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In July of 2005, I had an opportunity to ride on VIA Rail Canada's newest investment, the ex UK Nightstar "Renaissance" equipment. Anyone who follows VIA will know that, from the late 70's until now, all VIA trains (with the exception of a few in the corridor) were either BUDD Stainless Steel passenger cars, or the Blue Fleet Blue and Yellow Smooth side Cars. With the Blue Fleet becoming extinct in the mid-90's, Stainless ruled the rails...until now. The new cars, painted in what most would call a unique two-tone green paint scheme (they took nothing from BCR's beautiful two-tone green scheme!), were put into limited service back in early 2003, with a single 4 or 5-car train sitting in Halifax to train the crews on. In the fall of 2003, a single train set was put into service on the Halifax-Montreal service, but was pulled almost instantly due to mechanical, electrical and general flaws and problems. It was mid-2004 before these saw service again, and this was after extensive rebuilding at Bombardier, Alsthom and IRSI. They served through that winter with only minor problems (some cars lacked heat, apparently due to heating ducts that were too small a diameter). VIA has worked hard at finding and repairing these problems. And, they've put extensive amounts of time into public relations and such, trying to figure out what the public liked and disliked about them. For this, I must congratulate VIA...It's nice to see that the age of actually researching what the public wants and not just purchasing what is cheapest or the best value are not dead! VIA did get a good deal on these cars, but they're pouring a fair bit of cash into the rebuilding of these cars, as well as other modifications and rebuilds.
First off...the coaches of the Renaissance cars reminded me of an aircraft cabin in several aspects.
There are overhead compartments above every seat, though they're broken up and not one solid wall like an aircraft cabin. Thus giving you additional headroom. I'll explain that remark in a moment. The walkway between the 2-1 seating is nice, and well lit. There are dim lights under every seat that provide enough light so as to make darn sure your not about to step on something important. And, something I liked is, they're not too bright to disrupt your vision or create a nasty glare off the windows. The windows are nice, rather large and with very nice blinds...the roll smooth and quiet, and are very good at blocking out passing lights. Anyone who has ridden on a train looking out the window knows what I mean...at 60MPH, passing lights look like strobe lights or a camera flash! Now, back to the headroom comment. The seats are elevated a good bit above the main floor of the passenger compartment...probably between 8 and 10 inches above the main floor. Thus, if the above-seat storage compartments were solid like an aircraft, you'd probably whack your head. And, they way they are nice, it breaks up the solid, symmetrical look aircraft seem to have. The inside of the coach cars, as I said, hold a striking resemblance to the inside of an aircraft cabin in other ways too...the 2-1 seating, slightly rounded walls and the seats themselves. The seats, however, are rather comfortable. They're soft, but not too soft. I bet they would be easy to fall asleep in. However, the other two guys I was traveling with were back in the sleeper, so I waited until the car attendant was out of sight and wandered about 7 cars back to the sleepers.
Something I found to be of interest is the doors in and around the vestibules...they're air-actuated, and operate with the push of a button. Push it, you'll hear a "pfftttt", and the doors slide smoothly open. A while later, they slide shut, gently and quietly pressing the seal together.
In the sleepers, they're laid out in a similar fashion to the BUDD Stainless cars. Walkway down one side, bedrooms on the other. A downside of the Ren cars is they only have double bedrooms...unlike the stainless cars which had double and triple bedrooms, as well as births and single-person sleeping quarters. I can never keep the names straight, and a lot of people use them interchangeably, so I'm not even going to attempt it. This walkway I mentioned is small, and the ceiling, being curved, is lower towards the outside of the car and an easy target for someone of my rather large (6'2") build to smack their head. Ask me how I know that one!
The other two people I was traveling with, David and Peter had a double-bedroom (the ones without the shower). The doors are electronically locked using those plastic key-cards, similar to what most hotels are using now days. A good idea, if you ask me. The key fits nicely in ones shirt pocket, pants pocket or wallet, and is easier to find then a key, but is a good deal lighter to carry around. Sure, a key isn't heavy, but it's one more thing to add to the 5-pound key-ring you've already got. These are just more convenient in my opinion.
Inside the room, there are two beds that fold down from the wall, as is the case in the stainless cars too. Except, with these, you can put them up and down whenever you feel the need to do so, where as the stainless needed the car attendant with the special key to do it for you. This is nice, as I can go to bed (or not...) whenever I feel like it. Under the lower bed is a couch big enough to comfortably fit 3 people. The stainless cars usually only had two fold-down seats (Three in the Drawing Rooms) that could be moved around the room, though I have been told that they did sometimes have a couch, or both a couch and the seats. The seats in Stainless WERE more comfortable though, as I'm sure the couch would be! The sofa was a bit hard, and didn't flex as much as the older stainless sprung seats did. The rooms in the Ren cars are also smaller...a good deal smaller. Headroom is lower by a foot or so, the room is about 2 feet smaller side to side, and about 3 feet smaller end to end. This makes for a rather small room, all in all, and if there are 3 people in the room, as was our case, it proved to be rather difficult to access the bathrooms...which, on that note, are rather nice. The sink has moved inside the bathroom, making the space needed for the bathroom bigger, which may be part of the reason the main sitting room itself is smaller. Everything one needs is provided in the bathroom, as well. Something to look out for, however, is that when we were on, our car seemed to have a nasty case of AC-turned-all-the-way-up-ed-ness...seriously; it was like all of 2 degrees in our room! Realistically, it wasn't that cold, but it was cooler then I would have preferred! I've got a picture of Peter wrapped in a blanket, however, for his sake, I'm not going to post it here! A word of warning about the beds before I move on...if you happen to be fooling around with the beds at 4 in the morning...don't...when you fold them back up, they tend to drop into place, making a rather loud metal on metal crash....please, ask how I figured THAT out....
The cafe cars are nice, too...a small canteen, similar to what one would find in the skyline dome car on the older stainless equipment is present there, and there are at least 3 or 4 of these cars through out the train.
They've also got a sitting area like the stainless skylines, but lack the dome. A feature that, in my opinion, is NEEDED on the Ocean. Also, there are complimentary News papers and a bar-like area to read them at the other end of the Cafe car...what's nice is, papers from New Brunswick, Nova Scotia and Quebec are all provided, giving a nice idea of what goes on where, and making travelers feel more at home.
The Park Car and Dome on the rear of the train is reserved for "Eastern Class" sleeper passengers...what that is, and what it provides, I haven't the slightest idea. I do know, however, it is more expensive! The dome was something I was looking forward to, but we made due alright without it. We pulled an all-nighter, using things like the crashing beds (times two!), and things of that nature to keep us laughing. We slept a bit, but not for more then half an hour, all together.
All in all, I like the RenCars, as will most other people, I think. The ride is very smooth and enjoyable...smoother then the Stainless cars, but there is a rather annoying high-pitched whine at track-speed, and it's noticeable even to someone who doesn't specifically know what to listen for. The BUDDs don't have it, so that makes it even more noticeable to someone like Me.
If I hadn't rode and enjoyed the Stainless so many times, the Ren cars may not have been that bad, but my respect and admiration for the BUDD Stainless cars is deep seated, and the Ren cars aren't up to my standards for a comfortable ride. The coaches are better, but still not BUDD coaches. If the stainless were a 10, I'd give the coaches an 8.5 and the sleepers a 7.5...however, there IS room for improvement! The train in general I give a mark of 7, but that could be brought up with the addition of better climatic controls in the rooms, a dome or two and a couple other features. Would I ride again? Hell Yeah! Would I rather travel stainless? Damn straight!
You ARE in luck, however...VIA is still operating a single Stainless consist in the Maritimes. It leaves Halifax on Saturday and Wednesday. However, this may be on the way out...according to VIA higher-ups, the last Stainless Consist may be leaving Halifax for the last time as early as May 3rd of this year. This has changed a couple times, so keep your eyes open!
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