The Rocky Mountaineer leaves from Vancouver on Mondays, Tuesdays and Fridays for two day trips travelling eastbound to Jasper or Banff and Calgary. Then we turn around for another two day trip westbound back to Vancouver, arriving on Thursdays, Fridays and Mondays.
So on Mondays and Fridays the eastbound train heading to Jasper or Banff/Calgary will pass by the westbound train heading home to Vancouver. Usually it's somewhere between Hells Gate and Boston Bar.
Between Basque and Vancouver the trains (or rather the rail tracks we are travelling on) run parallel to each other on opposite sides of the Fraser River. At this point the train I am on is travelling eastbound on the Canadian Pacific tracks, and our sister train in the photos above is travelling westbound on the Canadian National tracks.
Clear as mud? Basically there are two railway tracks between Vancouver and Kamloops. - Canadian Pacific Rail (CP) and Canadian National Railway (CN). CP built their railway in 1885, along the easiest route. When CN built their railway in 1917, there wasn't enough room for two sets of tracks along the same side of the river. So CN had to build on the other more difficult side of the canyon. Between Vancouver and the small town of Basque all trains use directional running. Huh? Well, CP and CN co-operate and all westbound trains use the CN tracks, and all eastbound trains travel on the CP tracks. From Basque for the rest of the trip to Kamloops we are on the CN railtracks. Don't understand? Really, it all makes perfect sense.