Our dear loyal readers, Team BIGDoer will be taking a break and this will be a our last post for a while. We’re a bit burned out. But don’t fret it’s a temporary thing and we won’t be gone permanently, just some four or five weeks. We’re taking some “us” time, to find ourselves. Till we return there will be no new articles here, although I’m sure we’ll post photos of what we’re up too (Spain here we come!) on both the Off The Beaten Path and our personal Facebook Pages. It won’t be a lay on the beach type experience, trust me! Going to be working as hard as ever – but it’ll be for Chris & Connie.
Of course, you can still take in all the older articles. I mean there’s like eleven hundred of them, enough to keep anyone busy.
Also while waiting, here’s a sampling of what we’ve been working on, some teaser pics of what we’ll be posting on our return. We’ve been busy exploring the last while. Once an article is published we’ll add a link to it below.
While we’re away may we ask a favour of you friends? Please, remind us how much you appreciate our work by commenting on your favourite posts at BIGDoer.com. Tell us something, share your thoughts and experiences, add to the story or even just say “nice photos” or “good job”. Not nearly enough of you are doing it and if we’re not hearing from you, it’s hard to gauge if we’re doing the right thing. Just like a band needs to hear the cheers at the end of every set, we need your approval to remind us we’re appreciated. It’s simple and quick – heck you don’t even need to register – just comment (below every article) and press send. How easy is that?
Or social share. There’s buttons for all over the website. This helps us get seen.
If you need to contact us while we’re gone we will still be “connected”, but slow to respond.
Anyway, here’s the coming attractions. Stay tuned!
Sunalta, one of Calgary’s century old Sandstone Schools.
Sunalta, over a century old and one of many classic sandstone schools in Calgary. So much character here. Your author, for a brief time in the latter half of 1970s attended class in this very building. Hated school then, love Sunalta today. Join us for this “after dark” adventure.
Here’s the post, published July 19th, 2018. Enjoy…Sunalta.
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Hanging with a master pinball repair tech.
On closer examination…
Old pinballs can be high maintenance, but damn, are they fun. Here we shadow a master tech as he takes a cranky old machine (Gottlieb’s Mustang from the 1970s) and makes it purr like a kitten again. It plays beautifully when done. Back when you author was a kid, the arcade was a second home and I recall playing this one…and getting defeated a lot. Those damn posts behind the drops ricochet a ball and send it draining every single time. It was a lesson in frustration.
Pinheads rejoice, here’s the piece gone live, August 27th, 2018…Gottlieb’s Mustang.
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Taking in every single bridge in downtown Calgary.
There’s a lot of bridges in downtown Calgary, and one day we crossed every single one of them open to pedestrians. Pass over the Bow River and do it again and again. There’s some interesting old ones seen, and here, one much newer. The Peace Bridge seen is perhaps the most photographed bridge in the world (well, Calgary at least).
An inner-city walk plus a matching house and jacket.
On an inner-city hike we find a house in the Team’s trademark yellow. A fan of BIGDoer.com? Regardless, that’s one loud paint job. And an unusual choice too. It must glow at night and the neighbours must just love it. This hike was a fun one! Love getting out to the mountains, but walking in the city has its charms too. Later it was beer and wings and pinball.
One late winter day, we wander the charming community of Vulcan Alberta. They’ve got a Star Trek thing going on – what a quirky way to bring attention to the place. But there’s other interesting things to see too. We so love these small town tours.
Hanging with a friend, our subject a couple ancient train bridges.
Bridges are a strange obsession. My name is Chris D and I have this…ahem…little problem. We like all kinds, but this day we take in two century old structures belonging to the railway, one that crosses a canal and a second, seen here, that spans the mighty Bow River. A photographer friend joins us. It’s more fun that way.
It’s August 10th, it’s hot as Hades and here’s the post…Two Train Bridges.
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At a cool open air museum in small town Alberta.
The old Jenner Alberta Train Station, all fixed up and looking good, at the open air Museum in Scandia Alberta. It was moved here a few years back, and fixed up, after sitting in some farmers field for a time. In back, the town’s last grain elevator. This place rocks!
What a view! Standing where built in the 1920s, the former Alberta Wheat Pool Elevator in Scandia, also part of the that museum spoken of earlier. Too bad most grain elevators are gone – they were such an important part of the history of the prairies. They used to be so common but now seeing one is a special event.
We so love going underground – caves and mines – it’s always a blast. Here it’s a bunker, punched into the side of a mountain, put in during the paranoid “the world is coming to an end” days of the Cold War. This one was built to protect valuable things and not people. Part way into its construction, work was stopped. Guess the plans didn’t pan out. Now it’s a strange curiosity seen by passing hikers and climbers. Our friend Byron joins us – see him there?
The little ghost town of Rowley holds a “Pizza Night” once per month. We’ve been to a few of them and it’s always a hoot. Can’t turn down an invite to the place. It’s such a quaint community and hanging with friends is never a bad thing, and the beer goes down so good. Here we see the restored train station, a very special place. Mother nature cooperates with a nice sunset in this pic.
Giant doors inside the Hanna Alberta Roundhouse. Back when it was place for steam locomotives to be bedded down between jobs and to get a little TLC. It’s historically recognized and you can per-arrange a tour with a donation.
The building, one of the last of its kind in Canada, dates back to the early 1910s. After being closed by the railway in the early 1960s it was used by a manufacturing firm for a time and latter a cattle auction. At other points it’s stood abandoned. Now in the hands of some loving caretakers it has a more promising future.
So many Bolers. Yes, Trilliums too. For Team BIGDoer, who are little fibreglass trailer obsessed, it’s Heaven. No Nirvana! Yes, it’s a magic place! Here we’re at Outback Trillium in Calgary who not only manufacturers new trailers, but also repairs and renovates old ones of any make.
A silly little post published this day, October 16th 2018…King of Bolertown.
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Shonts is where it’s at.
We spend an hour or two in Shonts Alberta, a small dot on the map burg not all that far from Edmonton. All that’s here is the old grain elevator, witness to the passing of lots of trains on Canadian National Railway’s East/West Mainline. We caught a couple in the short time we were there. The trains here, do they fly!
This little locomotive, found in a small town near Edmonton, once worked for the Atlas Mine in the Red Deer River Valley near Drumheller. It was used, in the 1950s-1980s period, to shuttle coal cars from the mine workings to the tipple, which still stands and is today an amazing historic site.
No “Fake News” here at BIGDoer.com, just honest to goodness facts and fun. Here’s were at the Edmonton Pinball Expo, a huge yearly event in the city. The Donald Trump pinball, which Connie is seen playing, is a modified William’s Millionaire from the 1980s. Some people like to customize their machines and this one has a particularly relevant and oh so humourous theme.
A fourteen hour shift…and we loved every minute of it!
We arrived at 9am, left at about 11pm, so a good fourteen hours photographing the event. And time sped by…but that’s what happens when you’re having fun. Looking down on some people enjoying themselves, oblivious to our presence. Of all the things we documented, this gig stands out as a particularly memorable one. Love pinball culture. Used to be a pinhead myself…maybe I still am.
Gary Makota, repair wiz, takes on a particularly challenging problem. Did it stump him? No way, but it took everything he knows (and he’s being doing it since the ’70s) and some time to resolve. When we get a pinball (yes, yes, one day) we’ll keep Gary on speed dial.
Seen in Superman 3, Lana Lang’s House. To fans of the original Superman Franchise, this place is sacred. Both the exterior and interiors were used in the movie. And we got to look inside and wander the property. Thanks to the people living there for allowing us in.
Strolling along on the Threepoint Creek Trail in Kananaskis. This was a particularly easy hike, pleasant enough too, that takes in a scenic valley in the Mesa Butte area. High water prevented us from reaching the view point, but heck, it was a nice outing even without.
We’ll be old timers before this list is cleared off. One more down, published February 19th, 2019…Threepoint Creek.
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Seventy Five Million Years in the making.
We’re in Dinosaur Provincial Park out by Brooks and immersed in the experience. Here we see a bone dating back millions of years, just sitting there out in the open, in a restricted area of the park (access only with a guide). There was so many fossils that sometimes the the ground was almost completely covered with them. There’s a tooth. And another. And a toe bone. And a vertebrae. And cords of Petrified Wood. Damn, was it hot as Hades though.
We just randomly wander about the scenic badlands, taking in this coulee or that, to see what we can find. While we can touch and photograph the fossils, they must be left in place. That’s our guide there. What a knowledgeable fellow.
Some stunning sunsets here in the Park. For a short time the sky was on fire. And simply amazing! Notice all the people (many photographers included) jostling for position over on that hill. There was no one where we were.
Here’s our cabin for the weekend, compliments of Alberta Parks. Now that’s my kind of camping! Time to break out a cold one, put your feet up and partake in the amazing beauty and ambience that is Dinosaur Provincial Park. We’ll be back!
The historically recognized Brooks Aqueduct built in the 1910s and last used in the 1970s, once brought life giving water to the area. There’s a syphon (that pipe that dips down) where the water crossed under the train tracks. The replacement canal runs right beside (that embankment on the left) and is good spot to watch passing trains. In fact, that’s why we are here, to train spot, the Aqueduct then providing a wonderful backdrop for those photos.
Here ya’ll go, the piece published November 29, 2018…Brooks Aqueduct.
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Historic locomotives in storage.
This historic locomotive (Canadian Locomotive Company, Fairbanks Morse USA designed model H16-44), sits in storage at a gas plant south of Calgary. Keeping it company are a number of other vintage locomotives and rail cars all owned by various museum groups. Join us for a tour – this is not an easy place to get inside! And what’s here is simply amazing. We were blown away.
Out back of a farmyard, this 1930s Ford grain truck. Just imagine all the trips it made to the local grain elevator. We think about the farmer, the farmer’s family, the elevator operator. Everyone who had a connection. This vehicle was once an important cog in the day to day operations of the farm and now rusts away in retirement.
Seen in the 1978 edition of Superman (the best of the franchise IMHO) Clark Kent’s High School in the fictional town of Smallville. The actual location is Barons Alberta and we’re here to shoot a trademark BIGDoer then and now – I know they’ve been so slow in coming lately. Hope we get it right!
And we didn’t, so try this post on the same subject instead…Barons School.
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This tiny locomotive once toiled away in the Crowsnest Pass.
This “little engine that could” can be found in the Crowsnest Pass. Built by General Electric in the 1940s, from the 1950s till the 1980s it worked at the nearby Coleman Collieries Operation. From that time froward however, until recently, it sat at the abandoned plant but recently was moved to museum grounds in downtown Coleman (the museum, by the way, is a must see). Mother nature offers up a nice sunset.
Nice! Amazing vistas, towering peaks and Emerald-Green lakes, the view from Crowsnest Ridge in the Crowsnest Pass. Oh do we love a good hike with a view. Come, join us in taking it in. Ahhh, just breathe. The Pass is our second home…and we just LOVE it.
Here’s the write-up, published July 24th, 2018…Crowsnest Ridge.
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Till we return, the best to all. Expect to hear from us again in a month or so, with all the gusto and enthusiasm you’ve come to expect from the Team. And in the interim, continue to enjoy the site and help us along when you can.
If you wish more information on what you’ve seen here, by all means contact us!
Date: 2017-2018. Location: Calgary, Edmonton, and all over Alberta. Article references (and thanks): That will come later. Many of the places seen are on private property, which Team BIGDoer.com was given permission to enter.
Patience! Haha! Back to work come the 16th of July. Have a huge number of articles in the pipeline, good stuff too, including lots from that amazing Spain trip and more stuff seen since we’ve been back.
Happy to find out that I’m not alone with old railway bridge obsessions. Or old bridges in general. Or abandoned bridge piers sticking out in the middle of a river, valley, gulley or frankly anywhere…
And I thought we were the only ones! Love old bridges in any shape, form, purpose or location. Thanks for commenting and drop by often! And comment again when you can.
There should be some good stuff! It’ll take a while to post them all, but it’ll be worth it. We’ll try and do Mazeppa sooner than many others – and I’ll make it look like you were there with me!
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Beer Parlour Fridays: The Cadillac Hotel in Cadillac Saskatchewan, visited in June 2024 by Chris and Rob. Sadly, they unexpectedly closed soon after their visit, but it is for sale and hopefully will reopen under a new owner. Those amazing SK skies! Watch for the Cadillac Hotel and others appearing at https://www.BeerParlourProject.com. Celebrating old school watering holes!
Scroll down to the comments for more!👇 _______
Exploring history with Chris & Connie from Off the Beaten Path. Thanks, Johanna (Connie).
Beer Parlour Fridays: before Pilsner in Saskatchewan, there was Bohemian or simply Boh. For decades, it was the most popular beer in the province. Incidentally, both Pil and Boh were for decades products of Sick's Brewery. This Boh cap was found in the basement of an old hotel in SW Saskatchewan during a visit by the Beer Parlour Project. It celebrates the beer winning a prestigious best in world award in the late 1960s.
Beer Parlour Fridays: here's a standard issue cast-metal leg round-top Beer Parlour table. These were supplied through the liquor control board (who heavily regulated the business) and therefore could be found at most drinking establishments. They date back to the 1940s-1960s period and surprisingly, we still see them out there in the wild all the time. Often they were covered in terrycloth to help sop up spilled beer. _______
Exploring history with Chris & Connie from Off the Beaten Path. Thanks, Johanna (Connie).
Beer Parlour Fridays: The Tompkins SK Hotel/Lucky Loon Saloon, previously Woody's. It was just a drive by visit and not a stop on the recent Beer Parlour Project tour of SW Saskatchewan. Had it been open we would have checked it out, however. Celebrating old school watering holes at https://www.BeerParlourProject.com. _______
Exploring history with Chris & Connie from Off the Beaten Path. Thanks, Johanna (Connie).
Beer Parlour Fridays: The Wildwood Hotel in Wildwood Alberta, built in the late 1950s to replace one that earlier burned down. Visited in October 2024 by Chris and Rob. Watch for this hotel and others appearing at https://www.BeerParlourProject.com. Celebrating old school watering holes!
Scroll down to the comments for more!👇 _______
Exploring history with Chris & Connie from Off the Beaten Path. Thanks, Johanna (Connie).
These are amazing! Can’t wait.
It’ll be like you were there. Wait, you were!
Thanks for sharing!
Happy to do it!
A huge Superman fan here! Lonnie, from Chicago.
Lonnie so nice to hear from you. Yes, Superman the original movie series, it rocked. Some then and nows in the works!
Where are those FM units located? I’m not all that far from where they were built.
These are in secure storage at a gas plant south of Calgary. So you’re near Beloit? These ones were made in Kingston Ontario, however.
That’s awesome! I love your work.
Well thank you!
Such nice photos! The Hanna roundhouse is definitely on my bucket list.
Contact them via their Facebook page. It’s a wonderful place to explore and be sure and donate.
Looking forward to the articles. Wow, how sweet are your pictures, I love them !!
Well thank you! We’ll be posting them soon! We’re hard workers.
Dinosaur Park is a marvelous place, a little piece of heaven!!!
Agree! Times a million! Loved our stay there.
Soon, please!
Workin’ on it!
I need some new articles!! Looks like you guys had a great trip!
Patience! Haha! Back to work come the 16th of July. Have a huge number of articles in the pipeline, good stuff too, including lots from that amazing Spain trip and more stuff seen since we’ve been back.
Happy to find out that I’m not alone with old railway bridge obsessions. Or old bridges in general. Or abandoned bridge piers sticking out in the middle of a river, valley, gulley or frankly anywhere…
And I thought we were the only ones! Love old bridges in any shape, form, purpose or location. Thanks for commenting and drop by often! And comment again when you can.
Looks like there is lots of good things ahead. Looking forward to it.
It’s all amazing stuff I promise. Thanks for commenting and sorry it took so long to respond. Just got back from that trip.
Can’t wait to see the new, upcoming articles! Especially the Mazeppa gas plant railway tour! 🙂
There should be some good stuff! It’ll take a while to post them all, but it’ll be worth it. We’ll try and do Mazeppa sooner than many others – and I’ll make it look like you were there with me!
Ditto on the gas plant tour with the vintage locomotives. Enjoy your deserved break!!
Thanks, we just go back. It was amazing! We’ll be back to work on new articles for BIGDoer.com next week. Thanks for commenting.