Short Blog #5- Engineering Railroad Photo

I actually stumbled on this searching for something else. This is a panoramic photo from the City Engineer’s Photo Album that I found in the archives. I immediately knew this was the picture I wanted to use being a past civil engineering student. It is believed this photo was taken in the 1890’s to document the engineers’ activity. This is a photo of the Canadian Pacific Railway crossing Bathurst Street from north 50 yards distant. I wanted to use this photo because it was a subject matter I have a personal link to and because engineering while being something we associate with forward progression is also something with a rough past. My mind went immediately to the pipeline in BC and the history of engineers viewing the environment as an obstacle rather than an element to work with. The lack of a humanistic approach in engineering education was always something that personally bothered me because engineering so closely interacts with human life. There is also a train everyday that goes by the high school I attended. I used to get caught by this train and made late to class along with other students, but it was never excused because we were told “the train is a part of the town.” This is true, it is integrated. We see and hear it at the same time everyday- including during final exams. So I guess you could say I have a love/hate relationship with trains. Regardless, I still think this is really cool.

Archival citation

Fonds 200, Series 376, File 1A, Item 7