I agree with this poster: I see no downside, so why not?
Sorry my quoting got screwed up, on my phone
If it is reasonable, you have the time, and you want to do it… sure. However, that is a long time to spend on the rails. You already know the scenery if you have done Calgary to Halifax (more or less). And Dad would be happy. If there is no downside, what alternative is better?
But how long does it take? Five days? Better.pack a lot of good books. It would not be my personal choice, but I don’t have your history. I only frequently travelled by train when in university, and only have one interesting story not appropriate for the SDMB.
I would, however, resist the urge to talk like a Belgian detective or wear a red silk kimono.
There is a lot of Canada east of Toronto, but I’ve done those train trips already (Toronto-Montreal-Ottawa on the Lakeshore and Montreal-Halifax on the Ocean). I’ve also done Toronto-Calgary and vice versa (with my parents, when I was a child, and CP Rail went the southern route), and Toronto-Edmonton as an adult.
To complete crossing Canada by rail (though admittedly, not all at once), I just need to fill in that Edmonton-Vancouver gap. I could do that, but I thought why not do the Canadian from start to finish? Besides, depending on schedules and whatnot, I might be able to catch up with a few friends in Toronto and/or Vancouver.
Yes, that’s the idea. The train does stop at various places, but not for long—maybe a half hour, tops. The longest stop is at Winnipeg, for a couple of hours, for a crew change, refueling, reprovisioning, and the like. I’ve already seen a lot of the places along the way, anyway, and Capreol, Ontario—well, there’s a saying: “Fools rush in where angels fear to tread, and Capreol is not the place where you’d ever find an angel.”
It may sound boring, but one of the charms of long-distance train travel is that you get to know people. You don’t spend all of your time in your cabin; you go to the lounge car, have a drink, and talk to people. You get real cooked meals with more people in the dining car. As I recall from past long trips (i.e. Toronto-Edmonton and Montreal-Halifax), these are the places to be on the train. But of course, if you want to retire to your cabin and read a book or take a nap or just be alone for a while, you can.
Yes, you’re correct. The train no longer goes through Calgary. Or Regina, or Thunder Bay, or Banff. I mentioned Calgary only because that’s where I’d get flights to/from Toronto and Vancouver. I’m two hours south of there, in Lethbridge, actually.
Wow; thank you for that answer.
That suggests Vancouver-Halifax or vice versa is a doable itinerary. Truly coast to coast.
My bucket list just grew another entry.
There’s tons to see because there’s nothing to obstruct the view!
I like trains.
Do it!
The prairies have a weird beauty all their own. If you’ve driven across them (and I have, many times), you can watch a thunderstorm in the distance while you drive in bright sunshine. They are so flat that you can see the city of Regina an hour before you actually get there. And the sadly disappearing traditional grain elevators.
The Canadian Shield through Ontario is also fascinating, but in a different way. You find yourself knowing why there are no roads, and wondering how they ever surveyed and built the rail line. Rocks and trees and lakes and muskeg, and nothing but, for 24 hours. Oh, maybe the occasional village or town, as listed on the train schedule, but they’re flag stops where the “station” is little more than a city bus shelter. If you want to see wilderness, well, here it is.
There’s plenty to see.
The prairie has a beauty of its own. I’m sure @Spoons is well aware of this, what with living in Lethbridge.
By all means, do it. Yes, you’ll certainly want a sleeper car for overnight.
The food is slightly better than what they serve on Amtrak, certainly more stylish.
Beauty, adventure, and nature are where you find them, so go out and look some more.
Your fascination with the Canadian landscape, and your interest in interacting with your fellow passengers, is a completely different scenario from when I was travelling with my parents as a kid and got bored on the train after about the first day. It sounds like you really might enjoy this a lot!
I might add that even though there were periods of boredom, I still have very fond memories of those trips.
My parents finally got on a plane for the first time when they and I flew to visit my older brother in California, because trains were not a practical option. It was a magical, wonderful visit that I’ll never forget, but the actual plane flight – meh! There’s no charm in airplane flight.
I hope you will do it, @Spoons. If you’ve dreamed of it enough for it to be on your bucket list, then just dive in and make it happen! Like the old saw goes, the only opportunities we regret are the ones we don’t take.
I look forward to updates and photos!
The Prairies appeal to those who have a taste for abstract art. Plus the great sky.
As to the basic question: Do it! Why not?
(I have done the entire thing, in stages, back when Via ran through the CPR lines to Calgary and Banff, the Spiral Tunnels, then on to Vancouver. I gather it now takes the CN Yellowhead line. I’ve also gone from Brandon to Montreal (Expo!), Regina to Kingston, from Kingston to Quebec, and from Quebec to Halifax. I also slept one night on the bar floor of the CN ferry from Port-aux-Basques to Sydney, Cape Breton.)
Yep. On that Toronto-Edmonton trip that I spoke of, we ended up with a pretty good group that gathered in the Park Car after lunch and after dinner. People from all over—some from a British tour group, some Americans, some Canadians, and a few Europeans. We Canucks were certainly busy answering questions from our new foreign friends! I well remember pulling into Sioux Lookout, Ontario, and Steve from California saying, “We’re still in Ontario? Cripes, and I thought California was big!”
But one of the highlights of that trip took place on the Toronto-Winnipeg leg. The barman in the Park Car was getting on in years, to be polite; he was actually a senior citizen. He had forty years of experience on CN, and later Via, and he had plenty of stories that he enjoyed sharing. As it turned out, this would be his last trip; he was retiring once we got to Winnipeg. The closer we got to Winnipeg, the more the Park Car filled with people, asking for one more story. He happily obliged, and when we got to Winnipeg, we all groaned, but we all wished him well and thanked him for all the stories.
Yeah, there’s a lot to that old saw. And if I do, there will be updates and photos.
Ha! I’ve done that trip too, but I bunked down on one of the padded bench seats in the bar. So you were the guy on the floor? 
My buddy and I were doing the 12 hour bus ride from St John’s to Port-aux-Basques to catch the ferry. When there was a shift change of bus drivers at Corner Brook, the new driver came on and asked if there were any people planning on catching the ferry?
The two Prairie boys put up their hands.
“You know there isn’t a ferry tonight or tomorrow?” he said.
When we got to Port-aux-Basques, we saw why. There was an industrial dispute. Apparently there was limited space in the cargo hold, and the trucks and rail cars had more cargo than would fit on. The truckers and the railway guys had different ideas of the priority for loading.
So the truckers did the natural thing and pulled their trucks up to block the loading area for the ferry so no one could load. Perfectly normal.
The ticket seller took pity on us, made some comment about none of the truckers or railway guys being upset if a couple of lads got on, and let us on. For whatever reason, the only room that was open was the bar, not the normal passenger area, so we just pulled out our sleeping bags and crashed. Went to sleep to the delightful scent of eau-de-bière on the worn-out bar carpet.
It was a grey rainy night when we got on. When we woke up in the morning, it was a beautiful day, sun shining, and we were at sea! Apparently the dispute had been settled somehow and we were on our way, albeit late.
I just remember that the sea was a beautiful bright blue, a far cry from the normal grey Newfoundland seas in mid-April.
Because we were so late we missed the bus from the ferry port to Sydney, and had to hitchhike, but a kindly fellow took pity on us and drove us to Sydney and we were on our way home.
Several of those memorable train trips with my parents were to visit my older brother in Saskatoon, so I know the prairies, all the more so because he married the daughter of a Saskatchewan wheat farmer whose farm we visited. Wherein I looked out to see fields of wheat stretching out into infinity until they met the prairie sky. I mean, can it get any more Canadian than that?
Only Saskatoon in January. 
Having survived my January visit in a tragically inappropriate spring overcoat, I should commission a family crest with the motto “Saskatoon paene animam meam abstulit”.
I haven’t done a cross-Canada trip by rail, but I have done:
- A train trip from Saskatoon to Vancouver (I was a wee tot and my parents brought a bunch of toys and games to keep us amused)
- A non-stop drive from Waterloo, Ontario to Saskatoon (with a fellow university student; we definitely should have stopped for a nap at least!)
- A bus tour from Toronto to P.E.I. and back (through a cut-rate Chinese tour company)
That is nuts. The Canadian route? Or south of the big lakes?