The more I fly, the more I love train trips.

It’s not just the rail world’s lack of airport security, cattle-car ambience and gut-wrenching turbulence, but also its sense of pomp and circumstance, its Old World civility. Stations are often grand old edifices where smartly uniformed porters will lug your overweight luggage and station staff might even lend a hand as you step up into your car.

Then there’s the “All aboard!” call that never fails to set off an anticipatory flutter of my heart, even if it’s a recorded call to action.

And it was just so as I boarded the Rocky Mountaineer in the bleary-eyed dawn in Vancouver’s East End. As the whistle sounded and my carriage lurched ever so slightly, the staff lined up rail-side in a waving honor guard. A steward arrived with a much-needed pot of fresh coffee. Eco-friendly, with a place to stretch my legs and real food – sign me up to the rails anytime.

Rocky Mountain Railtours, the largest passenger rail service in North America, crisscrosses British Columbia on four luxury routes. I had recently traveled from Vancouver to Whistler on their Whistler Mountaineer, a day trip up Howe Sound and back complete with baby bear sightings. Scenery-ogling was accompanied by an open bar from 8 a.m., a full gourmet breakfast and high tea on the way back.

The Rocky Mountaineer from Vancouver to Banff is RMR’s signature trip – it’s also the only passenger service provider on that route – and because it is lauded as one of the world’s great rail rides by National Geographic and others, I was keen to jump on board. From the Rockies to the Pacific is the historic final leg of the Canadian Pacific Railway’s 3,000-mile transcontinental route from Montreal to Vancouver, following in the footsteps and paddle strokes of early explorers and opening Canada’s west in the late 1800s.

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Railway Map Guide:British Columbia & Canadian Rockies