2019 On The Road Again #1

So many times I have typed the words.." sitting in a railroad station, got a ticket for my destination.......". While in the past the train was generally scheduled to leave before 5:00 AM, VIA Rail this year changed the schedule and the train left Sudbury Junction just before 5:00 PM. And this year the train, for the first time in years was early! Almost 20 minutes early. It was a gorgeous day and so my daughter and I waited outside until the train came. So while the above words ran through my head...this time, there was no waiting or sitting in a railroad station.

I was less excited about this trip than almost any other. I am not too sure why but the fact that the train would not get into Winnipeg until after 8:00 or 9:00 may have had something to do with it. Almost any way I thought about it....I didn't think I would be on the road until Tuesday morning.

Just a few minutes down the track from Sudbury junction we pulled into the small town of Capreol where we waited for 30-40 minutes to get back into the schedule, to allow for shift changes, to refuel and to allow the smokers the first chance to smoke since Toronto. Pity - while I would not want anyone to miss the train because it was early, I could not help but think that at some point that we would lose time, and that just once it would be so nice to be on time when we got into Winnipeg.

The train was very crowded. I had a seatmate for a few minutes but he decided to get off in Capreol. He did not appear to speak a lot of English and it was not clear why he was getting off at this small town. He initially had gotten off at Sudbury Junction but then apparently realized that there was nothing there and got back on again. I am not too sure if he would have found that much more to do in Capreol. I was just happy to not have a seatmate for a while. I like being able to spread myself out and at night it is so much better having a seat to myself. It was, however, only a matter of time before I did get someone sitting beside me He was a relatively large man and at some point, during the night he was consuming more than his share of the space. In fact, at one point his head was resting on my shoulder. It was a bit uncomfortable but I still managed to get in a solid 4-5 hours of sleep. Fortunately, most of the time, my seatmate was not there. I assume that he was in the dome car. Perhaps he was as uncomfortable as I was.

I think every seat in the car was occupied. The two young conductors/attendants occasionally had to shift people about so that couples could sit together. I was not sure why the car felt more crowded than normal. Perhaps because it was summer it meant that there are lots of people travelling - there were certainly a fair number of young adults in the car, but I also wondered that as expensive as the train is, for some it is the only option now that Greyhound buses are no longer running.

It was a very quiet train. There did not seem to be a lot of chatter between passengers. I didn't think that I would be having any extended conversations on this trip.