[PRCo] Re: 2002 PTM calendar

[Fred W. Schneider III]

Bill Gwinn took trolley pictures long before 1946.  Arden has and I've
printed a large file of his negatives taken during his employment in
Huntington, West Virginia about World War ONE.  Bill was a motorman for
Ohio Valley Electric before he moved north to Wheeling.  Those negatives
include the high floor turtle-roof cars that later went to Altoona. 
Most of the negatives show Bill and people he worked with and some cute
office young girls (remember, he was young then too).  

Fredbruhn at aol.com wrote:
> 
> Did Fred III let the cat out of the bag?  Ed must have the new calendar
> almost ready.
> Will it be announced with the next Trolley Fare?
> 
> Is Bill Gwinn's house finally down?  The last time I drove by which I believe
> was a few weeks before Fred III and Ed drove the 69 line in Wheeling his
> house was condemned and had danger tape all around it -- and for good reason.
>  Bill used the 2nd. floor bedroom on the East side (toward Wheeling) for his
> trolley work.  He was very organized as anyone who bought from him knew.
> Almost all of his shots had a caption typed on the back, with the date and
> time to the minute the photo was taken shown on the back.  Bill had two sons,
> one I think is a doctor in Dayton, Ohio, and his other son lived in the home
> and was on some type of medical disability.  It was this son who disposed of
> his collection to PTM.  Bill bought his first car in the mid 60's.  I believe
> his fellow operator Tom Fahey from Martins Ferry drove Bill to the WP trips
> and later Pittsburgh.
> 
> Bill started taking his trolley photos around 1946, but he may have some from
> earlier times.  It may have been a Columbus rail group who came to Benwood by
> B&O for a trip which Doc Blackburn recorded bits and pieces of on 8 mm.  Bill
> was the conductor and I think Tommy Fahey the operator.  The trip originated
> at the McMechen barn, went throughout Whg. to the Warwood barn where cars
> were pulled out for the fans to see including a diff. dump, and then over the
> island and north through Martins Ferry on the 79 line.  Bill realized then
> that he needed to take photos of the lines before they disappeared.  His
> route 59 shots south of Bridgeport
> were almost exclusively taken on one day, getting off and on cars going
> southbound and then back northbound.
> 
> Do any of you (I should contact Gary Dillon who is old as dirt by now who I
> don't think ever missed a trip) remember the trips on Wheeling?  There were
> more than the one I mentioned above.  A trip to Barton had to be pre war or
> about 1941 - 42.
> One trip went to the end of the Rayland line as shown in a photo in one of
> CERA's all color books.
> 
> Remember Wheeling is included in our Pittsburgh umbrella of lines, so this is
> on topic.
> 
> Fred