The "Ocean" VIA Overnight Sleeper

Dinner was just after leaving Rogersville. I started with the Ocean’s signature chowder……then the Sirloin Tips along with Mashed, Green Beans & Carrots. There was three passes with warm multi-grain rolls and I finished-up with strawberry cake and coffee. An excellent meal and good service!

I spent some time in the dome on the clear evening……looking across the Baie de Chaleur to the lights along the Gaspe coast Then it was back to my room and I stayed awake through Campbellton and into Quebec at Matapedia where time went back an hour to Eastern at 9:20pm…….right on time!

I had a Deluxe Cabin for Two. VIA’s Renaissance Sleepers are not named but are “Themed”. As you entered my car: #7516…..You see a mural for Kouchibouquac…..a New Brunswick National Park and it’s carried throughout the car with photos in each room.













There’s been some discussion in one of the forums here about locking of sleeping car doors……here’s the keycard and lock on my Ren Bedroom. (VIA Budd sleepers do not have card locks)



I didn’t hear a sound until the loud roar of HEP units out my window at 1:50am. So up when the blind just as we met the eastbound Ocean near Trois-Pistoles……..then back to sleep.

I set the alarm on my phone for 4:30am so I would be awake as we crossed the St Lawrence to Sainte-Foy on the Quebec Bridge. We’re 15 min late here……then we back-up across the bridge with the Park Car leading for the 3 1\2 miles to Joffre Yard then continue onto Montreal.

Time to get ready now and head for breakfast…….and just a light one: toast, fruit and coffee. I’m sitting in the diner as we stop in Drummondville 15 minutes early……then up into the dome for a 25 minute early arrival at Saint-Hyacinthe where we have to wait for our departure time. Certainly…..a lot of schedule padding.

We would have been 15 minutes early into Gare Centrale except for a halt just outside the station but still make it in about 5 min early.

I was staying in Montreal for a day at the Fairmont Queen Elizabeth (a former CN Hotel) located directly above Central Station and connected by elevator. From stepping off the train and into my room was less than 10 minutes.







Here’s the upper portion of Centrals Concourse…….with the QE Hotel above





Saturday afternoon I took an AMT electric MU from Central out through the 3 mile Mt Royal Tunnel to Deux-Montagnes (Two Mountains)…… One of the more scenic routes doing some island hopping through the northern suburbs. One of the original CN Electric units that served the route until 1995 is “stuffed & mounted” in front of the Deux-Montagnes station.







On Sunday morning I took VIA #133 to Ottawa. A consist made up of refurbished Budd Stainless-Steel equipment. I was in Coach #4102 The photo below is an interior shot……you would never guess now that it started life on the Louisville & Nashville RR and probably saw service on the Georgian, Humming Bird and Pan American before going to Amtrak then onto VIA.

It was a quick 1 hr and 50 minutes up to Ottawa. After leaving the CN main near Coteau-du-Lac, we were on mostly VIA owned track, the Alexandria Subdivision for the remaining 65 miles into Ottawa.

Arrival was 5 minutes early at the most attractive Gare d‘Ottawa……soon to celebrate it’s 50th anniversary:









Then it was on to downtown and to where I was staying via OC Transpo and the O-Train diesel light-rail. Ottawa buses run on a system of dedicated transitways……roads for buses only and bus-stops are stations…..not just a post on the corner. Here’s the transit stop at the VIA Station.



…..and the O-Train:







The original Ottawa Union Station was downtown and is still in use today as a Government Conference Centre. It’s located directly across the street and was connected by tunnel to the former CN Chateau Laurier Hotel. You can see the hotel in the background here behind the National War Memorial (where the terrorist attack took place here just over a month ago.)

……and keeping with the railroad theme of my trip, I returned to Halifax on “Porter” airlines. A Bombardier Q400 Turboprop covered the route in 1 hr and 25 min. Porter is a great little airline with routes in eastern Canada and into the US. All passengers get to use the business class lounge in the airport and there’s complementary snacks and free beer and wine on board.

Great report, thanks for posting that! A few comments:

-I was quite impressed to see how quickly the track work on the Newcastle Sub got underway. I was through on the Ocean in August and then again in October, and the amount of work that had been done was substantial. The speed has actually already been increased on several sections, back up to 60mph. This has resulted in the eastbound Ocean arriving in Moncton reliably 30+ minutes early for the last while (at one point early in the fall I heard a report they got in 50 minutes ahead of schedule!) The schedule hasn't been altered though, so between that increase and the faster stop in Matapedia (no Chaleaur to connect with), there's a lot of padding in the schedule. Hopefully that will help keep time-keeping reasonable over the Christmas season (especially with the extra trains and extra travellers!), and ideally we should see a change in the schedule to speed things up again soon.

-Glad you enjoyed the meals. I've noticed an improvement in the quality of the Ren meals lately, and actually on my trip in October the meals were the best I've had yet on the Renaissance equipment. I believe there have been some changes lately with the catering, which may have helped things out.

-The locking doors are one of the only things I like about the Ren sleepers. That and the convenience of having a bathroom (and in half the rooms a shower as well) en suite, but that's all I like about them

-The interior jobs in the HEP2s (the refurbished Budds in the Corridor service) really does an impressive job of hiding their heritage! The original idea with them was to make them very similar to the LRC interiors (for consistency of service and convenience for crews), and they do fit that bill. It unfortunately makes them much less comfy than the long-distance HEP1 Budds.

-The Queen Elizabeth is a lovely hotel, and can't be beaten for convenience coming off the train. I was put up there by VIA last Christmas when the Ocean got stuck in Matapedia (HEP failure in a snow storm!), and we got bussed in to Montreal too late to make any connections (after 8:30pm!). I very much enjoyed the hotel, and the breakfast the next morning (also courtesy of VIA).

-Good to see you got to ride the O-Train as well! I took a summer course at Carleton a few years ago (while living in Ontario over the summer), and was able to use that train twice a week when I went in for class, either from the Greenboro park-and-ride, or connecting from a bus at Bayview....so I know the whole little route quite well! The Bombardier Talents are quite nice,and I always liked being able to sit in the front section and look through the glass wall at the back of the driver's cab; great view down the tracks ahead. Did you happen to notice if any of the new Alstom units were in operation?

-Ah, Porter. If you have to fly, it's a pretty nice way to go! I did the same thing you did on my trip in October, Ocean west and Porter home. If VIA were still running a sensible schedule I could have taken the train both ways, but 3 days a week is just ridiculous.


So yes, thanks again for the lovely write-up and photos! Has me even more excited for my Ocean travels to and from Ontario in a few weeks time for Christmas. I'll be happily taking advantage of the extra all-Budd equipped trips of course....now THAT is a way to travel!

timberley wrote:
...
-Glad you enjoyed the meals. I've noticed an improvement in the quality of the Ren meals lately, and actually on my trip in October the meals were the best I've had yet on the Renaissance equipment. I believe there have been some changes lately with the catering, which may have helped things out.
...


-Ah, Porter. If you have to fly, it's a pretty nice way to go! I did the same thing you did on my trip in October, Ocean west and Porter home. If VIA were still running a sensible schedule I could have taken the train both ways, but 3 days a week is just ridiculous.
...

I'm pleased to hear the meals have improved. I had two trips on the Ocean this summer season. The first one was in June and we were not impressed with the food for the first time in about 20 trips with Ren. diners. It turned out this was the first run of "Sleeper Plus" (formerly Easterly Class) service for the season, so my e-mail to customer service wasn't too nasty! A further trip was made at the end of August and I noticed the meals were a lot better, although not as good as previous years. At least the dessert of cheesecake wasn't the same at both lunch and dinner.

Porter Airlines still has some advantages over the mainline airlines, but they have been downgraded since my last trip two years ago. The extra leg-room which they used to brag about is gone. They are now as cramped as the others. The snack box (a small sandwich, cheese and small chocolate bar) is a thing of the past. They still give wine and beer - in glasses - but the wine was on the verge of being undrinkable unlike what I had previously. It was the first time I took Porter from Halifax to Toronto. This necessitated a stop for fuel and exchange of passengers in Ottawa which increased my time in discomfort by 50%. The only reason we flew was we didn't want the expense of two more days in Halifax waiting for the next train. The next time I have to fly I will take Air Canada or Westjet; at least the misery is over sooner. Or maybe we would just wait for the next train.

I know with the new Prime Minister in office many folks (including me) are hoping to see the return of passenger trains to VIA Rail. Hoping to return to visit friends in Cape Breton (made through a chance meeting after riding the Railiners to Sydney back in 1988), I find the Wednesday, Friday, and Sunday frequency rather difficult to plan a stay with, as leaving Friday from Montreal then arriving in Truro to make a bus (Aaaaghhhh!!!) connection on Saturday shoots down both weekend days for such. Has there been any real talk or movement for going back to the six day a week frequency as before October 1992? I can add my desire for a return using the old "Silver Fleet" coaches for the consist, but I am a realist plus others enjoy the Renaissance equipment (mainly the sleepers) I have learned on here.
In any event, I am looking forward to "Going Home" to good old Cape Breton, then some day, hopefully, to Newfoundland......As with all of Canada, I have found, unique wonderful places with their own cultures and people in the provinces that make its lands.
Thank you for any information.




XC Tower

In a radio interview on the CBC, VIA's CEO Yves Desjardins-Siciliano has said he has no plans to restore the "Ocean" to a six-day-a-week operation. He says he is interested in running local service in the Maritimes to augment the "Ocean. The possible routes are Halifax-Moncton and Campbelton-Moncton. I don't recall if he said how often these services would operate.

I have heard nothing hopeful about the service east of Truro. The end of service on the eastern portion of the CB&CNS is a problem, to say the least.

marquisofmississauga wrote:In a radio interview on the CBC, VIA's CEO Yves Desjardins-Siciliano has said he has no plans to restore the "Ocean" to a six-day-a-week operation. He says he is interested in running local service in the Maritimes to augment the "Ocean. The possible routes are Halifax-Moncton and Campbelton-Moncton. I don't recall if he said how often these services would operate.

I believe the plan is for a morning and evening run on each route; I'm assuming toward Moncton/Halifax in the AM and to Moncton/Campbellton in the PM.

When I recently made a change in my VIA booking there was hope from the reservation agents that the Ocean would return to six days a week. So it appears it depends on who you talk to.

Front line agents would not have any inside information on this whatsoever, so I would take their statements with a huge grain of salt.

A recent trip to Quebec City brought some questions to mind? The Quebec City stop for the Ocean (14/15) is Sainte-Foy. But Sainte-Foy is on the north side of the St. Lawrence. So, the train has to cross the "Bridge at Quebec" (to use the title of Middleton's book) to access the station. How does it then get turned to get back across the river? Why not stop at Charny on the south bank instead? Although that would require a short backup move, at least you wouldn't have to cross the bridge. And if you're going to cross the river, why not go on to Gare du Palais? Given the total journey time for the Ocean, the extra 25-30 minutes in each direction wouldn't see to be that important.

The Ocean did use Charny until 2014 when the station there closed then was rerouted across the bridge to Ste Foy. Here's a post with some details: Note the westbound Ocean arriving from Halifax now runs forward on the wye track from Joffre Yard, through Charny and onto the Bridge to Ste Foy. .......then backs up through the Why into Joffre Yard before continuing west.

viewtopic.php?f=59&t=155756&p=1266546&h ... y#p1266546" onclick="window.open(this.href);return false;

Really no need to go into Gare du Palais as Ste Foy is a convenient suburban station. It would add an additional 25 min each way plus station dwell time and It would also have to be wyed there. Gare du Palais has enclosed high level platforms with insufficient length to handle a train as long as the Ocean.

Thanks. When I did a search under "Sainte-Foy," I didn't find anything, but didn't think to search "Ste-Foy." So, I take it that the stop was changed when Charny was destaffed? Your explanation re Gare du Palais and the platforms there makes sense.

A reminder that the abandonment of the line through Levis was really too bad (although now 20 years or so distant).

On the subject of Levis, I took the ferry over from Quebec. There is a new ferry terminal since my last trip there (10-12 years ago). While the old station is no longer the ferry terminal, it still has the stump of a bridge attached to it. Also, the former platform had scaffolding around it and the whole building appeared to be fenced off. Anyone know what the plans for the building are?

We were recently in Quebec to board Cunard's Queen Mary 2. As we were in port more than 24 hours after boarding the ship I was hoping to take the ferry to Levis to have a look at the station which I was led to believe was being used as the ferry terminal. We had so much else we wanted to do we didn't get that chance and I appreciate these observations as it appears we didn't miss much.