TUESDAY TRAVEL...

Press, 4 October 1977, Page 43

TUESDAY TRAVEL...

Canadian Pacific engineers found the answer in Switzerland where spiral tunnels were already in use on the St Gotthard line. C.P. prepared a plan which would turn the line through 291 degrees in the first tunnel and 217 degrees in the second. Trains would emerge 54ft lower than their point of entry in the first tunnel and 51ft lower in the second. It was a job that would take 1000 men two years to complete. In all 6177 ft of difficult tunnelling that, even today, remains unique in North America. As the dome car approached the first portal I half expected to see our locomotives thunder at any moment from the other end and pass overhead; a spectacular prospect, but one that would have required a much longer train.

The other tunnel was across the valley and we could clearly see from our vantage point the portal frame from which we would hopefully emerge a few minutes later. Then we slid into the darkness and the train began its long tight turn to the right — a plea-

London to the north; and even with good old N.Z.R. between Wellington and Auckland. These trains all pass through land of varying appeal, but none can offer the continuing grandeur, beauty, and vastness that is rightly the realm of The Canadian along the 600 miles of track between Vancouver and Banff.

Banff in many ways reminded me of Queenstown. Both are surrounded by mountains, both have gondola lifts and well equipped ski-fields, and both are smoothly geared for tourism. Certainly Queenstown has no hot springs, but Banff has not a lake like.Wakatipu lapping at the end of its main street. And while both offer a wealth of accommodation for visitors, only Banff can boast a hotel as imposing as a medieval Scottish castle. Indeed, the