We’re paying a visit to Parade Square at Currie Barracks, or Canadian Forces Base Calgary in more recent times. It’s located in the southwest quadrant of the city and just off Crowchild Trail. The first image takes us back to 1971 and shows a military ceremony taking place on this...
We’re looking at a section of old Number Three, the Crowsnest Highway, in its namesake locale, the Crowsnest Pass of Alberta. Along here we’re a stone’s throw from the British Columbia border and it’s just behind our shooting position. This stretch is still paved and can be driven after being...
There’s always time for a little hiking and while on the road to adventure, where ever it takes us, we’ll search out local trails. One fine fall day finds us southeast of Edmonton and itching to put feet in motion. The prairies are hardly a hiking mecca, yet more often...
We’ve toured a fair number of historic train stations the last while and that’s not a bad thing. There’s something about hanging around the “depot” the Team finds irresistible and we hope you similarly enjoy the experience too. This fine example belongs to the Canadian Northern Society, one of many...
The grain elevators of Carbon Alberta were in a scenic setting at the edge of town, and the emphasis is on once. They’re all gone now and vanished decades ago. That’s even if our memory insists it doesn’t seem like that much time has passed. Where they stood is present...
We’re always on the hunt and based on our own observations, we’re looking at something uncommon here. We’ve only documented a few in the last ten years and that’s of the thousands of little fibreglass trailers we’ve stumbled across. Research data confirms it too. Here’s a Beachcomber, not just a...
Today we’re looking at the restored train station in Viking Alberta, dating back to 1909 and now home to a gallery and arts centre. It still functions as a railway depot of sorts, and every once in a while, Via’s Canadian will stop to pick someone up or drop them...
Here’s a most enjoyable loop hike in the extensive Bragg Creek Trails system. There’s a million and one options in their extensive network, out in the foothills west of Calgary, so there’s always something new to do. Here’s one new to us and the goal is Baruch’s Corner Viewpoint atop...
The community had such grand beginnings that it quickly earned the title of city. Even now you might hear it called by that name, but the tiny population present day might leave you scratching your head. Where’s the skyscrapers and international airport? Where’s the damn Starbucks?! Born out of a...
We’re always on Boler patrol, and when out for a walk keep our eyes open for our sometimes elusive quarry. Still, we find more than our share, and while having keen senses helps, in the end it’s mostly by dumb luck. In some instances, like here, it pays to be...
Pioneer Acres Museum in Irricana Alberta had a large collection of vintage cameras donated a couple years back and asked the Team to help build a display around them. No problem! Doing this kept us busy during Covid and now that things have opened up again our little project can...
The last train to Nakusp British Columbia was close to thirty five years ago and with that a chapter closed. The line into town remained in service just shy of a hundred years, so it wasn’t a total wash. As a memorial to this past, the wonderful folks at the...
This hiking adventure happens in the extensive Bragg Creek Trail Network near Calgary. How convenient that it’s just a hop, skip and jump away from the big city! The route is comprised of a number of different trails pieced together to form a nice loop that goes up and over...
Welcome to a little dot-on-the-map community called Meeting Creek Alberta, home to a gorgeous train station and two wooden grain elevators. All date back to when the town was young and as historic holdovers from another era demonstrate a timeless scene. These further remind us that railways were once the...
It’s time for another random pick and the devil’s been cheated yet again. We simply close our eyes and choose an image from our huge collection, any image, that’s never been published before and post it here. Be it good or bad or even embarrassing, we’ll show you. So far,...
The photographs used in this Then & Now post, showing an overall view of the the small community of Rosebud Alberta, date from 1982 and 2015 respectively. The location is a hill overlooking the village, which affords a good view of pretty much the entire place. No urban sprawl here....
Just over eighty years separates the images used in this BIGDoer Then & Now, and while the mountains seen remain timeless, the foreground view shows much change. You’d never even know it was the same place if one were to only focus there. We’re along Main in little Slocan BC...
While on road trips, we take the occasional break, usually in a small town, and stretch our legs. Then as it happens, certainly more than it should, a little trailer appears and this example was captured captured heading northbound in Nanton (Alberta) on the number two. The busy highway runs...
We brought Murray’s Camera out of retirement. After who knows how long in the Pioneer Acres Museum (Irricana Alberta) collection, it’s time to dust it off for a fun photoshoot taking place in town. For old time’s sake. Murray used to be involved with the museum and well liked, so...
There were once hundreds of underground coal mines scattered across Alberta, but most were gone by the 1960s. Some we’re in service of industry and the material used for power generation, by steam locomotives, for steel making and a million other uses. Others supplied domestic coal, used for heating homes...
When we can’t hike in the woods, we walk in town – whatever town we’re in. One pleasant fall weekend found us in Claresholm Alberta, partaking of a little adventure that had us making a loop of the quaint prairie community. We’ll visit all four corners of town and there’s...
If you were to do an image search using the query, you’ll be shown a graceful arch-supported structure used by trains and in a stunning mountain setting. Deep in the British Columbia Rockies it’s been the subject of hard earned photos and some are so impressive as to obtain icon...
Why in the world did they do that? It’s great the old building was given a new lease on life, but wasn’t consideration given to saving the sign? An iconic part of Edmonton’s Jasper Avenue since forever it’s now partially obscured by new construction. That new addition…well…the aesthetics are not...
In one of the photos below you’ll see Marilyn’s doll carriage from her childhood and the abandoned farm house documented in this post, was her home at the time. The old family homestead has been vacant for about sixty years but still holds many memories and here a cherished toy...
Here’s one from back in 2019, a Boler found in a small town storage lot. It’s a photo that somehow slipped through the cracks and until now, had not seen the light of day. That’s how it goes sometimes where you’re dealing with an archive a billion photos deep (
A request comes out of the blue. Could you drive our old motorhome from one spot in Calgary to another close by? We’re into vintage campers – that’s well known – so I guess they though us perhaps the best people to call. Bad idea folks! Anyway, the conversation plays...
This installment we’re looking at two scenes down by the tracks in Okotoks Alberta and captured fifty years apart. There’s been change, the passage of time guarantees it, and the only constants are two steel rails extending off in the distance. The trains still run, but the grain elevator is...
We’re not sure what’s more interesting. Could it be that Linclon Avenue/Ƨeventh Avenue Northwest, in Calgary, has a century (plus) old identity crisis? Or perhaps it’s due to the poor spelling skills of certain cement workers from long ago? Their words, incidentally, should read Lincoln and Seventh respectively, had someone...
This is an in-town hike, but that the route mostly travels through parks and green spaces belies the fact. We’re in Camrose Alberta making use of the city’s extensive pathway system and linking together a couple loops into a nice little cohesive package. We thoroughly enjoyed ourselves and should you...
Nobody’s Home: Ramsay edition and we’re looking at a group of vacant dwellings in a historic Calgary community, before they were torn down. No mansions here, they were working class digs in a working class neighbourhood. After standing empty for years, here on a triangle-shaped chunk of land backing on...
Kenopsia: "the eerie atmosphere of a place that's usually bustling with people but now vacant or abandoned."
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Ghost Railways: Fort Macleod Alberta
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Berte George’s William’s Grocery Lethbridge
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Union Bay (Vancouver Island) Coal Wharf
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1 Day: Denman & Hornby Islands (BC)
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Crossley Slides: A Corner in Erlton
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Ioco Port Moody BC (Ghost Town)
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Historic Fort Macleod After Hours
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Ghosts of the Crowsnest Subdivision
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Moose Jaw SK Train Station (~90 Yrs Apart)
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Kart World or Kart Gardens? (2014)
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Prairie Sentinels: Cadillac Sask
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Dominion Bridge Calgary (Ramsay) ca1960-2014
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World of F.E.A.R Figure-8 (Abandoned)
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Forgotten Coal Town Cemetery
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Royston Wrecks (Vancouver Island BC)
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Shandro Historic Village (Closed)
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