Railway Map of East-Central Alberta

[StrathconaBooster]

This is a real-life map, but I drew it myself. What makes it interesting is how out-of-date it is. I can barely tell if this kind of thing is allowable, so feel free to quietly delete it.

railway_map_of_east_central_alberta_by_strathconabooster-da9t1qu.jpg

I slapped this together for my summer job (I work at a historic site). It's based on a few maps that we have on file - hopefully, it accurately portrays 1929, with the Star-Lloydminster line having just been constructed. With any luck, it'll end up hanging in the train station.

About half of these locations no longer exist: the station closed, and all adjoining buildings have been completely abandoned. Plenty more are hanging on, but barely (including the community that our historic train station came from). Only a few have managed to thrive (it helps if you're within commuting distance of Edmonton). The reason for all this abandonment is farm mechanization: easier transportation by road means that there's no need to have small towns every 7 miles anymore, so a few central communities benefit and the rest wither.

This was kludged together from 7 partial scans: if you look close, you'll probably be able to pick out all the seams. That's what I get for drawing maps that are too big to scan!

My favourite part of this map is how I managed to nail the center-justified placement of those words in that box on my first try - I didn't even pencil anything in beforehand. Victory is sweet! The worst part of this map is how it has a grease stain on it (which I shopped out), and I messed up Wetaskiwin a little bit.

This is the first map I ever drew on paper! In the future, I'll probably be sticking with Inkscape, but this map is appropriate for its role.