Rocky Mountaineer Train - Vancouver to Kamloops Part 2

Taken in Jasper

Monday morning, with our luggage ready to be picked up in our room, we went downstairs to be loaded on our bus for 7 am. Off to the train station where we were all loaded onto our coach for the first stop in Kamloops. We keep the same seat and train car for the next two days going east. Another gorgeous sunny day. The Rocky Mountaineer staff sure have everything well organized for our 8am train start.

The Gold Leaf Coach is amazing with the dome cars. You sit upstairs in chairs well-spaced with lovely reclining seats, with a foot rest and lumbar functions as well as a heater. Ray did well with these seats.

First view of the inside of our coach. These brand new dome cars were delivered in 2020 just as the pandemic closed up everything so this is the first year they have been in service at a cool $10 M a piece!

They have the coolest table that is stored in the seat.

They have 3 attendants upstairs to serve you drinks etc. and give commentary. One of the crew that works upstairs also helps out downstairs in the dining area serving drinks where there are 2 more attendants plus 3 chefs in the kitchen constantly cooking snacks and meals. There are two seating's for meals, as half of the dining portion of the car is taken up with the kitchen, bathrooms and outside viewing space. There are 10 of these cars on the train, each holding 80 passengers and probably 4 or 5 one story Silver Leaf cars with as many people. The biggest difference in the Silver Leaf class is that you have less room to move around, eat at your seat, two person viewing platform, and handle your own luggage. A huge amount of people to feed and arrange transport for. With Gold Leaf they take care of your luggage and it is picked up from your room and you find it back in your next room when you arrive at the different hotels. Lovely. The luggage is trucked separately and does not go on the train so you have to keep a day pack with you with your essential items, medications etc. in case your luggage gets into trouble. 

All Aboard!!!

We were up for the first seating for breakfast downstairs. Of course this is when there are pictures to be taken, so Ray is on the run between eating. lol

A bunch of our pictures show a bit of a reflection as they're taken inside the train, but that is the best we can do. Others may seem slightly fuzzy, but that is where there is some smoke in the air or from the rocking platform. We were blessed most of our journey, as we encountered mostly smoke free and sunny skies.

It's a lovely trip travelling over the Pattullo swing bridge across the Fraser River before heading into the Fraser Valley.

Old Pattullo Bridge in New Westminster and the Skytrain Bridge in behind

Masks are to be worn as per Transport Canada everywhere on the train except while actively eating or drinking. We saw a lot of people disregarding this and had to be reminded by staff, mostly international travelers.

Getting ready for that picture. lol

Huge train yard under the new Port Mann Bridge over the Fraser River

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A little small breakfast cocktail before the main event.

Eggs Benedict for me.

Smoked Salmon Skillet for Ray.

Our table guests, Marilyn and Judy from Pennsylvania. They were from quite a large group.

Mission Bridge

Hatzic Lake

Kilby Historic Site

Harrison Lake

Chilliwack Corn ... the best you can get we think.

In the seats beside us is Chris and mother Dianne from Sydney Australia. Chris now lives in London but he took a sabbatical from work to take his mom on this 6 week adventure including the Rocky Mountaineer before flying back to Sydney. Since Ray no longer drinks booze, Chris and I managed to try and compare a bunch of the alcohol offerings and critiqued them lol. Lovely people. I caught them napping lol They have been on the road quite a bit and are tired.

The next bunch of pictures are taken along the Fraser River. The pictures do not do the scenery justice for the expanse of the river.

Because the canyon along the Fraser River is so tight, the first to build a line, the Canadian Pacific, of course got to choose the easier ground. This entailed crossing the Fraser at multiple locations. Decades later (1915), the Canadian National built through the canyon and of course needed to build as many bridges as the CP. They now both share the tracks and only have trains going north on one side and south the other.

Alexandra Bridge

Hells Gate with the fish ladders for the salmon.

We passed by the town of Lytton which burned to the ground from a forest fire last summer.  This is the hottest spot in Canada and in the week leading up to the fire, temps were in the mid 40'sC during our heat dome. The day before the fire started, it went up to 49C (120F). The next morning a passing train sparked the fire. Very tragic. Hardly anything has been rebuilt as of yet as the area is rich in archeological Indigenous history and the government is doing mega studies.

 

After Lytton, we head up the Thompson River towards Kamloops leaving the Fraser River behind. You can see the difference in the colour of the water. The Fraser River is very muddy with silt from it's headwaters at the Columbia Icefields. Whereas the Thompson goes through a bunch of lakes that settle the silt to make the river appear clear. The Thompson River has some world class rapids on it for those people who like the adrenalin rush of river rafting.

The picture below shows the tunnels through the rocks.

This is by Skihist Provincial Park where we have stayed in the Motorhome.

With the highway running parallel.

You can tell how windy the track is as Ray took this picture from our car at the back of the train.

Next up is lunch/dinner.

Striploin Steak for me.

Salmon for Ray

You can see the front of our train on the left.

Fishing season for the salmon coming up the river.

Outskirts of Kamloops, very desert-like.

A herd of Big Horn Sheep were having their last drink of the day along the river, then headed up the hill between the two trains below.

A herd of male Bighorn Sheep, you can tell by their very curled antlers. The females have much smaller horns.

This next area is Rainbow Canyon that can only be seen by the train as it is an Indigenous protected area and no roads exist. Very much like Artist Pallet in Death Valley National Park in California.

About an hour before getting into the Kamloops Station, 2 of the chefs came and delivered fresh baked cookies to tide you over until you can have dinner.

Pulled into the train station at 6:30 and delivered to our hotel, the Delta Marriott by 7 pm with our luggage waiting in our room. Lovely service. We decided to take a stroll down the main street and stopped for Sushi. It was quite hot out at 30C (86F) so we did not walk far.  Another delicious meal.

Basically fell into bed at 8:30 as we have another early call for our luggage and bus to the train. Luckily the A/C worked great in the room. What a fabulous day.