Disappearing Railway Scene

Grey weathered telephone poles with outstretched cross-arms adorned in glass insulators; all tied together with wires that whistled in the wind.

Once upon a time there was an age when people and freight moved over the rails and news and information travelled over the wires.

This was a once familiar scene that parallelled every railway line in Canada.

In the same manner that the automobile killed off passenger trains, so also has changing telephone and telecommunication technologies killed off the telegraph, wires and telephone poles.

This autumn image was captured east of London, Ontario, in October 1992.

Yes, there is a railway track hidden behind the grass to the left of the poles and Via Rail passenger trains continue to travel along those rails.

The Oddblock Station Agent