Author's note: Here's the next installment of my Dimension Four saga, folks!

This story takes place between the events of the bulk of Season 1 of SDWAY and most of Season 2 of SDWAY.

One thing to note is that I have the events of the Season 2 episode Mystery Mask Mix-Up placed as being before this story to coincide with Chinese New Year in 1970, whereas the events of Nowhere to Hyde, the season premiere of Season 2, takes place after this story.

Anyways, in this story, the gang travels up north to Canada for the first time, and it is this story that they first cross paths with my OC Garfield Stephenson Wu.

For more information on Garfield Stephenson Wu, please go to my FictionPress Profile (Link provided at the top my Profile here) and check out his origin story, titled D4 Garfield and The Secret of the School Library!

As with that story, I want to note that the Garfield in this story is my OC Garfield Stephenson Wu, NOT his namesake: The title character of the comic strip Garfield. This is also the reason why this story isn't placed in the Scooby-Doo and Garfield crossover category.

I don't own Scooby-Doo. Hanna-Barbera Productions and Warner Bros. does.

Chapter 1: The arrival in Ottawa

August 24, 1970

It was a warm sunny mid-morning as the Canadian Pacific Railway-operated Canadian transcontinental train from Vancouver speeds down a section of track along the Ottawa River in the Ottawa Valley, near the outskirts of Pembroke, Ontario, as the train continues on with its journey to Montreal with a major stop at the nation's capital.

The passengers on the train were eager to reach their respective destinations, and during the ride, they were also happy to take photos of the beautiful scenery passing by.

Among the passengers were the Mystery Inc. gang, who came a long way from Coolsville, California.

"It sure was swell of Mr. Blake in giving us these extra train tickets, Daphne." Velma remarked. "I've always wanted to visit Canada and learn more about our northern neighbor."

"And Scoob and I have heard that Canadian bacon tastes delicious!" Shaggy added. "If we're lucky, we might get onto a tour to see how they harvest maple syrup."

Daphne laughed. "It sure was a good thing Dad won those tickets, gang."

Earlier this past July, Daphne's father George went on a business trip to Toronto for a conference, during which he had took part in a raffle ticket draw where the winner receives five tickets to travel across the continent from Vancouver to Ottawa on the Canadian and then take part in the nation capital's annual SuperEX.

By a chance of luck, George happened to win the draw, but due to his busy work at Blake Enterprises, he didn't have the time to go on the train travel.

When George arrived home in Coolsville a few days after the conference, his greeting by Daphne gave him an idea, and some discussions with the other parents soon led him to give the train tickets to the gang.

And that's how exactly the gang find themselves aboard the Canadian a week after they received the train tickets from George and made the trip arrangements, which includes hotel-booking.

The travel plan devised by the gang was for them to drive northbound on Interstate 5 to the Canadian border, where they then continue on westward to Vancouver on British Columbia Highway 99, which under Canada's Confederation Highway System is Confederation 5.

It was also during the preparations for the trip that the gang arranged for the Mystery Machine to be transported on the train with them, which means that the next morning, upon arriving at the Pacific Central Station in Vancouver following a overnight stay in a hotel, the gang hands the Mystery Machine to a chauffeur.

Once the gang cleared their luggage out of the van, the chauffeur then drives the Mystery Machine to the autorack loading ramp where it, along with a handful of other vehicles, are loaded onto the Canadian's autorack cars.

After the passengers were all on board the train, the EMD FP9 diesel locomotive, paired together with an ALCO FA diesel locomotive and hauling the Canadian streamline train blew its horn as it slowly pulls out of the station.

The trains consists of two diesel locomotives hauling twenty cars total, which is typical of any transcontinental train in North America.

The cars hauled by the two diesel locomotives consisted of a couple of box-shaped autoracks, in addition to a handful of dining cars, luggage cars, passenger cars, sleeper cars and a dome car.

One thing to note is that the Canadian actually serves two destinations as it travels eastbound: Toronto and Montreal, the latter through the nation's capital.

The train service alternates between its two destinations, with one train travelling between Vancouver and Toronto and the other travelling between Vancouver and Montreal.

After departure from Vancouver, the Canadian travels through the Rocky Mountains and makes major stops at Calgary, Regina, Winnipeg, Thunder Bay and Sudbury, upon which the train route splits into two with one heading south to Toronto and the other heading east to Ottawa and Montreal.

After their train departed from Sudbury Junction, it continued to make major stops along the way, which included North Bay and Mattawa before running along the Ottawa River.

(For those of you who are familiar with the railway history of Canada, I have a huge question for you:

Prior to the 1970s, CP Rail used to operate the Canadian transcontinental passenger rail service between Vancouver and Toronto and Montreal, the latter via Ottawa, a routing that was maintained when VIA Rail took over in 1978 until deep budget cuts in 1990 that resulted in the solo Vancouver-Toronto routing we see today.

I do understand for a fact that under that routing when the train arrives at Sudbury, the train service alternates between two routings with one heading for Toronto while the next train continues to Montreal and so on and so forth.

What I will like to know is that after departing Sudbury, what cities does the Canadian pass or stop by before arriving at Carleton Place and then continuing on to Ottawa?

The reason for my asking this question is that I want to write an accurate description of the routing beyond Sudbury the Canadian Pacific-operated Canadian will make for this story, and one thing to note is that this story's universe includes an Ottawa where the Greber Plan of the 1950s left its railways and streetcars alone, so therefore, in this story's setting of 1970, Ottawa Union Station is still running, as with Hull Station across the river with the Alexandria Bridge still carrying both road and rail traffic, and Ottawa's streetcars are still active.

In real life, Ottawa Union Station was replaced by the current Ottawa Central Station in 1966, while streetcars were fully replaced by buses in 1959.)

Eventually, the train stopped at Pembroke, followed by Renfrew and Arnprior before heading southbound.

As the train pulled into Almonte Station, the bilingual announcement came, stating that the train will be arriving at Ottawa Union Station in about an hour.

"Well, gang, it looks like we'll have to get ready to get off the train soon." Fred said after the announcement.

"Yeah." Velma agreed. "It's been a fun railway trip, especially with the trip through the Rockies when we left Vancouver."

"Too bad someone didn't paint the scenery well on the second day." Shaggy said. "Like, all Scoob and I saw were fields and fields and fields."

"Reah." Scooby agreed as he yawned.

"That's because we were travelling through the Canadian Prairies." Velma said, her hand holding a guide book on Canada as she spoke. "It is home to the majority of Canada's agricultural industry."

"Wow." Daphne remarked. "I sure hate to imagine how Freddie might feel if he has to drive through that flat section of the Trans Canada Highway in the Prairies."

Several minutes went by before the train pulled into Carleton Place Station, whose station building is located north of a wye configuration. The track the train is currently on links to the mainline that carries on southwards to Smiths Falls and Brockville while the curved lines on the wye are linked to the mainline heading northeast to Ottawa.

As Carleton Place is also the location of a railway junction, the train had to wait at the platform for a longer period of time as a freight train passes through on the mainline, heading for Smiths Falls.

Eventually, the train was given the go-ahead and it made its way onto a siding linked to the wye where the train then made the turn and eventually onto the mainline en route to Ottawa.

It was 15:45 when the Canadian sped on the southeast tracks of the Alexandria Bridge, and not long after entering Ottawa the train started to slow down.

Before long, the train slowly pulled into the platform of Ottawa Union Station as the gang prepared to get off.

Once the gang got off and obtained their luggage, they paused to look around at the bustling railway station.

"Wow." Daphne remarked as they watch the commuters rushing for the trains. "This place sure is busy."

The nearby destination boards detailed a list of trains heading a wide variety of destinations. Kemptville, Prescott, Waltham, Maniwaki, Toronto, Montreal, North Bay, Cornwall and even an international train to New York.

"Like, no kidding Daph." Shaggy agreed. "Watching all these people rushing by makes the Coolsville Central Railway Station seem like a train station serving a town by comparison."

"Anyways, now that we've got our luggage, gang." Fred said as a porter pushes the luggage cart containing their luggage. "We should go get the Mystery Machine."

The porter with their luggage nodded at the remark and then said. "Please follow me."

After loading their luggage onto the Mystery Machine, during which Shaggy picked up a map of Ottawa along the way, the gang tipped the porter and chauffeur before driving off onto Elgin Street, where they were immediately greeted by a red light and several streetcars passing by.

"I guess we arrived at a rather busy time, gang." Fred remarked as he watched the busy traffic behind the wheel. "I didn't realize that Canadians take their lunch rather seriously."

He then nodded at the clock on the dashboard, which showed 12:55.

"Actually, Freddie." Velma corrected. "It would be rush hour here right now. Ottawa, together with Toronto, Montreal, New York, Boston, Philadelphia and Washington, observes Eastern Standard Time."

"Oh, I must've forgotten to change the time on the clock." Fred said when he realized what Velma was talking about. "It's three hours behind Ottawa's time."

"Anyways, where should we go from here, Freddie?" Velma asked.

"If I can suggest something, I think we should check into our hotel." Shaggy suggested. "Scoob and I are worn out from sitting all day on the train."

"Shaggy's right." Daphne agreed. "We should first check into the hotel and have some rest, then we'll decide where to go for the night."

"Sure thing." Fred nodded. "It's a good thing that the Lord Elgin Hotel is not far from here."

Not long after checking into the Lord Elgin Hotel, which is located across the Rideau Canal from Ottawa Union Station, the gang spent the rest of the afternoon resting in their hotel rooms.

In the boys' room, Shaggy decided to turn on the television and found himself and Scooby watching a CBC program on classical music while Fred took a rest.

"I never thought that the directions to Interstate 5 from Coolsville could be that complicated." Fred remarked as he laid on his bed.

"Like, no kidding, man." Shaggy agreed. "Especially since Scoob and I have signed up for that October rock festival that requires some driving on Interstate 5. We should probably consult a map for proper directions to Interstate 5 so we won't end up getting lost and, perhaps, end up in some haunted house."

"Sounds like a plan, Shag." Fred nodded.

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