4 - Wednesday, August 11, 1993 - North Shore News The last spik into a nost love of trains IT SEEMED like a romantic notion. i had to get from Toronio to Halifax, and I wanted to save money. So why fly? Why not take the train? I mean, flying really sucks as a way of seeing any country. You don’t get any sense or taste of the place. You never see any people. You can’t make out buildings or signs. As for trains, | have so many fond recollections . .. First of all, my uncle was a brakeman for the CN in Win- nipeg. One of the big thrills of my childhood was to go down with Uncle Dave on a Saturday morn- ing and spend the day shunting around the yards up front with the engineer himself. The squeak of iron on iron, the smeli of creosote, the tang of coal and the hiss of flame... You'd drink water from a huge ladle dipped into a bucket, and I’d try to slosh it all over my chest, just like the real railwaymen did. Apart from this, { am still haunted nostalgically by the sound of a night train howling across the prairics. This passica for trains might even be partially genetic, since my father actually rode the rails dur- ing the Great Depression. I have taken the Continental from Vancouver to Winnipeg and return a coupie of times. Sitting in unter fees SHS STRICTLY PERSONAL would be somehow exciting — maybe a replay of our youths — to do it the cheap, old-fashioned way. Oh well, live and Jearn. The first shock was the discovery that absolutely everyone in economy class smoked. Your correspon- dent, having only managed to quit (for the 1500th time) some four or five months before, instantly felt a fump of panic in his lungs. This, | hoped, could be controlled by the calming influ- ence of a drink. So, as we lumbered slowly out of Montreal, T inquired casually, with a jerk of my thuinb toward the rear: “*Guess the bar car’s thataway, 4&4 [t was from Montreai onward that things began to go down the tubes. 99 the Dome Car watching the Rockies go by is an experience that, in itself, makes the whole mucky process of evoluiion a worthy enterprise. { have travelled by rail from Nova Scotia to Vancouver ~ talk about an epic voyage! Jt was the end of March on the East Coast, with shipwrecked icebergs in the St. Lawrence. The coaches glided through blue-walled snowdrift canyons, almost like submarines. It stayed winter all the way across the country until Hope, whereupon we suddenly descended into a lush green paradise. B.C. had never looked so glorious! I’ve also taken trains through Italy, France, Germany, Britain and Spain. Al! of these, plus rides on B.C. Rail, were experiences | shall treasure all my life, even if they weren’t uniformly comforta- ble. Okay, fast forward to this summer, and the unfortunate decision to take Via Rail to Halifax. Not that I can complain particularly about the ride from Toronto to Montreal. That was fine. Nice countryside. Service was okay. it was from Montreal onward that things began to go down the tubes. The key mistake was trav- elling economy class, a decision prompted by budgetary considera- tions. At that point, | expected, along with my travelling compa- nions, to be taking a ship across to somewhere in Europe or possibly Russia . . . but that’s another story. The point is, we didn't know how much it was going to cost to get. back home, so we were con- serving our resources. That, plus the fact that we all thought it eh?” “*Nope,’’ came the reply. ‘‘Bar car’s been cancelled, did- nyaknow?”’ “Uh, no. I didn’t know.” { was assured, however, that someone would come around with a bar on wheels, just like on the airplanes. Someone did — about three hours later One of my travelling compa- nions, Dr. Lyle Thurston of Deep Cove, and I exchanged haunted looks and decided to take our precious drinks and go back one car to a recreational coach with tables where we could at least play cards. : No sooner had we entered and sat down than a conductor with a distinct Newfie accent and the personality of a rat with its tail torn off charged over to us and Started ranting, spittle fiying from his mouth, about how “‘y’cin’t git away wit’ dat, b’yes, dere’s rules an’ reg’lations, rules an’ reg’lations, what d’hell d’y tink yer pullin’ off, by God, I kin have y’s put off de train, y’know!’” We finally figured out what he tneant was that you can’t take your one lousy drink a day from one stinking coach to another. Never mind that there’s no bar car, that service is a dead duck, that the trains run slow and late, the worst part is that petty tyrant conductors act like flamed-out fascisti toward paying customers. That was the last spike driven in the heact of my love of trains, at least in Canada. Arrivaderci, Via Rail. Oh, and by the way, if you want to get back from Halifax to Vancouver by jet, it costs more thap a thousand bucks. A plot, or Igic A Using Your Bank | Card to Pay for Groceries... Ras {t's so easy! Hard cashier your : "4 (ge Bank Card for scanning Proceed tothe keyed “PIN” pad. Press which account you want your purchase to be taken out of, key in your Secret Code and watch for your approval. That's it. i's so convenient! Most major bank cards are compatible wih the interac System. Package includes: BRIDE’S BOUQUET, BRIDESMAID BOUQUET, FOUR BOUTONNIERES, CORSAGES FOR MOTHERS OF THE BRIDE AND GROOM plus a THROW-AWAY BOUQUET. Orders accepted up to 5 days prior to the- wedding.