Trying to work out where to go to celebrate turning 40 next November.
Thinking of doing Canada by rail & spend most of the time in Montreal, Ottawa & Toronto with a side trip to Niagra Falls.
Is a rail trip from Vancouver to Toronto & spending a few days in each of the above places doable in a 2 week trip?
Also are prices any cheaper in late November for accom/travel & food?

My French is limited to a few phrases & i am concerned that i will struggle in the French speaking regions.
Any advice would be very useful.

Travel in Canada in late November could be a very cold and snowy experience. Personally I would choose October as a better month to visit Canada in the Fall. The fall foliage in Eastern Canada is beautiful in October.

Hotel prices in resort/tourist areas will decline after the Labour Day weekend in September. Airfares tend to drop after the peak summer season as well. I don't think restaurant prices change with the seasons very much.

Everyone can speak English in Montreal...so you don't have to worry about language barriers in the city.

It's a very long train ride across Canada. Many tourists choose the Rocky Mountaineer which runs between Calgary and Vancouver to see the Rockies and forget about the long, long haul across the Prairies and Northern Ontario. I guess it depends how much you like trains.

Thankfully we like train journeys, having done Chicago to Seattle by train.
I am looking @ 3 days Vancouver to Toronto by rail.
Just how cold are you talking about in late November?
Is it worth buying warmer jackets when we get out there if we went as our climate tends to be cold & damp?

Late November can be anywhere from +10 to -20C across most of Canada. It just plain depends, as it's so hard to predict anymore. I mean, this past week was near +20C most days, which is warmer than normal.

I'm not sure how well the train runs from Western Canada into Toronto, but my dad took the train from Halifax to Toronto in July (it was free for current and retired military), and it started with a 3 hour bus ride to meet the train, then a 5 hour wait for them to add some cars, and missed connection in Montreal. The crew indicated it was normally messed up on that run, so hopefully coming from the west is better. I personally would just do as mentioned above, and go Vancouver to Calgary, fly into Hamilton Ontario, go to Niagara for however long, then back to Toronto and carry on east from there at whatever schedule suits you. Train travel in Canada isn't cheap either. You'd probably be further ahead flying from Calgary than paying the extra train fare into Ontario, and be there in 4 hours instead of days.

Man I would echo the previous posters and say that your impression of Canada won't be ask beautiful as it should be if you are traving in November.

It will start with lots of rain from Vancouver and get progressively colder going east.

Probably not quite enough snow to be outright winter beautiful in the east, the foilage would be just about gone.

The outdoor festival season for summer is over and winter hasn't quite started yet.

Positive would be the price. Since everything will be off season, it would be less expensive...... but still.

Vancouver in November is generally either "warm" (relatively) and wet or cool/cold and dry. Daily highs might be around 13/14 but can be also 5/6. Going east, as others have said temperatures drop and end of November can be snowy (even early November some years). I was in Montreal in late November last year and ran into a cold snap - my heavy fall jacket, toque, and waterproof gloves (which is all I need in Vancouver at worst along with an umbrella) didn't cut it. The wind plus cold made it very unpleasant to be outside for that long. The cold snap disappeared the next day and the snow was gone within 2 days and the temperature was a good 6/7 degrees but just be prepared.

As far as train travel in general, just be very aware that it isn't "commuter" in the European sense outside of two limited corridors in North America - Toronto-Montreal-Ottawa-Quebec and New York/Washington trunks. Vancouver-Toronto is 4 1/2 to 5 hours of flight time.