In this report we’ll look at a strange Rube Goldberg-esque device, a jet powered railway snow blower, used to clear out compacted ice that has accumulated between the rails. Surprisingly that material can be quite hazardous and can even cause a train to leave the tracks. This odd piece of...
In this adventure we got “lost” under Mount Yamnuska. It’s our first wilderness hike of 2014 and we wander about aimlessly, as though adrift, going here and there, sometimes on trail, other times off. It looks at though we were lost but in the end we only loose ourselves in...
Boxcars: the rolling of two sixes in a dice game, specifically craps, or it could refer to an enclosed railway car used to carry general freight. When retired from service the latter are sometimes sold to be used as sheds and the like. Farmers are known for their thrift and...
What the heck is going on at the Alberta 2005 Centennial Railway Museum in Beiseker Alberta? Their website is gone and the grounds appear as though abandoned. The old train station, what was to be the organization’s centrepiece, sits on blocks, as it has for a couple years now. In...
Presenting another Calgary Transit then and now – we hope you do not tire of them. Then: a trolley bus on the South Calgary (#7) route turns north onto 14th St from 33rd Ave SW. Now: do some quick research to find where the original photo was captured and then...
For this urban hike we’ll follow a series of pathways in the community of Okotoks, just south of Calgary. Our chosen route was roughly 8km long and encompassed a loop with a little out and back at the beginning and end. Always paralleling the Sheep River, the pathway is paved...
Today’s subject is the CPR train bridge found in Okotoks Alberta. Spanning the Sheep River, it carries that railway’s Calgary to Lethbridge line. Damaged in the spring of 2013 due to flooding and out of service for a time, the structure is back in use but almost a year later...
The Brokeback Mountain shot we’ll attempt to duplicate, which shows a motel exterior, appears only briefly in the movie. In spite of its short time on the screen, it’s an important and powerful few seconds which helps set the mood for the scenes that will follow. Let’s take a screen...
This year, in respects to Boler spotting, has started off slow. The trailer seen here, found in the Calgary community of Brentwood in April, is the seventh we’ve documented in 2014. Of course, once the warmer weather arrives, we’ll likely see a lot more of them as they and their...
The name of this post: “Calgary then and now – Stampede Parade”, is I guess, technically incorrect. While the first image shows that event, making it right in respects to that, the second does not, and it could not. You see, first we shot our “now” photo in the depths...
They’re done. They’re finished. They’re gone. RIP 2014: Calgary Transit Fishbowl buses – so long, and thanks for all the rides. Once the mainstay of the fleet, they have finally run out of time. After all that hard work, after all those millions of kilometres and millions of passengers, it’s...
The first photograph in this “then and now” report shows a circa 1992 railway scene captured in the small town of Irricana Alberta. We see a row of grain hoppers sitting on a side track not far from an elevator, perhaps waiting to be loaded there, or maybe having already...
The Trillium is the most common of the Boler-like trailers. We see them quite often and in fact they are more likely to be encountered than a Boler itself and while the later has not been made for decades, the Trillium is still in production to this day. Included in...
About a hundred years separate the two images seen in this report. Both show the old Shouldice Bridge (now the John Hextall Bridge) in the community of Bowness in western Calgary. In the first picture, a tram, with two proud crewmen posing for the camera, can be seen in front...
Join us for this urban hike where we circle the Glenmore Reservoir. It’s an approximately 16km loop, a path with many personalities. We’ll travel through dense wooded areas and pleasant green spaces. We’ll at times be on roads or beside roads (one very busy and noisy) and we’ll pass by...
For this railway themed “then and now” post we find ourselves in Cochrane Alberta, along side the CPR’s east/west mainline. The first image is from thirty years ago and shows an eastbound freight at the edge of town. We’ll return to that location to see what it all looks like...
This lily white Boler was seen peeking out behind some shrubs and a house and was found in the southwest Calgary community of Lakeview near north Glenmore Park. This one is the sixth we’ve spotted this year but with the coming of spring we are sure to see many more...
We present to you a photo, dated 1971, showing a street scene in Calgary Alberta. A trolley bus passes by and in behind we see various buildings, the most prominent one being the the Eaton’s Department Store. Fast Forward to today and we return to that same location to document...
At just over a century old, the Milnes Block in Claresholm Alberta appears to be in fine shape. In this then and now report we look at this handsome structure, first in 1911 and again how it appears today. As can be seen, it has changed little. For this building,...
Not a lot of years separate these two photos but in that time the change has been dramatic. The trains are no more and the row of elevators has been reduced to one.
Down by the tracks in Arrowwood Alberta, 1997 and 2015. Interestingly the then photo is from us and this a rare case of Team BIGDoer shooting both. It was captured by Chris back when he was doing oilfield hotshot.
The last elevator standing is a former Alberta Wheat Pool facility and dates from the 1970s. That's it's fairly modern is perhaps the reason it survived into today and it's now used by a local farmer for grain storage.
Check the comments to know more 👇
Exploring history with Off the Beaten Path with Chris & Connie. Posted by Connie.
Spotted while documenting The Great Beater Challenge, 2021 edition! Here, it's a little diversion into the near ghost town of Orkney Saskatchewan to look at a disused Patterson Grain Elevator. The structure dates from the 1970s and was built with features foreshadowing those used in high throughput grain terminals of today. Fast load systems and the like.
Check out that vintage yield sign and we doubt it's really needed any more. There's no traffic on these streets.
BTW, we got to chase the Beater Challenge 2023 and we'll post about it soon.
Exploring history with Off the Beaten Path with Chris & Connie. Photo: 2021. Posted by Connie.
After we drop off a couple rolls for processing, we'll call home! A little corner pharmacy, in a nondescript Calgary strip mall, and it's sort of lost in time. Shot in 2016 and we find anachronisms like this fascinating!
Exploring history with Off the Beaten Path with Chris & Connie. Posted by Connie.
St Francis in the Woods out in BC's East Kootenay region dates back over a century. It's sort of hidden away down a little backroad and is far removed from the modern world. While no longer used in a spiritual capacity, it still hosts community functions from time to time. Otherwise, silence rules.
Know more about this subject in a link posted to the comments.
Exploring history with Off the Beaten Path with Chris & Connie. Photo: 2023. Posted by Connie.
The same stone house about a century apart and from almost the same angle. It came close to being a proper Then & Now, but interestingly, we didn't know of the old photo when we captured ours.
The house was only lived in for a few decades, starting about 1910 and abandoned on account of arid conditions.
A family of twelve (yes, two parents plus TEN kids) lived in this modest-sized dwelling. Those early pioneers were hardcore. A house in the middle of nowhere, farming conditions that at best were marginal, brutal winters, few neighbours, little of anything and a bus load of children to raise in a house the size of a garage. Give them credit!
Know more via a link in the comments.
Exploring history with Off the Beaten Path with Chris & Connie. Photo: 2015. Posted by Connie.
The Fort Motel in Fort MacLeod Alberta, seen in an old postcard circa 1960 and again on a quiet evening late in 2023. It's one of many old style motor-court motels in this historic town and as you can see it's little changed over time. Too bad about that sign, though. The Fort Motel first makes mention in phone directories in the early fifties.
To know about our subject scroll down to a link in the comments. Hey Lethbridge Historical Society, thought you'd like this!
Exploring history with Off the Beaten Path with Chris & Connie. Posted by Connie.
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