We had a bus take all us tourists from the Fairmont Waterfront to the Rocky Mountaineer train station still in Vancouver. We were a bit late so did not have a chance to buy any of the multitude of tourista goodies there but once on the train they let us choose from a catalog and the next day on the train all our items appeared. We were on the first tourist car which gave us a superior view of what was coming up. The Rocky Mountaineer is the only passenger train that goes this way to Banff. All the rest are freight trains that carry mostly wood and coal.
The train was comfy enough, it did not sway back and forth like BART. And the food was always great, but we were situated under the air conditioning duct so it was colder than it needed to be. We sat with other couples during eating times, one time with a couple of youngish Romanians. For the most part the train was full of retirees. The train stopped frequently to let freight trains pass. There is often only a single track and there were lots of dark tunnels.
We stayed a night in Kamloops which ia a desert town of some size. Did a historical tour but they mostly showed us murals in alleys. These were done to keep the local gangs from their grafitti. The train ended at the Chateau Lake Louise where we spent two nights. This place is even more spectacular in the summer. We had seen it on a ski trip in 2012. We spent all our time hiking, canoeing, horseback riding and eating near the Chateau.