Category: Short Subjects

Massive wood beams and what must be a million bolts make up this imposing structure, an abandoned train trestle found along a branchline closed decades ago. This is a former Canadian Pacific property in Northern Alberta, put in during the 1920s and witness to its last train in the early...

What a sad ending for the Alberta 2005 Centennial Railway Museum, out in Beiseker Alberta. The group behind it all has long since disbanded, the old station, a planned showpiece, burned down years ago and their railcar collection dispersed to wind. It started off with grand plans, and no doubt...

With a tight schedule and and only minutes to spare, all there’s time for in Derwent Alberta is a quick pit stop to snap a couple photos of Holy Spirit Ukrainian Catholic Church. In the Eastern Orthodox style (meaning domes are a prominent feature) the building dates from the late...

No matter the location, weather, or any other factor, we’ll fit in a walk each and every day. It’s our Tesla recharge and as an added bonus, we’ll often pass something along the way that’s fascinating to us. You know, a Boler trailer, some old truck, maybe see a passing...

So far there’s been no embarrassing pictures in this series, but by the numbers, it’s bound to happen. We’re simply closing our eyes and picking a random (unpublished) photo from our collection and posting it here. Good or bad, it’s all fair game. We often shoot stupid pics just for...

The summer of 2021 found us in the West Kootenays of British Columbia and very soon we’ll show you the awesome adventure we had. Here it’s something quick and simple but there’ll be more…much more. We’re in Creston and this was a chance discovery – how we like it –...

There’s nothing around but this random ditch. Not a natural feature, it snakes across the Southern Alberta prairies while following the lay of the land. Bend left, deke right, and soon it’s many clicks long, even if the start and end points are a short distance apart. This is an...

Presenting another random photo from the BIGDoer.com collection and so far they’ve been good ones, so we’re again breathing a sigh of relief here. One day, there’s going to be something embarrassing posted. Still the image seen is in every way unremarkable, even if the subject is interesting enough. We’re...

Getting there is half the fun and no matter where we’re headed, nor the urgency, we take the backway when possible. Still, there’s often a time crunch, so if we see something of interest along the way, often a drive-by is the only option. Case in point here, a quick...

On the road to adventure a pit-stop is made in Chancellor Alberta to view the town’s last grain elevator. There’s not many of these left out here on the prairies and while there’s a deadline to keep, we can’t resist. There in the setting sun and the building all aglow,...

It’s of beastly proportions and sitting in a building barely larger than itself means it’s difficult to photograph. It’s just too big and the space too cramped. Anyway, it’s not at its best all naked and vulnerable while being restored, so those type of photos can wait. You know, roll...

We didn’t know at the time, but when these nothing photos of little Irricana Alberta were captured in early 2020, the world was about to change. Maybe forever. We all felt the rumblings and knew trouble was on the horizon, but to what extent and the magnitude, could not predict....

We dodged another bullet with this random pick and had we been one frame to the left, you’d be viewing a less than flattering image of a certain photographer’s feet. Oops, pressed the shutter by mistake! I don’t even want to talk about the frame to the right. Anyway, these...

Sitting along the highway in the little rural community of Ryley Alberta, it’s a most curious structure. Could that be an old…railway station? Indeed, or so it used to be, and while still looking the part the trains don’t stop anymore. It’s not even beside the tracks. Last home to...

The vintage railway equipment seen in this post can be found at two separate locations in Medicine Hat Alberta. They’re lowly boxcars (the crazy things that fascinate us) and once a common sight on the rails. Leading obscure workaday lives they hauled less than glamorous loads and numbered in the...

We make it mandatory to take a break from the road on long trips and if not done our bodies pay for it big time. This stop ‘n’ stretch finds us in Didsbury Alberta and to getting the blood flowing we randomly walk about. There’s plenty of historic buildings, and...

Here’s a little service station in a “blink and you’ll miss it” kind of town. We’re looking at Elnora Motors and it’s one of a handful of businesses in sleepy Elnora Alberta. They dispense fuel (right on the road), fix and maintain all makes and models and distribute parts. In...

These random picks are some great fun and surprising in that you never know what will get posted. So far (knock on wood) it’s nothing embarrassing either and for that we thank our lucky stars! Here’s what we do, close our eyes (figuratively) and pick a card dump, subfolder and...

The CPR’s Lacombe Subdivision parallels Highway #12 for a fair distance east of the QE11. This track begins in its namesake community (with a connection to the firm’s N/S mainline) and terminates in Stettler where it connects with Alberta Prairie Railway Excursions (the Stettler to Big Valley tour train). A...

We take the circuitous route when possible and with this comes some fabulous unexpected discoveries. Case in point, it’s something really interesting (to us at least) found while exploring a small Alberta town, a Crown Supercoach bus. Made in Los Angeles California by Crown Coach these were once common in...

Here’s a faded sign from long ago, oddly left behind when the business it was connected to closed decades back. Hidden away and only visible from the alley, we suspect few people even notice. We’re at a place once called Leong’s Food Store in Calgary’s Southwest and they operated out...

We really know nothing about our subject, this seemingly abandoned boat but we thought the photos were so nice we just had to share them. You mean we’re not going to blab on endlessly? Just photos? How unlike you! Nowhere close to water and going by the name of Pricess...

We’ve passed by Irricana United Church a gazillions time on the road to adventure but never stopped to take a closer look. Silly us. Then one day, after coming back from a gig at a local museum (the Team loves to volunteer) and with the sky soft pastel hues, comes...

Whether we’re travelling in town on local business, on extended road-trips for fun or even on assignment (rare these days thanks to the pandemic), we’re on the lookout for vintage metal. Be it an old school day to day driver or restored classic, we play no favourites. Be it never...

At the time of its removal a year or so ago it was the oldest such structure in Calgary and without a doubt the most challenging to navigate. With steep stairs and a narrow walkway, it was not for the timid. We’re speaking of the 14th St Pedestrian Bridge, now...

Here’s something not uncommon out in rural areas back in the day, a hand pump from which you got water. That’s how it was done for many folks and short of dipping a pail in a nearby river or pond, was about as simple as it got. Need some good...

King Edward VII reigned over the British Empire for only a brief period, from 1902, on the passing of his mother Queen Victoria, till his own untimely death in 1910. Brief as his tenure was he left his mark on Canada, a fledging country still finding its own way at...

Deep inside an industrial park, in Calgary’s Bonnybrook neighbourhood, it’s something strange and unexpected. Here among all the trucking firms, metal working shops and compounds full of cannibalized vehicles; here between busy Ogden Road and the sewer plant, it’s a couple small houses side by side. Tucked away behind a...

How amazing, an airplane over seventy five years old that’s still in service. We’re looking at a legendary Douglas DC3, the backbone of many fledgling airlines back in the day. And they were heavily used by the military circa World War Two, as a C-47 Skytrain (or Dakota in Commonwealth...

Here’s a silly post that required but a few minutes of time. Where as usually we work hard for the subjects we present, here we get to coast. All we had to do is head out to the side of our palatial mansion, look up and snap a photo. Then...