New Works - railway

by J. Kevin Dunn

In the summer of 1990, the last VIA Rail passenger train rolled through Moose Jaw, Saskatchewan bound for the west coast. A city that was founded by the railway was left without passenger train service for the first time in more than a century as the last Canadian disappeared down the track - six hours behind schedule.
At that time, I was on the tracks documenting the event as staff photographer of the Moose Jaw Times- Herald. This was the beginning of my career, and at the same time, the end of an era in our country's history. I wondered then, as many others did, how the gradual closing of railway lines would effect our concept of unity as individuals, families, communities and as a nation.
The effect on me was more profound than I'd expected. After that day, I found myself responding to scenes that represented what was, to me, the "real" Canada - pictures of old timers in ballaclavas playing hockey on a home-made rink, images of women hanging laundry with the prairie grass bending eastward under the Alberta chinook or of kids telling secrets and dancing on the streets of their small town.
Over the past decade, I've continued my quest for the unrepeatable moment in time, but in ways that I hope are typically Canadian. With the scene of "The Last Train" as a catalyst, I intend to embark on a journey by foot along a 400 km stretch of railway that once linked individuals, families, communities and the country to one another under a common perception - Unity.
Beginning at Consul on the southwestern edge of Saskatchewan, I will walk the southernmost CPR shortline from Consul to Pangman, where the tracks have been pulled out.
Along the way, I will pass through numerous villages - places like the Ravenscrag, Cadillac, Horizon and Admiral to name a few. Some towns like Amulet, Crighton and Governor no longer exist. (As I found out during my journey) All that remains of them are stone monuments at the side of the tracks.
By using the railway as a physical port of entry, I hope to gain a sense of the human landscape as grain elevators, schools, homes, churches and people enlarge with my approach. In essence, the tracks will act as a hallway to individual portals of sanctity - back yards, homes, businesses etc. - and to the stories, images and history within.
By staying at hotels, talking to locals at cafes, and by kicking the dust on street corners as I have done for over a decade, I will explore the concept of unity through photographs and journal entries. These images will exemplify everyday prairie life - that which has come, gone or lived on as a result of the railway.
Undeniably, I'd like to share with others a glimpse of prairie Canada and the way it continues to intrigue me as it did for the first time on the tracks in Moose Jaw back in 1990 - the day the last passenger train left town.