[PRCo] Re: PSSST - WANNA BUY LOUSY PICTURES?

[Edward H. Lybarger]

Bill Gwinn's negatives are largely "mapping grade," but every now and again
a relatively sharp one shows up.  Sometimes, too, he aimed the camera 180
degrees from all the other fans (90 degrees in the case of the West Penn
crossing at McClellandtown) and got a wonderful alternate view that no one
else bothered with.

Bill's house in Bridgeport recently disappeared...whether it collapsed or
was taken down for safety reasons, I'm not sure.  I was there after he died,
to acquire the collection for the museum.  It stank, not unlike other homes
of the elderly.  Yes, Bill lived spartanly.  We should be grateful that he
took what he took and use it for what it's worth (which is NOT $8!).

Ed

-----Original Message-----
From: pittsburgh-railways-bounce at lists.dementia.org
[mailto:pittsburgh-railways-bounce at lists.dementia.org]On Behalf Of Fred
Schneider
Sent: Tuesday, January 28, 2003 3:35 PM
To: pittsburgh-railways at dementia.org
Subject: [PRCo] Re: PSSST - WANNA BUY LOUSY PICTURES?


Were you fishing for commentary, John?

For the most part, Bill Gwynn's photos were marginal.  This is
characteristic.  It's a good 10 cent picture that somebody thinks is
worth $8.00.

However, Gwynn did have some nice material.  Bill worked in the teens for
Ohio Valley Electric Co., Huntington, West Virginia, and took
a lot of pictures of cars and the people with whom he worked.  They are box
camera negatives but some print up rather nicely.  This is
especially nice because, disregarding Bill's photos, I think I've never seen
more than three OVE pictures.  During his years with
Wheeling Traction / Cooperative Transit he had access to the company photo
files and there are some fair quality copy negatives of those
views.  Sadly, bus drivers are not the world's wealthiest people,
particularly in a small city.  He economized by having two or three or
four pictures copied on one 4x5 negatives which tended to materially reduce
sharpness and increase grain.   And where are these
negatives?  Well, your donations to PTM will help to maintain them.     fws

John F Bromley wrote:

> Step right up ladies and germs getcha hot pix while they last - only $8
plus postage or most of this 616 print of 1415 on Crosstown.
>
>
http://cgi.ebay.com/ws/eBayISAPI.dll?ViewItem&item=2156191735&category=1445
>
> Thanks to Bob Rathke I can ignore this "gem".