Category: Old Things

Old Jack is a friend. In 2017 he made an appearance in the documentary “Forgotten Prairie” (Rueben Tschetter/Cache Productions – links below), where he took Team BIGDoer and some pals on a tour of his local area. Included, was a (now) ghost town just up the road from where he...

They’re tucked away on an otherwise disused siding, way back behind a huge maze of pipes, valves and vessels and for the most part were well hidden from view. Here, at a recently decommissioned gas plant a little south of Calgary, a most amazing collection of vintage railway equipment. With...

To work no more, so many miles travelled, now there’s time for rest. Here’s an ancient farm truck found out on the Alberta Prairie, stripped down, forgotten and abandoned, that once was a farmer’s pride and joy. Toiling away in obscurity taking grain from field to granary or to market...

Here in Calgary, alongside always busy Crowchild Trail, on the grounds of the Military Museums, there’s a plane. It’s not just any old thing with wings, but a fighter jet, a CF-5 Freedom Fighter, stuffed and mounted to appear as though streaking off into the heavens. Whoosh! Here, it’s a...

There’s this sleepy community, home to some four hundred folk, a most pleasant little burg just a short drive southeast of Edmonton. And sitting there, within sight of the busy Canadian National Railway’s transcontinental mainline is Katie’s Crossing, in business come on seventeen years and a great place to enjoy...

The Crowsnest Pass, way down south there near the British Columbia border is one of our most favourite places to visit. Can’t get enough of it. History, hiking and the outdoors all rolled into one…it’s pure bliss! And one fine evening we’re wandering the town of Coleman, a community built...

We have this friend, a most ingenious fellow who operates an unusual niche business. His firm puts up decorative lights – you know those elaborate Christmas displays or those “lit-up-like-a-pinball” show homes you see? That just may be his handiwork. But it gets better since he does it in a...

A message arrives. Come view some trucks it says…we have some old big rigs. That has our attention. Now to make it happen. It’s not anywhere close to us, but as we always manage to do, we’ll find away. It might just take some time. And so the months pass...

There is nothing more exciting than poking around an old metal collection. It’s doesn’t matter the size of it, or what’s inside, it’s always a magic experience. All those ancient cars, trucks and machinery or whatever to photograph, these rusted monuments of days past, formerly someone’s pride and joy or...

Came this close – I mean a hair width is wide in comparison close – to calling this post “Bury me when I die at the Alberta Railway Museum”. Heck, I even hinted at it in a preview of this article. As a train buff I’d relish the opportunity spending...

It’s a frigid and blustery weekend, April 2017. There’s this biting cold, a constant numbness. We’re here on on the plains of Saskatchewan, north of this little town, west of that one, a place sparsely populated, fields stretching off to the horizon in every direction. All around, the trying conditions,...

If you have a thing for history and find yourself in North Battleford Saskatchewan the Western Development Museum is a must see. It’s a fantastic facility, good sized, well regarded, with numerous exhibits indoor and out. One highlight is a representation of a 1920s era pioneer village just like one...

Stop the presses folks…we’ve reached a milestone here. This post, which you’ll soon be enjoying, is the 1000th here at BIGDoer.com. Yes, our society has produced that many pieces and in only five years to boot! Not 1000 simple photo essays, but rather painstakingly researched history write ups, in-depth articles...

It looks like an Airstream. In fact the old motorhome that’s the topic today was made by a sister company, this line and the other both sharing a strong family resemblance. Introducing the Argosy. Considered a “budget” camper by the firm, not that they were really all that inexpensive…just less...

Give us an old scrap yard to explore and we’re happy campers. Dirty, full of dangers, it’s hardly a place one would think fun, but to aficionados of the decrepit and all things damned, Team BIGDoer, it’s a giant amusement park. All the cast-away things found there, they’re not shiny...

Scrap yards are filthy dirty places, full of dangers and populated by big brawny men in grease soaked clothing, dudes you give lots of room. They roam around in “road warrior” service trucks, hammers, wrenches and cutting torches at the ready. This is where old vehicles, machinery and anything that’s...

Affectionately she’s the Big Old Red Transit Bus or simply just Big Red. Spending a great deal of its almost fifty year working career for Calgary Transit, hauling commuters or in charter service, it’s now in semi-retirement and resides with a collector in Edmonton. This iconic “GMC Fishbowl”, the most...