baggage car for the crew.

[@TrainmasterCurt]

merc340sr You can thank Benoit Bouchard for that! 😡

[@merc340sr]

@@TrainmasterCurt Great. A politician gets it right, for once.

[@bobjohnson205]

@@TrainmasterCurt Yes, and Myron Baloney, too!

[@WestCoastWheelman]

So this trip used to take 3 days and 2 nights and cost about a week's wage. Nowadays on VIA it takes 4 days and 3 nights and costs you an arm, leg, and your firstborn. Progress.

[@tedharrison4522]

The length of the trip is due to the federal government's inability (unwillingness?) to mandate that CN run the train on time. Besides, no one is taking the train from Toronto to Vancouver because of speed ... lol. If you're willing to ride in the coach, the transcontinental fare on VIA is only about $450. Not that much more than a flight.

[@stevegreiner3618]

Also, they now have to pull over and get the hell out of the way of freight trains, who have priority.

[@jackchen7003]

And it’s not luxurious as it once was. I felt like I was sitting in a 1980s jail cell the entire ride

[@christopherhunter2892]

Great video. I travelled on the Canadian as a 4 year old with my parents from Calgary to Banff. Unforgettable trip and still have some cine films of the trip.

[@bradjames6748]

Back when people had class and manners and traveled together in harmony

[@eugeeropel5572]

This is very true, these vintage railroad videos are a pleasure to view, I wish there were more of them. Thank you for sharing and posting

[@trainsupporter9088]

Took this trip on the Canadian from Toronto to Vancouver RT when I was a teenager...unforgettable!

[@trainsupporter9088]

Oh yes, spent hours in it!

[@trainsupporter9088]

I rode in a sleeper...my grandmother went with me as a graduation present from high school...she had her own room and I had mine

[@trainsupporter9088]

Hello - yes, it was a very small room...called a roomette, not much bigger than a large closet. But very nice.

[@trainsupporter9088]

Yes, that is the kind of car I rode in. And yes, we were allowed in the end of train round end observation car! It was all so nice. Good meals in the dining car too.

[@daveyboy_]

Notice the comments are from people who didn't have to pay for it and had all the time in the world

[@davidlisowski5245]

5:49 FP7 1418 is still around, preserved in Medicine Hat.

[@MrZeldalove]

What a streamliner it was!

[@mikemiskiman4743]

I’m old enough and lucky enough to have traveled on this train many times just too bad they don’t go back to it

[@djteako]

the "Canadian" still runs, but only from Toronto to Vancouver and back. It is now VIA rail, but it's still the Canadian, and still the original stainless steel cars!

[@sadpuppy49]

Thank you so much was looking for this video for years now the CP Rail was the first with 'The Canadian' the scenery was extraordinary and by far superior to Via Rail. I Been on that train from Montreal about 4 time and the last time i had to come back my Via Rail and was left hungry for beautiful scenery. I whish they could make it possible to go by one way and come back the other so visitor could really see the Beauty in this country it would be Amazing for the traveller to see the Spiral Tunnel and to go around the great lake the view is breath takinIf you find any more PLEASE post themGilles G

[@therandomytchannel4318]

Very nice video about the train! I wonder if it had a steam generator car in there. I had taken the Canadian in the 80s, the blue and yellow cars, lol but we slept in the roomettes and had a fantastic time. You still could smoke anywhere in those days, haha and just another tid bit of info, my mom was a room cleaner at the Banff springs hotel in the 50s too! She really enjoyed that job!

[@paul-andrelarose3389]

Yes, there was a steam generator in those days. The Budd-made cars have since been converted to Head-end Power. 2020/09/26.

[@Berta6742]

Our family rode this transcontinental #1 as kids in the early1

[@yako0000]

@@paul-andrelarose3389 now i would like to know how the steam generator car worked? what fuel did it use? diesel likely?

[@bobjohnson205]

@@yako0000 Yes.

[@bobjohnson205]

The steam generator cars didn't come into use on the 'Canadian' until the early '80's. Before then the steam was supplied solely by steam generators in the 2 or 3 lead locomotives.

[@paul-andrelarose3389]

This Historical treasure is from a time when Canada had a Vision and a sense of Purpose - something that has been lost since. It indeed took Vision for Mr. Krump, then CEO of the CPR, to get his Company to invest in this system, although rail passenger service was then, and will always by, losing "money". One can imagine the even more pitiful state that Canadian Rail Passenger System would now be in if this had not been done then.

[@bobjohnson205]

Crump soon after regretted his decision to spend the $40,000,000 dollars to purchase the 173 passenger cars and new passenger locomotives needed for 'The Canadian' in order to try to compete with airline and highway travel. He said that it was the biggest mistake that he had ever made as head of the CPR and only extended the railway's commitment to a money-losing side of the industry. So much for "vision"!

[@bradjames6748]

And still in use today

[@douglasayers1485]

I'm a model train collector in a modeling Canadian Pacific between 1949 and 1953 the Dominion

[@simonworman7898]

The narrator is american and the car staff interestingly enough at that time seem to be just as regular pullman car attendants in the usa,maybe just a coincidence and only an observation.

[@elizetes7313]

Love the old Canadian trains , my favorite the one that goes to Senneterre

[@haweater1555]

Thankyou for uploading this. I find it odd that the CPR did not specifically showcase the different sleeping accommodations on board: section berths, roomettes, bedrooms, and drawing rooms.

[@davidlisowski5245]

It’s interesting that you can see the U series cars a number of times in the film, yet their features are never mentioned. I’m guessing the dressing up was only done on the outside for them.

[@TheBadCivilServant]

"Three days from Montreal to Vancouver." Fast foreard SEVEN DECADES and it takes AT LEAST four days from Toronto. Which is over 300 miles closer to Vancouver than Montreal is. And Via is using the same rolling stock

[@jimbobogie8204]

I rode The Canadian (her sister train was The Dominion). CN's transcontinental trains were the Super Continental and the Continental. The Ottawa station has been moved to the eastern suburbs and the original station is now the Confederation Conference Centre. The original rail line beside thw Rideau Canal is now a bike trail. Having a train station in the suburbs doesn't make a lot of sense. Waking up near Sault Ste. Marie and spending the day travelling beside Lale Superior was just as scenic as the trip through the Rockies. Unfortunately the CP line is now only dedicated to freight-except for the Rocky Mountaineer between Banff and Vancouver. The CN line runs further north through Kenora and Edmonton...still scenic but not like the CP line. You should watch the weekly TV show "Rocky Mountain Rail". It follows various freight trains through the Rockies-and also Northern Ontario.

[@arttaylor5935]

The Canadian and the CPR main line go nowhere near Sault Ste. Marie. The CP's Saulte (Soo) branch runs from Sudbury to the Soo and is currently leased to and operated by Huron Central (freight only). The closest points to the Soo the Canadian reached were Sudbury and Franz, on the Algoma Central (now CN). Both points are several hundred miles from the Soo.

[@davidlisowski5245]

The CN line runs through Sioux Lookout. The CP line is Kenora.

[@bradjames6748]

I've seen both routes and lake superior is NOTHING COMPARED WITH THE ROCKIES

[@bradjames6748]

I've seen both routes and lake superior is NOTHING COMPARED WITH THE ROCKIES

[@jimbobogie8204]

@@bradjames6748 My bad...it didn't (doesn't) reach the Great Lakes until Lake Superior (we'd just be walking up😄).

[@TrainmasterCurt]

Coloured porters too

[@poof117]

That was amazing!

[@RayMKlll]

I finally found it! Thanks a bunch!

[@k.s.333]

Good old days.

[@seaboardairlineproductions7185]

nowadays it's like $450 for a train trip and $1.27 for a cheeseburger when it cost a helluva lot less back then.

[@rhettinski]

Mind you we also have to realize that, on account of subsequent inflation, those activities back then were relatively pricy given average salaries/wages of the time

[@tony8074]

That is a big train, 18 to 20 passenger cars.

[@crosbytrains]

That’s cool😮❤

[@WhiteCamry]

I was under the impresson that the Vancouver-Toronto train was named "The Dominion." Did the CP change it? were the trains connected at some point?

[@Robbi496]

Unfortunately, the people who made films like this no longer seem to exist?

[@TrainmasterCurt]

Nice, back when women dressed like women ☺️

[@michaelbozzini900]

Is this available in dvd?

[@harleyray5183]

Typical..Between Winnipeg and Calgary there's nothing but grain elevators and wheat fields. I was really hoping for a glimpse of a 1955 Saskatoon - or whatever city The Canadian travelled through in Sask. back then - but....Cities in Saskatchewan wouldn't fit "the narrative" I guess. Oh well.

[@yako0000]

i was hoping for the same. the track is the same one that parallels Hwy #1 from Winnipeg to Calgary today. i guess showing a few elevators was good enough back then. i think you'll find what you're looking for if you go to the National Film Board channel and select 'Railroad Town'. kzbin.info/www/bejne/onOzmIiJlpZrlZo

[@davidlisowski5245]

They usually crossed the prairies at night.

[@James_Knott]

Of course, Saskatchewan is nothing but miles and miles of nothing but miles and miles of nothing. 🙂 When I passed through Saskatchewan on CN, I did it at night, so I really didn't see any of it. I've also flown over it a few times, but it's the only Canadian province I haven't done anything in, other than pass through on the train.