Canadian National Yard, Ottawa, Ontario, Canada 1990

James Welling made this gelatin silver print, titled "Canadian National Yard, Ottawa, Ontario, Canada," sometime after his birth in 1951. While undated, this photograph speaks to a longer history of the relationship between Canada's national identity and its railway system. The Canadian Pacific Railway, completed in 1885, played a crucial role in binding the country together, facilitating trade, and shaping patterns of settlement. Welling's choice to photograph a contemporary locomotive in a direct, almost documentary style prompts us to consider the legacy of the railway in the present day. Is he celebrating the enduring importance of this infrastructure, or perhaps suggesting a more ambivalent view of its impact on the Canadian landscape and society? To fully understand the photograph, we might turn to archival materials related to the Canadian National Railway, as well as studies of Canadian economic and social history.