Our tiny train tree

Elizabeth May

December 25, 2022

The 2022 holiday season across North America will not be remembered for happy times in transit. Thousands stranded, many more without power, sleeping over in airports, and worse, stuck on tarmacs and on trains; this was not a holiday to enjoy traveling.

So, apologies that somehow my husband, John, and I are in the dome car of the transcontinental VIA train called “The Canadian,” en route from Vancouver to Toronto. It’s Christmas Day and we are surrounded by the vast open Saskatchewan prairie. The major dump of snow was more than a day ago. All is still and calm, but we know that just past our glass bubble, it is bitterly cold. John could tell from the way the Chukar partridges by the siding were huddled for warmth.

On Christmas Eve, we felt we were inside a snow globe. The dramatic swirl of snow only dies down when the train slows to a stop. Otherwise, the speed of the train whips up the snow on all sides. Nothing is nicer than being warm and cozy on a winter’s day, aboard a train as much as by a fireplace.

We planned this for months — a Vancouver departure on December 23^rd, arriving in Toronto on December 27^th.  As far as we can see for now, our train, the number 2, may be the only train moving in the VIA network.

We owe this trip to a comment by one of the staff on board an August trip home to B.C., who had told us Christmas on the train was not to be missed. John and I decided almost on the spot to book our tickets for Christmas.

As I wrote in my 2019 piece Big Country, Small World, for Policy’s The Canadian Idea issue, I love taking the train. A long-haul VIA trip is the one time I totally relax. Cell service is patchy and internet is only available in the bigger city stations, so John and I read novels and sleep late and eat too much. The on-board meals are amazing. It is also wonderful to have an ever-changing view from the dining car, seeing a side of Canadian life — of farms and roads and streams and small towns and inner cities — that seems somehow more genuine for being unburdened by any consideration of curb appeal.

And, we always meet interesting people. This trip has folks from all over: Henry from San Jose who decided months ago to make his first Canadian trip; Paul, who knows my brother in Cape Breton; and Chris from Vancouver, who, when his fourth flight to Edmonton was canceled, grabbed the last VIA bedroom, with an hour to spare. The usual summer train has two dining cars, with around 30 cars altogether. This Christmas train is relatively short – one dining car and twelve cars. We are families (young children are free on the train), retirees (seniors get discounts), younger couples, and students (yes, students still get discounts). All happy to be moving.

John leading a carol singalong

But the crew is the best part of the experience. John brought his guitar, only to realize that it needed new strings. Service Manager Julie Gaudet called ahead to the station crew in Jasper to get any local intelligence on the possibility of a music store open Christmas Eve – walking distance from the station. Directed to the likely place, John found a most unusual store — which he described as a “general store/second hand/ curio shop.” It did have musical instrument strings for mandolins and ukuleles — but not for an acoustic guitar. So, Mike, a VIA crew member I remember from earlier trips, hearing about the local string deficit, called ahead to his guitar-playing Uncle Trevor in Edmonton, who, incredibly traveled in nasty weather to the station to deliver the strings. John is thrilled, if somewhat sheepish as he discovers the once-fanciful idea of singing Christmas carols with strangers is now de rigueur.

How blessed are we to be experiencing the breathtaking beauty of Canada — at least as far as Toronto — with such wonderful people. I just saw three white-tail deer out the window. Yesterday, it was clusters of big-horn sheep on the rocky outcroppings of Jasper National Park. My daughter, Cate, prepared a great Christmas gift of a thumb drive with my favourite sentimental Christmas movies, including It’s a Wonderful Life, Love Actually and The Bishops’ Wife. I have time for another one before we meet with our new friends for Christmas carols in the bar car.

Would I rather be on a beach in Hawaii? Not for a single second. Mon pays, çe n’est pas un pays, ç’est l’hiver. Et puis, le train.

Contributing writer Elizabeth May, MP for Saanich-Gulf Islands, is Leader of the Green Party of Canada.