My home in Peachland is not a hub of railway activity so from time to time I need a trains fix by either going ‘over the top’ into the Ashcroft/Cashe Creek area or by spending a summers weekend in Didsbury Alberta. Of course the real high for a CN railfan is the Thompson River Canyon but that extended stay in exclusively CP Rail territory is made all the more outstanding by 24 to 30 trains a day – and my daughters hospitality. Kathy and Tony’s beautiful heritage home is a full city block from the main line between Calgary and Edmonton and a busy Y just north of town serves various gas and chemical facilities in the area. See…
https://maps.google.ca/maps?hl=en&q=map+of+didsbury+ab&ie=UTF-8&hq=&hnear=0x53740431adf890c1:0x17ee424bd9d9cdae,Didsbury,+AB&gl=ca&ei=vhqEUNuDGc7ligLPk4DADQ&sqi=2&ved=0CB0Q8gEwAA
To the point then: This photo is taken looking west off 23 Street/ Range Road 20. The front range of the Rockies is somewhere on that cloudy horizon and Canola is just about everywhere. Modellers are going to have to create bright yellow fields these days. Not me so much because, although I would love the process, the crop wasn’t prevalent in the 70’s. Modern operators though will have to change with the times. And why not forget the blue sky?
The ballast is clean and straight (Exactly what I always argue against.) and the first few feet of weed and grass growth on both sides of the track have obviously been sprayed with a killing agent of some type. Outside of that the green is lush and clean in the dark, rich soil. A simple line of fence posts separate the tended fields from the CP right-of-way. No need of fencing wire on smaller models. It can’t even be seen here. Four colourful signs pop up in a small space.