The strange beast seen here, basking in the sun on the first day of 2015, is called a locomotive crane and is used in railway maintenance of way service. They are used lift or place what ever needs to be..well…lifted or placed. Self propelled it can travel from work site...
Plain and simple, we’re a bit confused. This is a Boler, is says so and anyway we know so by its recognizable form,, but it also says it’s a Bigfoot, which is another trailer brand altogether. And what in the heck is a luxury edition? We don’t recall ever seeing...
The coal mines we’ll be exploring here, found near Donalda Alberta, date from the first half of the twentieth century and were two of hundreds of such operations that once existed in the province. Smaller mines in particular, as these are, could be found all over, supplying their local markets,...
Here’s something we’ve personally never seen before: grain cars, presumably spotted there for loading, sitting at the old Cargill, now Canada Malting, grain elevator in Beiseker. We’ve been driving past the building with regularity since the 1990s and this is a first for us. Any time we’ve checked the siding...
The pair of pictures seen here, the first supplied by a legend of photography, Harry Palmer, the second from us, show the same Calgary skyline scene some thirty years apart. A lot has happened between the shooting of his photo in 1983 and ours in 2014 – many new towers...
In the final installment in this series we look at broad range of old cars and trucks, dating from the 1920s and up, found on our spring 2014 Saskatchewan trip. The province is that good, a real treasure chest of fun and excitement for those who search out vintage vehicles...
The central structure in the large complex seen here is a vintage wooden grain elevator. Located in Coaldale Alberta, it dates from the 1930s while the metal bins that flank either side are much newer. Today a specialized firm works out this facility and they store grain, feed, fertilizer and...
In production from 1934-1957, Galt #8 was the last coal mine in the Lethbridge area. Remains seen today include a head frame, water tower and work shops. Once owned by the CPR, now in private hands, the operation sits right beside the famous Lethbridge Viaduct train bridge, the longest and...
While traveling forgotten back roads, as we are apt to do, we often unexpectedly and completely by chance stumble across some really interesting finds. We’ve discovered long abandoned homesteads or farms, or their remains, vintage equipment and old cars and trucks by the score. Included in the latter category are...
With scant time to spare before the sun set completely, fellow history buff Jon Dirks and I take a few minutes, in waning light, to explore a barn near the town of Gleichen, east of Calgary. A barn is a barn right? Sure, but this one is a little different...
While searching through some old photos we found this unpublished image showing a “big” 17 foot Boler (when designed Canada still used the Imperial system). Well, we’ll have to fix that and post it. This example was found in the Calgary Community of Lynnwood way back in October of 2013....
The 1985 Disney film The Journey of Natty Gann is set in the dark days of the 1930s depression and tells the story of a young girl and her travels. She, with her father, live in a dumpy old hotel in Chicago, but he soon heads west, alone, in search...
Just over century old, the Horseshoe Dam (also called the Horseshoe Falls Dam) is located along the Bow River in the foothills west of Calgary. This massive concrete structure was the very first sizable hydroelectric facility in Alberta and to this day continues to supply power for the province’s needs....
This “urban” hike we follow a route which parallels the Bow River southwards from a point just east of downtown Calgary, a journey that takes us through a huge number of varied environments. We pass though and by grimy industrial areas and railways yards, neglected city parks, wooded river flats,...
Digging into the archives from a few years back, we find some photos showing a massive railway bridge located on the CPR’s busy east/west mainline in the former town of Mitford, very near Cochrane. This structure is old and in times now gone, it once saw the passing of many...
Someone must love their little Boler. Check out the plate seen in the window of this 17 foot example, found in the old and established Calgary community of Inglewood. This trailer has been outfitted with air conditioning. That option was never offered by the factory, at least based on the...
Conrad Alberta still merits a dot on most maps, even though there is really nothing left of the town, save for a couple homes, the moribund remains of a CPR branch line and the old station sign next to the tracks. The community was established in the 1910s and never...
Waking up bright and early on a cool May morning in Shuanavon Saskatchewan, we make our way to the nearby railyards to see what we can find. We’re not disappointed and find some old boxcars and other vintage railway equipment to document along with two massive old school wooden grain...
When the subject “what’s the toughest heavy truck ever made” comes up, the name Hayes, of Vancouver BC, is sure to make mention time and again. These over-built nearly indestructible monsters were well regarded by those who owned and operated them, and while you could find them at work nearly...
Even though it was a fairly large scale and long lasting operation, surprisingly very little is left from the Bluebell Mine located in Riondel BC. In production, sometimes intermittently, from the mid-1890s all the way to 1972 it was for that time the very cornerstone of the local economy. Now...
Of all the little fibreglass trailers out there from the throngs of manufacturers that did or do make similar looking or similarly sized RVs to the Boler, the Lil’ Bigfoot by Bigfoot RV stands out as the most look-alike of all. It’s a near carbon copy, almost a clone. From...
Interior then and now shots are tough! With everything so tight and close in and all those complex lines it’s near impossible to make things look right. Move a fraction to get a better angle on axis X and you’ll ruin Y. Fix Y and ruin X and so on....
The two photos seen in this then and now article were shot from the same spot, only some forty years apart. The location is the Calgary community of North Glenmore Park and what we’re looking at is a simple street scene. There’s an intersection in a residential area, a small...
We used to do something called the "pointless challenge" 🤪 and miss those days. It was so much silly fun and often frustrating as heck. In these we'd invite people to send in random photos of obscure locations, but not give any information, and then we'd track where it was and shoot something similar.
Most of these came from old family collections, as was the case here. Anyone up to resurrecting the series?
In hindsight, why didn't we pose someone in our shot?
Pointless: “Devoid of meaning (or) senseless” Merriam-Webster.
If you like what we do and want to support this ongoing project (12 years now), go here: https://www.BIGDoer.com/help-the-society/ Thanks to Connie for making this post possible.
Exploring history with Off the Beaten Path with Chris & Connie. Photo: ca1970 and 2014. Posted by Connie.
Captured on a cold, cold day many years ago. We've been passing this old house for decades and it's little changed in that time. At some point we expect to drive by and it'll be gone.
Exploring history with Off the Beaten Path with Chris & Connie. Photo: 2017. Posted by Connie.
When retired old railway cars usually get cut up for scrap. Sometimes, however, they find their way into the hands of the general public or whomever. Flat cars make good bridges, and boxcars can be transformed into storage buildings and the like. Case in point here. We see them used like this often enough and in this case, it's part of a corral.
Incidentally, this boxcar dates from 1950 and this was found by tracing the old road number, which is still visible.
Exploring history with Off the Beaten Path with Chris & Connie. Photo: 2017. Posted by Connie.
This central Alberta racetrack was never a commercial operation but instead just a fun place for car enthusiasts in the area to get together. Early '70s or thereabouts and it only lasted a few years. Even thought it's been abandoned for that long, there is no doubt what was here.
You know we like the the obscure stuff and this one fits the bill perfectly. Found by accident while backroad cruising and the history comes thanks to local car guy Mike.
Exploring history with Off the Beaten Path with Chris & Connie. Photo: 2022. Posted by Connie.
On top of little Myrtle Mountain in the Kimberley (BC) Nature Park.
There's some good wilderness fun to be had here and nice views as you can see, but the real reason we came is mining history. The whole area near the ski hill was extensively worked over a century ago and we were looking for evidence of this. We didn't find much in the area searched, but it's a big chunk of property and we hope to return to cover more ground again soon. Of all the subjects we cover, mining related is a favourite.
Still, it was a good hike and that can't be bad. Look to the comments for more info 👇.
Exploring nature and history with Off the Beaten Path with Chris & Connie. Photo: 2022. Posted by Connie.
It's a strange curiosity in south Kananaskis, there on a hillside and we have no idea who created it. We asked around and no one's completely sure about its history. In the past it showed the Canada 100 logo from 1967 but in 2017 someone changed it to reflect the country's 150th.
That's our friend Emily from DanOCan.com having a look.
Exploring history with Off the Beaten Path with Chris & Connie. Photo: 2017. Posted by Connie.
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