Room Accommodations on the Canadian

[Electroliner 1935]

The original Budd sleepers are the Sleeper Plus grade of service. The PRESTIGE class of service uses redesigned and greatly modified Budd sleepers where the windows were enlarged, rooms completely redesigned and all new furnishings. No more upper "berths". About twice the room space as the old double Bdrm. Only about six rooms in a car. Some views can be found at:

https://canadarail.ca/information/toronto-vancouver-train

The Prestige Sleeper cabin is 50% larger than the cabin for two in Sleeper Plus class. It features an extra-large window and has its own private washroom with shower. A modular leather L‑shaped couch transforms at night into a Murphy bed for two facing the window. The electric radiant heated cabin floors and walls maintain a comfortable, constant temperature.

 

[Deggesty]

Thanks, Warren J., for the description of the "Prestige" class; I do not recall having seen such detail. My last trip on VIA was five and a half years ago, so I have had no opportunity to see, much less use, that class of accommodation. Have the cars been given a new class name to distinguish them from their original floor plan?

[Warren J]

All Prestige Class sleepers are modified Chateau models; all rooms are identical with no variety in layout.  Regular Chateau series cars are used as backup for Sleeper Plus on the "Canadian" when Manor series cars are not available.  The regular Chateaus have roomettes, doubles, and drawing rooms.  You should look into the Prestige Class section of VIA's site and not its standard car configurations.

All Prestige Class bedrooms have a double-size Murphy-style bed which is stowed in the wall backing against the hallway, next to the room's door.  When stowed, the room has an L-shaped sofa with a pedestal-style coffee table which doubles as extra storage as well as the support of the bed when in its the sleep position.

When I was WB from Toronto to Jasper on the "Canadian" two years ago, my car was the Chateau Cadillac in room F.  This year, we were scheduled to be on the "Ocean" from Montreal to Halifax but due to the current pandemic, we will have to cancel the trip as the border will remain closed until 30 June and VIA has not indicated if the "Ocean" will be restored to service.

[SD70Dude]

The "Renaissance" cars were designed in Europe, for use on a budget international sleeper train service through the Channel Tunnel (Nightstar) that never came into operation. 

As they had to meet the standards of numerous countries and still fit the tight loading gauge found on many older British lines, their design became a sort of kludge. 

VIA bought the fleet at a steep discount after they had been in storage for years, and never operated all of them.  Many of the carbodies were stored outdoors on the ground in Thunder Bay, ON, before finally being scrapped a couple years ago. 

They were not designed with the Canadian winter in mind, and suffered all sorts of cold-related problems when they were first introduced into service over here. 

VIA never bothered to replace all the couplers either, so they must run as complete trainsets, with a 'transition' car at each end. 

[Deggesty]

Since a drawing room ("cabin for three") has a sofa bed in addition to the upper and lower that a bedroom or compartment (both are now called "cabin for two") has, it is larger, with the sofa across an end wall, and the upper and lower are against the outside wall. A compartment (found only in Manor cars; room F) is slightly longer than a bedroom--and formerly was sold for more.

You do not mention the size of the roomettes, since you need accommodation for two, but you may be interested in knowing that the "cabins for one" in the Chateau cars are actually duplex roomettes--slightly smaller than roomettes, which, as you go down the aisle have one with a floor level entrance and the next one raised above the floor level. If you have seen a picture of a Chateau car, you may have noticed the staggered windows for these "cabins for one."

On our last trip to Canada, my wife and I were able to use the drawing room from Vancouver to Jasper and from Jasper to Toronto--by making our reservations several months in advance (ordinarily, no Chateau cars were on the Canadian). We also had a drawing room in a Chateau car from Montreal to Moncton. Sad to say, only "Renaisance" cars were available when we returned to Montreal. May whoever dreamed them up have no other sleeping accommodations ever.

[GN_Fan]

As part of a larger foray, I had planned a WB trip in Prestige class on the Canadian from Toronto to Vancouver, but the virus thingy blew it all out of the water.  I made reservations, changed the reservations to later in the year, then put the entire trip on hold even tho it’s all paid for.  I called VIA, and the reservations are good for a year with no penalty, so that’s a big relief.  However, being retired in Italy is nice, but being on lockdown for month is not, and this trip was part of a month-long visit to relatives both in Maine and Cali.  Obviously, I’m disappointed.  But, at the same time I’m a bit confused.  I got ahold of a VIA sleeping car diagram that showed the interior of the Renaissance, Manor, Chateau, Skyline, and Park cars, which highlights my confusion. 

Besides the usual sections and roomettes, there are bedrooms and drawing rooms.  My initial trip was scheduled for May 3^rd in car 39, Unit B, which on the diagrams is a bedroom.  Given that Prestige is the best accommodation that they have, and on the diagrams the drawing room is Unit A in both the Chateau and Park cars, it looks like my room is the same size as the other bedrooms and smaller than the drawing room.  Anyone know what's going on here, because i sure don't.  Any help will be appreciated.