The Scenic Route

I was nearing Karlstad early Thursday morning, when my beleaguered eye detected what appeared to be a headlight far to the north on the tangent CP track in that area. After crossing the tracks at the first available county road, a short wait allowed me to catch one of the CP's famous "one unit wonders":


Any of you who have had the opportunity to travel Highway 59, especially during this time of the year when the amber waves of grain have been harvested, the leaves have mostly fallen, yet the first flakes of snow have yet to hit the ground, probably figured out the title of this post was written somewhat in jest. Regardless of what anyone might try to convince you of, this is not a very scenic area. Pretty flat, with scrub forests mixed among fields, their isn't much to try and include to add interest to a photo. Maybe that's why we have trains-to give the photographer and rail enthusiast something to focus on while trekking through just this type of area.

It's not a photo to be celebrated, but then neither are many of the trains we see. It's part of America (and in this case Canada), part of the civilization and culture we live in. And that's enough to make it interesting and worth the hard drive space to me. It's a train, and while some are prettier than others, I like 'em all.

Jim