During my teen years and early adulthood, there were two trains a day in each direction between my home town of New Liskeard and Toronto, Ont. One was the "Night Train" It left New Liskeard at about 11:00 at night and arrived in Toronto at about 8:00 in the morning. If I had the cash, I would book a berth in the sleeping car, and wake up the next morning just outside Toronto. More often than not, however, I would just recline a seat in one of the coaches and doze the night away there.
One of my most memorable rail journeys was taking that train back to Toronto after spending Thanksgiving Weekend with my family up north. Because of it's nocturnal schedule, scenery was generally not appreciated much on the night train as it wound it's way through the absolute blackness which is night in the forests of Northern Ontario. However, that night there was a full moon. It was achingly beautiful. Every glance out the window was like a moonlit variation of a Group Of Seven painting. The moonlight danced on the rivers and lakes of the Temagami District and Northern Muskokas. Towering pines and massive rock formations were rendered in silhouette against an indigo skyline. It was my first glimpse of scenery I had missed in years of travelling on the night train. I must have been able to doze off for a few hours because the next thing I remember was the morning sunlight. By this time the train was passing throught the woodlots and farm fields of Simcoe County. There was a slight mist over the fields and at times, one almost had the sensation of flying as the train glided through the mist and the early morning sunlight. Somewhere I have slides of that morning taken with my trusty old Yashica FX3. ( My first serious camera) I'll have to dig them out and share them sometime in a future post. Maybe it's just the saccharine memories of a greying middle aged man, but I remember that trip as a delight of the senses. From the moonlit scenes to the misty morning sunlight, the rhythm and sway of the train, the smell of fresh coffee and bacon in the dining car and even the brief chill and ear assaulting rumble as I passed through that no-man's land between the cars.
Travelling on the night train was not always a pleasant experience. Sometimes you had to tolerate loud obnoxious drunks who had spent too much time in the bar car. The old steam heated coaches had a tendency to be either stifling hot or icy cold. There was also the inevitable endlessly crying baby or hyperactive kids running up and down the aisles. But on that October night, about thirty years ago, she was perfection on rails.
Like I said earlier, there were two trains that traversed the rails to the north back then. The original Northlander was a European train converted at the O.N.R. shops for use on North American trackage. Originally part of the Trans Europe Express, these trains were quite a novelty. One of the coaches featured compartment seating and could almost engender romantic thoughts of a European vacation in the Swiss countryside. The last coach in the trainset featured a control cab so that the train could operate in either direction with the locomotive pushing from behind on the return trip. Shortly after entering service, the European engine was retired and replaced with a good old General Motors diesel built in London, Ont. It was found that the European locomotive, while very fast, didn't have the power or weight to blast through Northern Ontario snowdrifts.. It was also found to be a maintenance headache with replacement parts either specially machined or imported from Europe. It was a beautiful train to ride though, very comfortable and surprisingly fast.
The latest incarnation of the Northlander features coaches that were rebuilt for long distance service from single level cars formerly operated by Go Transit. These coaches ride a bit rough as they were never designed or intended for use on long distance trains. Also the trackage on Northern railways is notoriously rough from being heaved around in sub zero winters and sweltering hot summers. The seating is quite nice though with lots of leg room and leg supports under generously reclining seats. It's kind of like cruising in a Lazy Boy chair. As usual, the O.N.R. shop crews did an amazing job rebuilding the usual second hand crap with which they get to work.
The first time I rode the newer version of the Northlander, I spent much of the trip in conversation with an older gentleman named Omar. That's another thing about trains. They're like little rolling communities. You strike up conversations. You have meals in the dining car with absolute strangers because of the limited seating in your little rolling restaurant. Parents watch out for each other's kids. For the most part, people are friendly and helpful. I've never really experienced that mobile sense of community in any other form of travel.
At any rate, Omar was an interesting fellow. He was a World War II veteran who had some interesting and scary stories to tell. Some of my earliest years were spent in a little hydro town not far from Cochrane and after bouncing some names back and forth we found that we had some aquaintances in common. He was a member of the Royal Canadian Legion and talked about how membership there was declining. Omar rode the train regularly because he was going for weekly cancer treatments in Toronto. He was thankful for the train because he couldn't imagine doing 14 hours on the bus each way for his treatments. After a pleasant and interesting chat, Omar went back to his seat in the coach to rest. I didn't mind. My part of the trip was almost over. My brother was picking me up at Cobalt. As I was getting off the train, I quietly said good bye to a tired but still wakeful Omar. I never saw him again. But I'm glad I got to know him.
My last trip on the Northlander was with my son, Greg. He would have been about five at the time. We had been visiting my brother in Haileybury and I wanted to travel back to Southern Ontario by train. Soon after we boarded the train, Greg befriended a little girl who was travelling with her mother a few seats up from us. Soon Greg and his new friend were happily chatting and playing and taking over the unoccupied seats across the aisle from me . The girl's mother came to check on her offspring and I assured her that I would keep an eye on both of them and that her little girl was no trouble at all. Later I had to collect Greg from their seats as they were leaving the train at North Bay. My sister in law had packed a lunch for us and, after eating, we went to the club car for some drinks. There was a big screen television in the club car and the crew had put on a cartoon movie for the kids. Greg happily sipped on his chocolate milk and watched the movie. I relaxed with a coffee and just enjoyed the passing scenery. After the movie, I bought two cans of Temagami Dry Ginger Ale ( Memories of my childhood. I was surprised that they still made it! ) and we wandered back to our seats. By this time my little boy was pretty tired from his adventure and soon fell asleep. I sipped on a ginger ale and relaxed as the train wound its way down the final leg into Union Station. I remember thinking, " What a civilised way to travel." I had taken a five year old child over 300 miles without a single problem. Just happiness, peace and contentment. The rhythm of a train can give that to you.
I was a little sad to rouse my sleepy son as the train pulled into Toronto. It was the end of his first train trip. I had taken that train trip dozens of times in various configurations. I guess I never realised how big a part of me it was.
...more later
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