The Canadian remembered
Vancouver  -  January 14th, 1990
January 1990 was a bleak period for passenger railways in Canada.  The Conservative Government under Prime Minister Mulroney shed few sentimental tears over the heartbreaking service reductions that went into effect in mid-January.  Of the many trains that succumbed, The Canadian was the most lamented.

The date usually identified with the cuts, January 15th, was not the last day of running for The Canadian.  To provide a daily service, VIA had to operate six complete trains between Montreal and Vancouver.  Any of them could be properly identified as "Train No. 1" or "Train No. 2", since it took three days to make a voyage across Canada.  (The numbers stood for westbound and eastbound services serving Montreal, respectively.  The route branched at Sudbury, forming the additional Toronto sections, Trains 11 and 12.)

The last trainset to originate in the East did indeed depart on the 14th.  But it didn't arrive in Vancouver until the 17th after three nights on the road.  Conversely, this also applied to the last No. 2 leaving Vancouver on the 14th.  Canadians continued to arrive at their ultimate destinations on the 15th, 16th and 17th, although no new trains originated after the 14th.

So it came to pass that Vancouver actually had two "Last Train" events, a Last Departure on the 14th, and a Last Arrival on the 17th.  Both are documented here.
Waiting for the Last Departure Inside Pacific Central, the former CN station.  The board directs passengers to track 5 for boarding VIA No. 2, the last train properly called The Canadian to cross the Rockies eastward on the famous itinerary via Rogers Pass, the Spiral Tunnels, Banff Park, and Calgary.  Thereafter, trains No. 1 and 2 would use the more northern CN trunk line through Edmonton and would operate only 3 times a week.  They too are called "The Canadian".  But they ain't.
"Strathcona Park" and beaver drumhead The unmistakeable end view of a Budd-built "Park" series dome-observation car.  This is Strathcona Park, about to become the last Park car to traverse CP's All Red Route across the Rockies from the west.  Someone put up a CP sign on the drumhead for a joke.  It could be a fake.  On the day after New Year's in 1989, my wife and I rode Assiniboine Park from Calgary to Vancouver.  We had one of the compartments near the vestibule end, a tight but comfortable twin-bed unit with a sink, toilet, shower, and two chairs.
Fading into History Strathcona Park brings up Train No. 2 at the "Cut", a line belonging to the Great Northern (now BNSF) that VIA uses to access the station.  The beaver sign was replaced with a crude "Last Run" sign at the last minute.  Sunset is imminent, and Ektar 125 film is barely up to the task.  This is a real sentimental photo for me.  That's the Clark Drive viaduct.  Many times I drove home from my job over this viaduct.  Just two months before this photo was taken, I was fired and paid 3 months' severance.
Enlargement of sign under clock
Enlargement of photo above.  Note the CP beaver shield, tacked up clandestinely by a sympathetic person.  Underneath are dates giving the period of The Canadian's existence.

Also to die this day was Super Continental, Train No. 4 to Winnipeg via Jasper and Edmonton.  Further departures of The Canadian (so-called) would assume its route.

"Kamloops Lake Louise Banff Calgary Regina Winnipeg Sudbury Toronto & Montreal
Daily - Track 5
Boarding time 1525"
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