Documentary: The Tracks of Armstrong, B.C.

The town of Armstrong is nestled in the Spalmucheen valley, part of BC's North Okanagan. It once produced Canada's biggest celery crop and the famous Armstrong Cheese. It now boasts a vibrant theatre company. It has a hugely agricultural fair.  Just under 3000 people call Armstrong home.

Armstrong has a railway track - built in 1890 - that runs smack dab through the centre of town. A couple of trains barrel on through every day. Armstrong is in effect cut in half.  If you want to get quickly from one side of town to the other, you take the tracks. It's Armstrong's viaduct, of sorts.

But if you're a teenager, the tracks are a refuge, a ribbon of adventure, freedom, experimentation.

But in 2011, on Halloween night, something terrible happened on the tracks. An 18-year-old girl was killed.  A dark shadow was cast on the town and on the stretch of railway running through it. Last week, Matthew Foerster was convicted of 1st degree murder.

Emelia Symington Fedy grew up in Armstrong. In 2012, we aired her award winning documentary, called The Tracks.

We broadcast it again on April 13, 2014.