Caption: ROCKY MOUNTAINEER MOMENT. While visiting our son in Calgary, we took a side trip to overnight in Banff and were delighted to discover that the westbound Rocky Mountaineer would be stopping early the next morning to entrain passengers for Vancouver. An early morning rise allowed me to capture this 7:30 AM scene of GMD Unit GP40-2LW 8012 and sister 8014 at Banff with the 'First Passage to the West' Rocky Mountaineer. On the left side, the staff are proudly raising the flags of Canada, The Rocky Mountaineer Railtours Company, and Alberta to bid adieu to those who just boarded the all daylight train with an overnight stop in Kamloops. Almost 31 years earlier, on September 24, 1988 this photographer would re-board the westbound VIA 'Canadian' at this very spot and within hours, his girlfriend would accept his proposal of marriage.