| There is a large oil
industry in Alberta. We have seen a number of trucks on the road with huge
pumps. However I think this is a specialist rough ground transport for oil
industry items to remote wells. It isn't the first we have seen. |  |
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From Edmonton we travelled back along the Yellowhead Highway, the road we
used to get to Edmonton. We decided that the road north from Hinton was
worth the trip back. This is near to Hinton with the Rockies coming into
view in the distance. |
| The mountain views in the
last few miles are well worth the two hundred boring miles to get here.
We did have a problem along the way when we blew a tyre valve.
Fortunately we found a Chinese guy at a tyre place and persuaded him to fix
it. |  |
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That enabled us to carry on and enjoy the mountains. The views are much
better going west than east. . |
| At Hinton we stopped for
some lunch. The railway runs alongside the road through the middle of
the town. This is the first of four locomotives pulling a train eastwards. |  |
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The train had 157 grain wagons. This was the most colourful. It must have
been fairly new but it has still acquired some graffiti. |
| The freight train slowed
and waited for a passenger train travelling west. This is a rare event on
North American railroads. |  |
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There were four or five observation cars and about twenty cars in total. |
| This was the last car.
The style of these cars is quite classic. The train is called The Canadian
and is one of the great railway journeys of the world. |  |
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Travelling north from Hinton towards Grande Cache there are some sections
where the road is being made dual carriageway. The road building season up
here is very short.. |
| There is nothing between
Hinton and Grande Cache. Near the end of the road was a plume of smoke from
a timber processing plant, one of the few signs of life we have seen. |  |
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This really is a spectacular road and has been almost deserted for a hundred
miles. |
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