Talk:The Canadian

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VIA did not assume responsibility for The Canadian on January 12, 1977. This was the date when CN created VIA as a subsidiary company for its passenger services. VIA did not become a separate Crown corporation until April 1978 (when it still only operated CN's passenger services). It wasn't until October 1978 that CP gave control of its passenger services to VIA (along with equipment and stations), and it wasn't until mid-1979 that the VIA brand actually was implemented on the CP trains. Plasma east 04:22, 3 Mar 2005 (UTC)

Correct name of train under VIA Rail Canada is Canadian. Under the CPR it was The Canadian. R.L.Kennedy 20:34, 22 Mar 2005 (UTC)

Change of the route from CPR to mostly CNR was simply due to the fact the Federal government was paying for 100% of the losses of VIA Rail and Canadian National Railways. They did not want to pay money to the private shareholder-owned Canadian Pacific Railway. Under the old system, 80% of the losses were paid out. (Likely, the CPR in particular could cook the books sufficiently to get at least 100%) Furthermore, the CNR route ran through the Riding of many sitting MP's, moreso than CPR. The CPR was happy to get rid of the nusiance of passenger trains operating on their single-track mainline and made no complaint. R.L.Kennedy 20:48, 22 Mar 2005 (UTC)

What do we think of adding a reference to the Eric Wilson children's mystery novel Murder on the Canadian, set on the train? Mgriffin 03:54, 2 February 2006 (UTC)

Does the Canadian still stop just about anywhere a passenger requests for pick up and drop off? Back in 1999, I was able to board this train in the middle of nowhere north of Thunder Bay with a canoe and got dropped off at a bridge ~50 miles down the line. All for a pretty small fee (maybe $20). If I were a through-passenger I'd be pretty pissed about all the time lost for a dude and his canoe. Toiyabe 18:44, 20 April 2006 (UTC)

I believe it stops on request during the Northern Ontario portion of the route; I suppose their reasoning is that on a journey of several days, the lost time is not significant, and that request stops are more valuable than a few designated stations in such a sparsely-populated area. Some Ontario Northland and Algoma Central trains will stop anywhere along their routes. David Arthur 00:47, 21 April 2006 (UTC)

The term that I've always heard for this practice is "flag stop". In many pre-Amtrak US timetables, flag stops are designated with an "f" character to indicate that the train will not stop in the town unless requested by a passenger aboard or waiting to board the train. It's derived from the practice of waving a flag to signal to the engineer that a stop is requested, also known as "flagging the train". Some Amtrak trains still do this at limited locations, indicated in the timetables with a picture of two flags (such as on the Empire Builder). Slambo (Speak) 11:19, 21 April 2006 (UTC)

Now that I remember it, there was a 'flag stop' for someone else at a fishing camp - they hoisted a flag about a mile up the track from where they wanted to get picked up and the train stopped. My outfitter called a few days ahead, and asked them to be pick me up at a certain station where the train doesn't have a scheduled stop. After I boarded I told the conductor that I wanted to be left off at Bridge #XYZ, and she looked up the milage, calculated the price and sold me a ticket.

It was a great experiance, but I can understand why they lose money. Toiyabe 14:08, 21 April 2006 (UTC)