Banff Park

Appears that there was some graffitti added to the outside of the "Banff" Park Car. Saw it in the Prince Rupert yard today. It's being assigned to the Skeena. I actually will be on this train tomorrow heading to Prince George - eventually Jasper. VIA seems to have cleaned most of the exterior from the graffatti, but you can still see it had been done. Looking forward to my trip on the Skeena. Booked in Totem Class.

I was thinking about this earlier today - instead of passengers overnighting in Prince George, at a regular hotel, why doesn't VIA Rail offer sleeping cars on the train to meet this need (in Prince George), thereby eliminating overnight hotelling in Prince George. Still hold the train overnight in Prince George, but simply have those continuing on the next day, stay aboard overnight. Now that the Budd cars are being freed up in the East with Renaissance cars, one would think there would be enough cars to offer this. Course, you'd have to make the revenue greater than expenses to make it successful. Anyway, just a thought. Course, Totem is not cheap as it is, so I am not sure how much more dollars can be added for an overnight stay on the train.

jp1822 wrote: ... I was thinking about this earlier today - instead of passengers overnighting in Prince George, at a regular hotel, why doesn't VIA Rail offer sleeping cars on the train to meet this need (in Prince George), thereby eliminating overnight hotelling in Prince George. ... Course, you'd have to make the revenue greater than expenses to make it successful.

Via would have to pay CN for trackage rights for the extra car. And Via would have to provide on-board staff and services for that car while it is occupied. That just might make it so expensive that it's not worth the cost.