Bits and bites

Bits and bites are a wonderful little snack, a nice mix of flavours and textures. Here we duplicate that theme and this bits and bites post included subjects like a locomotive painted in CPRs traditional tuscan red and grey livery, and old Ford F600 that still works for a living, a builders plate from an old bridge, and an interesting bent “marker” tree seen along a hiking trail.

1) Taken from the Elk Pass trail the lovely views of Lower Kananaskis Lake seen here are somewhat spoiled by the power lines. This route leads from Peter Lougheed Provincial park and heads south into the northern reaches of the Elk Valley in BC. While some of the trail is shared with the power line right of way, other parts of it travel through more pleasant surroundings. Never a difficult route you can use it to access the very nice Fox Lake or the more challenging to-get-to Frozen Lake (so named because it remains iced up late into the season). It can also be used as an approach trail to the difficult Mt Fox scramble or the more gentle Blueberry Hill over look.

↓ ↓ ↓ ↓ Scroll down for photos and to comment ↓ ↓ ↓ ↓

Or you can head right into BC and spend your time on a lake shore at a back country campsite. The route seen here is also a good cross country ski trail in winter. The trail head for one on our favourite hikes, Upper Kananaskis Lake, is not far away from here. This picture dates from August 2009.

2) CPR 3084 stands out amongst its roster mates as it is painted in the traditional tuscan red and grey scheme instead of the action red livery seen on nearly every other locomotive this company owns. This locomotive is regularly assigned to the Royal Canadian Pacific, CPR’s business train, however when not needed for that service it’s also used in regular freights. Seen here, it’s awaiting its next assignment at the Alyth yards in Calgary (taken from a public walkway). This picture is from November 2011. This engine is a GMDD (General Motors Diesel Division, London Ontario) model GP-38-2 and was built in 1986. The paint scheme seen here was used by the CPR on all locomotives up until the late 1960s.

3) The bent tree on the Prairie Link trail must be famous. The trail is quite busy and this upside-down question mark looking tree is certainly seen by many people each day and I am sure a lot take pictures, as we did. Looking much like a first nations trail marker tree, I am not sure how this twisted spruce came to being. Its smaller size means its likely not that old and it must have been done by someone just hiking the trail some years ago.

The Prairie Link trail is a connector between the Prairie Creek trail and Powderface Creek trail and combining these three routes allows your to do a nice loop without any back tracking. While the trail itself is fairly mundane with few views, it’s location in the foothills means its accessible nearly all year long and this accounts for its popularity. This image was taken in November 2011.

4) The 9th avenue bridge in Inglewood is an oldie. Dating from 1908 this span continues to do what it was designed for over 100 year later. and instead of horse and buggies and trolleys, it now supports more more modem traffic; Acuras and BMWs and the like, heading to and from downtown Calgary. It was built by the Algoma Steel Bridge company in Winnipeg Manitoba, a fact proudly proclaimed by the builders plate that still adorns it. I am not sure if there are any plans to refurbish the bridge or replace it, but visually it looks to be doing just fine and perhaps it’s good for another century or so. We snapped this picture in October 2012.

5) The Ford F600 seen here, while somewhat beaten and bruised, still looks like it works for a living. Seen in the small town of Arrowwood Alberta in November 2012, it was at a business. This particular truck could date from 1967-1979 as the model was produced with little change over that time span. By the end of production it was very dated looking, but it still seemed to be quite popular. We see lots of them in rural areas and being rugged and simple must have hit a cord with farmers. Many farms we see are home to one, either still being used or retired in a field. No looker, it was built to work. This chassis was also popular as a school bus.

If you wish more information on any of these pictures, by all means contact us!

  • _________________________

    BIGDoer.com: Doing it Different!



    Something to say in private? Click here to: Reach Us!
    NEWS!First TimersFAQMeet the Team
    BIGDoer.com on Facebook

    If you liked this post, please tip your server…



    Or

    © 2012-2024 Chris Doering, Johanna (Connie) Biggart & the BIGDoer.com Society. 🍁🎀

Elk Pass trail

Elk Pass trail with Lower Kananaskis Lake in the back.

CPR 3084 locomotive

CPR 3084 in the traditional tuscan red and grey livery.

Bent tree Prairie Link

The famous bent tree on the Prairie Link trail.

Bridge builders plate

The builders plate on the 9th Ave bridge in Inglewood.

Ford F600 truck

An old Ford F600 truck that’s still at work (or so it appears).

You cannot copy content of this page

Please log-in to continue...
This allows unrestricted access to every post @BIGDoer.com, popups are eliminated,
commenting is on and the "contact us" page is enabled.

Esc to close this box.

Lost Password?

Or...

Your social site may send you a routine notice of login.

Or signup, here: Subscriber Register
___
BIGDoer.com: Serving up POP HISTORY & other McFun!…(Mmmm, yummy bite-sized pieces.)
One million plus words & tens of thousands of photos!