About the train (3): sleeper cars

The sleeper cars are all named after people. The regular sleepers are "Manor [Name]," while the Prestige cars are named "Chateau [Name]," just to sound fancier.

The regular sleeper cars have 3 classes of beds: berths, single rooms, and double rooms. The berths have two seats facing each other that convert to an upper and lower bunk at night that just have curtains for privacy from the corridor. The single rooms have a toilet and sink in the room and one bed that lowers down onto the toilet at night. The double rooms have two bunks that are lowered at night, but I only ever used the lower bunk. The doubles also have a toilet in a little closet with a door.

There are 6 berths (3 pairs), 6 doubles and 4 singles in each car. So a maximum of 22 passengers, but some of those beds are reserved for crew. When we left Vancouver, I think the train was mostly full, but a large number of people got off at Jasper.

The sleeper cars also have a toilet room (for the berths passengers) and a shower room for everyone. All of the rooms have multiple buttons you can use to call an attendant. The shower room even has one positioned near the floor, in case you fall.

Fun fact: the toilets are similar to airplane toilets which use vacuum to suck all the waste into a holding tank. The sinks and showers, however drain directly onto the tracks. Which means there is a direct conduit from the tracks to the sink in each room. Which also conducts a lot of rail noise. So if you plug the sink in your compartment, it gets much quieter.

The Prestige sleepers have a double bed (no bunks) and a ton of other fancy things, like a concierge who will bring you drinks and snacks. The Park car also has 3 Prestige rooms (I think, I never actually saw inside those cabins).Read more