Railtown is a Vancouver neighborhood located just is east of Gastown. It is presumably called railtown due to its close proximity to the Vancouver Railyard. This railyard services one of the shipping ports in the area, organizing the shipped in goods to travel their distant destinations. However despite its namesake Railtown does not revolve around trains, ports or the shipping industry. In fact other than the noise, the trainyard plays little part in this neighborhood’s day to day existence. The area is instead home to artists, fashion designers, tech start-ups and other creative ventures that were likely drawn to the area due to lower rents and abundant artist spaces.

This is the hood I live in. Our studio is in fact right on the edge of the city directly beside the tracks, so trains/tracks/railyards tend to feature rather prominently in my work.

There is an alley behind Railway ave. It is sandwiched between the railyard and lower loading docks of buildings there. Being that it is in my hood I have wandered this alley a lot in the years that we have lived here, and despite having photographed what seems like every square foot of this block I still find new ways to approach it.