CP Air 1981 - Vancouver to Toronto

A few years before the airline's sale to Pacific Western Airlines in 1987, we took a flight on CP Air (as it was known 1968-1986) between Vancouver and Toronto. 

Having travelled out and back across Canada a couple of times by train, I knew the hours on the train could seem rather long - particularly when travelling inland through northern Ontario. 

Being recently married, and having suggested this trip, I knew it would be prudent to try a westbound trip with its increasingly interesting scenery - rather than the reverse. A flight back was indicated.

Back in the era before small battery-powered electronic entertainment devices, one could pass the time eating, watching the scenery (i.e. trees, rocks, muskeg, repeat ... in northern Ontario), conversing with strangers, eating, reading a book ... or playing bingo (while eating if you weren't too excited) at night in the dining car if your train provided this traditional railway evening entertainment. 

In addition to these pastimes, you could rattle around in your bunk for many sleepless hours during the night. Staying awake all night through northern Ontario made the trip even longer - nothing to do inside, nothing to see outside. Well, almost nothing.

The train would stop, everything would be quiet, dark and peaceful in the Canadian wilderness ... You would finally drift off ... to ... sleep ...

... Then the wilderness would grow brighter and brighter, and a 9000-15,000hp team of wilderness woodsprites would daintily dance by your window and you'd be awake again. 

... Then the grand parade: the bone-sawing sound of flanges on rails, cars which banged and jerked incessantly as they 'hunted' and threatened to derail, an occasional shrieking bearing to demonstrate the Doppler effect, and the pounding percussive delight of hammering flat wheels ... followed by the van's sputtering generator and its blinding inspection lights. 

With the development of portable RF scanners, I happily took direct responsibility for my own insomnia. 

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The images below come from 5 x 3.5 inch prints. 

They were taken with a Yashica FX-2 SLR with a stock lens before the common availability of ASA 400 and 1000 film. 

 

After we arrived in Vancouver at night, I did a hand-held, guess-timed exposure of our train.

Shortly after our visit, the engine which pulled the first train into Vancouver on May 23, 1887 

ended its 38 years on display in a city park.

It is now restored and preserved indoors in a pavilion in Vancouver.

Our ride home was a Boeing 747, which was built in 1973.

Nearby was a Boeing 737, built in 1980 - named Empress of Winnipeg.

We had a particularly clear day, enabling us to see the country below us. I was leaning over my spouse to get these photos out her window. It was 40 years ago, long before everyone documented their flights in HD via the internet. Some of the pigments have not done so well over the years. I've only included a few representative images.

We were quickly and furtively lifting and lowering the shade to avoid upsetting the other passengers. They were enjoying the in-flight movie: This Is Elvis

Movie versus scenery: It didn't seem like much of a contest to us ... especially after 'inland northern Ontario'.

According to my spouse's written account, we travelled back on VIA's Cavalier as planned. LC and Eric Gagnon intrepidly picked us up at the station in the middle of the night and we retrieved our car from my parents' place.

We got to bed at 05hr. At 07hr 'The Hospital' called, wanting me to come in immediately for a shift. My spouse - also an employee of the institution - had answered the phone and said it was 'out of the question'. I was still on vacation.

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BONUS PHOTOS

Here, in No 1's dome, we are (sort of) behaving like a Pool train.

Where are we? (answer below)

First clue: The two absolute signals.

Second clue: The building to the left.

Above: We meet No 2 near Biscotasing, Ontario.

Answer for the night image above: We are at Dorval. Having just departed from Central Station on the CN, we are reversing over the connecting track to the CP before heading west to Vancouver on the CP. 

As I recall from researching previous posts on Pool trains, a typical routing between Montreal and Toronto departed from Windsor Station before crossing to the fast, more direct CN main line to Toronto (and vice versa).