donald: the via rail website has diagrams of the sleeping cars and the bedrooms/cabins have letters. what type of sleeping car you will be in, however, i have no idea. nor do I have any knowledge about the consist, although I wish I did! I have a reservation for july. I guess I'll find out when I board the train!
I have been watching the express deal page and it is frequently updated. i made a reservation early this afternoon and just looked again and a whole bunch of dates (with sleepers!) have been added. it's an amazing deal so if you don't always see what you want, keep on hoping, because it seems to be updated frequently!