Status Operating | ||
 | ||
Former operator(s) IRC (1904–1918),CN (1918–1978) | ||
The Ocean, previously known as the Ocean Limited, is a passenger train operated by Via Rail in Canada between Montreal, Quebec and Halifax, Nova Scotia. It is currently the oldest continuously operated named passenger train in North America. The Ocean's schedule takes approximately 23 hours, running overnight in both directions. Together with The Canadian and Via's corridor trains, the Ocean provides a transcontinental service.
Contents
History
The Intercolonial Railway of Canada (IRC) inaugurated the Ocean Limited on July 3, 1904, as a summer-only "limited stop" service to supplement the Maritime Express. In Halifax, it connected with the Dominion Atlantic Railway's luxury train, the Flying Bluenose. During the immigration boom of the early 1900s, the Ocean Limited and other passenger trains on its route saw increased use as they provided key wintertime connections for both the Grand Trunk Railway and Canadian Pacific Railway in moving sponsored immigrants to lands in the Prairie provinces.
In 1918, the IRC was merged into the Canadian National Railways (CNR) and the Ocean Limited continued its operation much as before. During both the First and Second World Wars, the Ocean Limited provided important service to the port of Halifax.
In 1964 the Ocean received ex-Milwaukee Road Skytop Lounge lounge-sleeping cars.
CNR dropped the "Limited" from the train's name in 1966 as part of the company's adoption of bilingual names. Despite the name change references to the Ocean Limited remain commonplace.
During a landslide which affected the old IRC line near Rimouski, Quebec, in 1977, for six months CN diverted the Ocean onto another parallel line several hundred kilometres to the south, maintaining the same Halifax–Montreal schedule times.
In 1976, CN placed operation of all its passenger services under a new division using the marketing slogan "Via". In April 1978 this division was created as a separate Crown corporation named Via Rail Canada, taking with it all CN passenger trains and equipment. The new national passenger rail service did not begin to change train names and operations until 1979, following the October 1978 assumption of all CPR passenger trains and equipment.
The Ocean did not get renamed by Via and in fact became supplanted on the Halifax–Moncton portion of its route in 1985 by another Via train, the Atlantic (formerly the Atlantic Limited), which saw its eastern terminus extended to Halifax from Saint John. This train also assumed the train numbers and equipment of the defunct CN passenger train Scotian, which survived only into the first few years of the Via era.
Under Via, the Ocean underwent several changes in its operation:
Route
The route taken by the Ocean runs through a very scenic portion of eastern Canada including the Island of Montreal and the city's skyline and suburbs, the lower St. Lawrence River valley, the Matapédia River valley, the south shore of Chaleur Bay and the forests of eastern New Brunswick, the Tantramar Marshes, the Cobequid Mountains and Wentworth Valley, the edge of Cobequid Bay and mixed farmland through central Nova Scotia to Halifax.
Consist
Until late 2012 the Ocean route was supported by three Renaissance train-sets, but a reduction in service to 3 departures in each direction per week late that year reduced the need to only 2 sets of equipment. These sets range from as few as 14 cars in the off season to as many as 21 cars during the peak summer period, and each consist includes a baggage car, several coach cars, a dining car bracketed by two service cars, multiple sleeping cars, a transition car (see discussion above) and a "Park" Sleeper Buffet-Lounge Dome Observation Car. The Ocean is almost invariably hauled by a pair of London, Ontario-built GM F40PH locomotives, of which all have been upgraded by CAD Railway Industries of Montreal to the F40PH-3 model. A third locomotive is sometimes added in the fall and winter to help deal with difficult track conditions. For several years prior to 2012, one set of Renaissance equipment was removed from service in the winter months for upgrade work, and was replaced with a set of Budd-built stainless steel "HEP1" equipment (including a baggage car, coaches, a "Skyline" dome car, a dining car, "Chateau" sleepers, and a "Park" car). This practice ended after the service reduction, as only 2 sets of equipment were required. However, in 2014 and again in 2015, Via added extra trains over the Christmas holiday period, which they ran using a set of "HEP1" equipment much like in past years. These runs have been popular with both railfans and many among the travelling public, as they provide more types of sleeping accommodations, a dome accessible to coach passengers, and a full dining car with meals cooked on board (a contrast to the catered meals in the normal Renaissance dining cars).
Prior to August 2013, the Ocean ran from Montreal to Matapédia, Quebec, joined to Train 16/17, the "Montréal–Gaspé train" (formerly called the Chaleur) 3 times per week. In Matapédia, the trains were separated with Train 16 continuing to the Gaspé peninsula and Train 14 (the Ocean) continuing to Halifax (and vice versa with Trains 15/17). Train 16/17 had its own locomotive which ran from Montreal, resulting in the combined trains (14 + 16 and 15 + 17) running with three locomotives between Montreal and Matapédia. The Montréal–Gaspé train used Budd-built stainless steel passenger cars, including a "Skyline" dome car. It was not possible to pass between the two trains when connected. Trains 16/17 were suspended indefinitely due to infrastructure problems on the line to Gaspé, and service will not resume until the line is upgraded.