A Photographer Took a Vintage Train Across Canada in a Really Clever Way

We’d all love to travel across Canada and explore our home and native (or in my case, adopted) land.

But given the sheer size of the country – 8,000 kilometres wide to be precise – a coast to coast journey is one many of us will never actually get around to completing.

But luckily for us a photographer did just that, crossing the country from sea to sea by train…just not as you might expect.

Jeff Friesen, the photographer behind the Ghost Train Crossing Canada, took the vintage streamliner (first called The Canadian) across the country. And this definitely isn’t your average commuter train.

“My own cross-country exploration is done by train, but not in the usual sense. I carry the train rather than it carrying me. It fits into a shopping bag from Mountain Equipment Co-op.”

“It rolls on tiny steel rails that are about two centimetres apart. Nothing larger than an ant can fit into the elegant passenger cars, but traveling with the miniature Canadian gives a fresh view of the country nonetheless,” says Friesen on his site.

All photos courtesy of Jeff Friesen.

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The stunning series shows photographs of the miniature toy train on driftwood, fences, and caves from Cathedral Grove in B.C and Lake Louise, all the way to Cavendish Shore in P.E.I. and Newfoundland.

The artist, based in Vancouver Island, explained how photographing the tiny train required a lot of time spent at ground level to perfect the shot.

“It’s a place seldom explored by adults, but you gain a new perspective by being close to the land. It is here you find the exquisite details that make up Canada’s foundation. As anyone who has watched a child play outdoors knows, there’s a new world to explore in the landscape at your feet.”

Buy the ghost train prints here.

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