[Fwd: Thanks to Street Railway Photograpghers...]

[Fred Schneider]

Is this a wonderful justification for just taking pictures of streets?  

My Dad walked around Lancaster PA in the middle 1960s and took eight
pictures at each downtown intersection.   Those negatives have never been
printed but they are a delightful historical record which I should make
certain winds up in the local historical society some day.   I've spent many
a day walking around the city just taking pictures of buildings ... its
amazing how many we still have in Lancaster County that were built when this
was a British colony.  

I guess what I'm trying to say is:  THERE'S A WHOLE LOT MORE OUT THERE THAN
TROLLEYS.  

		-----Original Message-----
		From:	mrb190 [mailto:mrb190+ at pitt.edu]
		Sent:	Sunday, March 05, 2000 11:16 PM
		To:	pittsburgh-railways at dementia.org
		Subject:	[Fwd: Thanks to Street Railway
Photograpghers...]

		(because of the difference between mrb190 and mrb190+; long
story, should
		be fixed -- djb)

		I am still kind of new to this group, so if this has been
said before,
		please forgive the duplication of words...

		When I display streetcar photographs to folks around here
who don't have
		the same hobby-like interest in the cars as I do, I often
hear the same
		remarks:  "wow!  I remember that building!"  or "Yes!  I
remember when
		the avenue looked like that!"  or "Is that what our street
used to look
		like?"

		In short, to all of railway photographers, past and present:
not only
		have you recorded a terrific piece of streetcar history, but
also the
		surroundings.   I doubt if there are many picture-takers out
there today
		snapping as many pics on Fifth Avenue or Penn Avenue or on
some urban
		neighborhood street of  autos or buses going by.  The
streetcar WAS an
		intricate part of the street and made it all the more
interesting enough
		for photographers to spend a few more dollars on film.   I
wonder how
		many of you realized at the time that you were capturing
more than just
		the trolleys, but also the time and place in which the cars
did their
		jobs.   It's a kick to hear current Pitt students who view
the photos in
		the "Touring Pittsburgh By Trolley" book say:   "The Towers
(student
		housing) are in this picture!  That means you had trolleys
running here
		in the sixties!   What happened to them?"    The Towers were
apparently
		pretty new, and I think they are still the newest dorms on
campus, so
		when you view this particular photo in the "Touring..."
book, it does
		seem like the cars were running down Fifth just yesterday.

		So, again, THANKS!

		And speaking of photographs, can anyone tell me where this
Roberta Hill
		shot is located?
		Ken, do you know?

		http://davesrailpix.railfan.net/pitts/jpg/kjpgh213.jpg

		Matt