mandealco wrote:what other locations of rail interest are we likely to see on the way? Places that I should have my camera at the ready?
If I properly understand your inquiry, you are not so much interested in majestic mountains, raging rivers, endless plains, placid lakes, or other such scenery, all of which can be seen from the train, but rather wish to find out about railway specific points of interest.
Offhand I can think of a few such items like along the Fraser River Canyon after leaving Vancouver where the Canadian Pacific and Canadian Northern railway routes run on opposite sides of the river crossing each other a couple of times along the way. Unfortunately. with the present schedule, the Canadian traverses this portion at night. Another location may be in the Yellowhead Pass between Valemount BC and Jasper Alberta where there is a complex set of interchange tracks that once formed the junction of the Canadian Northern and Grand Trunk Pacific lines, now both part of CN. One more location would be Winnipeg Union Station that you should have plenty of time to explore. There are also numerous rail bridges, tunnels, trestles, viaducts, rail yards, etc. that you will travel through.
Sadly, the most interesting railway feature in Canada (imho). the Spiral Tunnels, is no longer on VIA's route, although I was fortunate enough to ride through these on the original Canadian many, many years ago.
I am by no means knowledgeable on this subject, but I do recommend obtaining a copy of the "Scenic Rail Guide to Western Canada" (Revised edition - 1985) by Bill Coo and follow the "Route of the Super Continental" description which describes today's VIA Canadian.
Note - it is important to get the revised edition and not the original as the original did not include the present routingKen V. Moderator: Most things Canadian.
Any time could be train time!
