HEP2 club car refurbished

davidmississauga

2006-10-30 13:14:54 UTC

--- In Canadian-Passenger-Rail-***@public.gmane.org, "Jason Shron"
<***@...> wrote:
...

Post by Jason Shron
4008 was tacked on the rear of 73 - this car has been completely refurbished inside, just
as VIA promised over a year ago. It has LRC-style VIA 1 seating with curtains and looks
absolutely fabulous. It was a delight to behold, considering the number of times I have
been stuck in this car or one of its two sisters with their coach-

style seats and lack of

Post by Jason Shron
curtains.
The exterior was not touched at all, so it still has the proper VIA logo.
My congratulations go out to VIA - it's about time!

In answer to my complaint in March about these "semi VIA 1 cars"
4007/8/9, VIA assured me all 10 HEP-2 first class cars would be
given the new LRC-type interiors. A follow-up e-mail assured me
that the three glorified coaches would be done first, which makes
sense. Foolishly, I believed VIA. In the latest Vialogue there is a
photo of the new interior of car 4002. On a trip to London earlier
this month I was in car 4005, which had been nicely refurbished and
even had that "new carpet smell."

Shortly thereafter a friend and I (we will call him Mr. F.) were off
to Montreal. Mr. F. has never travelled in one of the "VIA One-
half" cars and he avoids HEP-2 consists whenever possible because of
the chance of getting one. He knows if you pay for first class on an
LRC train you will get what you pay for. I assured Mr. F. that the
HEP-2 refurbishment is progressing and that I was promised that cars
4007/8/9 would be done first. So he agreed to travel on #60 which
was the most convenient train for us.

Much to my surprise, we have cars 4007 and 4009 (the latter was
deadhead) as the VIA 1 cars and they had not been given the first
class treatment. Mr. F. is sitting there, looking at me as Queen
Victoria would look at the errant Prince of Wales with the "We are
not amused" expression. But things get better before they get
worse. When the bar trolley comes by, Mr. F. tells the attendant he
likes his gin and tonic strong and he is offered a triple. To my
credit, I decline and accept a mere double. Then we are told that
Toronto was short a trolley of meal trays and we will not get a full
meal. For some reason, there were enough main courses to go
around. So the crew found some plastic cutlery and paper napkins
and served us what is, of course, the most important part of the
meal. There was plenty of wine and extra chocolates were offered in
lieu of dessert. At Kingston, some extra desserts were loaded so no-
one went hungry.

This crew handled this as well as anyone could. The service manager
endorsed the tickets of the 20 or so passengers for a $15
credit "due to incomplete meal." Even Mr. F. complimented the SM
and her crew. Last week I travelled (coach) to Belleville on #42
and met the same SM. I told her I was on #60 with her a few weeks
before and we had a laugh about that situation. I again
complimented her and the crew on the way it was dealt with and I
told her I was pleased that not one person got grouchy about it. She
replied that it is always better to have a problem in first class
because generous servings from the bar trolley can diffuse a
potentially awkward situation. I don't know what would happen with
a group of teetotallers, mind you.

David Brain,
Mississauga, Ont.

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