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View Full Version : Proposed holiday in Canada, your thoughts please


Tyrion Cheddar
03-09-2016, 07:27 PM
So I've been investigating railway journeys through the great state of Canada. <chop> There a first class train trip that involves Banff and the Canadian Rockies in Alberta, with some stops at nice hotels along the way. It certainly looks spectacular. By any chance, do any of you know anything about travel in Alberta, or anything else relevant, or about traveling by train through Canada like that?
OrphanPip
03-09-2016, 10:35 PM
So I've been investigating railway journeys through the great state of Canada. <chop> There a first class train trip that involves Banff and the Canadian Rockies in Alberta, with some stops at nice hotels along the way. It certainly looks spectacular. By any chance, do any of you know anything about travel in Alberta, or anything else relevant, or about traveling by train through Canada like that?

The railways used to own many of the luxury hotels in Canada and the construction of the railway has a sort of mythic significance in Western Canada as it was one of the conditions of British Columbia joining with Eastern Canada to make the current nation. Banff is a very popular tourist destination and if you like parks and scenic views it's probably a good choice.
Tyrion Cheddar
03-10-2016, 12:33 AM
The railways used to own many of the luxury hotels in Canada and the construction of the railway has a sort of mythic significance in Western Canada as it was one of the conditions of British Columbia joining with Eastern Canada to make the current nation. Banff is a very popular tourist destination and if you like parks and scenic views it's probably a good choice.

That's interesting, thanks. When you say it was one of the conditions, you mean BC demanded that Eastern Canada pay for and construct a railroad to connect the West to the East?
OrphanPip
03-10-2016, 01:30 AM
That's interesting, thanks. When you say it was one of the conditions, you mean BC demanded that Eastern Canada pay for and construct a railroad to connect the West to the East?

Yes they required the construction of a railroad and for their debts to be paid off because the colonial government was floundering to handle a sudden immigration boom from the USA caused by the gold rush, they couldn't keep up with the cost of building new infrastructure and they were worried about an American invasion or annexation if there wasn't some connection to the other former colonies in the East.

Gordon Lightfoot wrote a song about it as well.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Yzo6Otpgj-E