Lytton / Thompson River Railcuts
2010

The area around Lytton, BC is a special place, a unique climactic zone of steep, rocky mountains littered in Ponderosa pine trees, and mountain goats. Situated at the confluence of the Thompson and Fraser rivers, Lytton would be a quiet little town… if it weren’t for the fact that both of Canada’s main railways – the CP, and CN – have rail lines that run on each side of the Thompson river. Combine that with the river rafting and the Trans-Canada Highway, and Lytton is a bustling little community.

I have been going up to, and through Lytton since I was a kid. The landscape has always amazed me – a mountainous desert, where you can constantly hear the sound of the hillsides slowly crumbling down towards the river valley.

These photos of the rail cuts on the Thompson River are more about the majesty of the landscape than a study in transportation infrastructure. It’s humbling to be in a landscape where a two-kilometre-long train looks like a toy passing by.