take a picture, before it's gone

[Fred W. Schneider III]

Last spring I was spending many days photographing locations where the
Lancaster trolleys once ran. I photographed a doctors' office in
Coatesville that had previously been a bank, and many alterations before
it was the Conestoga Traction Co. freight house.  By the end of the
summer, it too was gone.  But I got the picture.

What I neglected to do was the 1895 carbarn on North Prince Street in
Lancaster, which the traction company used until 1946.  It was an indoor
parking lot in the early 1990s when a snow storm collapsed the roof. 
Even then there was no visible damage from the street.  And still I
didn't take the picture.

Nice to hear from you, Derrick.

Fred S

"Edward H. Lybarger" wrote:
> 
> And the nation thinks of this as "progress."
> 
> -----Original Message-----
> From: owner-pittsburgh-railways at dementia.org
> [mailto:owner-pittsburgh-railways at dementia.org]On Behalf Of Derrick J
> Brashear
> Sent: Friday, February 16, 2001 7:12 PM
> To: pittsburgh-railways at dementia.org
> Subject: take a picture, before it's gone
> 
> today i had to take my wife to see her doctor (minor thing, but she wasn't
> feeling good and wanted something prescribed for it); The office is on
> Clay Pike, between Irwin and Herminie, along the former IHT line
> connecting those towns. Anyhow, to get there from Trafford basically you
> head out to Larimer, then overland to Clay Pike; It's not very far.
> 
> Anyhow, when Ed, Fred, Fred and I did the West Penn tour in November
> (geez, was it that long ago already?) Ed had a picture in Larimer which
> showed the track on the south side of the street in front of a multistory
> brick building, probably a general store. The track came (from Trafford)
> off the viaduct over the Pennsylvania Railroad, crossed the road, ran in
> front of this building, crossed the road again, ran in front of what's now
> the fire department, then crossed a third time and ran up what's now an
> alley to its hillside right of way on the way to Irwin.
> 
> The brick building was standing in November but as I recall you could see
> in one of the windows, and the roof was gone.
> 
> Today, when I got to that intersection, something was wrong. The building
> was gone, and the foundation had been filled with earth and grass planted
> (and straw thrown over it)
> 
> I said it before; I'll say it again. Take a picture, before it's gone. I
> don't think I ever got a picture of this, which is a shame because while
> it wasn't beautiful, it was an interesting building, and almost certainly
> part of the complete picture for that line.
> 
> -D