Bassano is about 140 kilometres southeast of Calgary, on the eastern edge of the Siksika Nation. Once upon a time, it had been a Canadian Pacific divisional point, a junction between the Brooks subdivision (between Calgary and Medicine Hat), the Empress subdivision (between Bassano and out to Saskatchewan via Empress, AB), and the Irricana subdivision (between Bassano and the subdivision's namesake, Irricana); only the Brooks subdivision remains today, as CPKC's mainline. The remnants of Bassano's divisional history are largely lost: the small roundhouse's footprints are visible only via satellite pictures, the station house was removed in 2013. All that remains is a small yard, sufficient to handle the long trains that now rumble through what was an important railway stop on Canadian Pacific's historic network.
