gokeefe wrote:"Reinstated?" How long had it been out of service before 1985? Why was it brought back? Was this service that CP used to run before the existence of VIA?VIA took over CP’s Atlantic Limited in the late 1970s but it remained unchanged until the restructuring of the Montreal-Maritimes services in October 1979. What had been a short 4 car CP train: power+baggage+coach+skyline dome+sleeper grew into a 10 to 12 car train of refurbished VIA equipment (the dome was removed) During the Christmas season in December 1980 there were so many people riding, the Atlantic was operated in two sections in each direction across Maine on several nights. One section ran through between Halifax and Toronto. Then in November 1981 the VIA network was drastically cut by the LIberal Government and the Atlantic was discontinued.
The CP line across Maine was freight only until June 1985 when the Atlantic was reinstated by the new Conservative Government as part of an election promise. There was another round of VIA cuts in January 1990 but the Atlantic survived. It was cut to a tri-weekly operation and lasted until December 1994.
