[PRCo] Re: Derry (Re: Re: Perspective on nostalgia)

[Derrick J Brashear]

On Thu, 30 Jan 2003, Derrick J Brashear wrote:

> The HABS/HAER inventory of Westmoreland County includes some commentary on
> the barn which I will share shortly.

Westmoreland County Railway Company: Derry Motor Barn and Powerhouse
E. 2nd Street at Railroad, Derry
Construction date: 1904

Description: Motor Barn: red brick, common bond; one story; measures 157'
x 56'; gable roof of tar paper; brick corbelling at cornice; nine pairs
of twenty-over-twenty-light double-hung windows with triple voussoirs and
stone sills; facade with large multipane circular window at gable;
original large openings, one with massive timber lintel, now infilled with
red brick and new double garage doors constructed on facade; addition of
two small one-story tile buildings; structural system of brick bearing
walls; Fan fink trusses.

Powerhouse: red brick, common bond; one story; measures 150' x 60'; gable
roof with rafters and newer steel fan Fink trusses; paired
twenty-over-twenty-light double-hung windows with triple voussoirs;
corbelling above bays and brick pilasters between bays; large circular
window at gable end on both sides, now infilled with brick; tall yellow
brick stack on west elevation; now part of Industrial Ceramics Inc. Powerhouse
Machinery associated with Westinghouse Electric and Manufacturing
Company's occupation; original forge and tools for blacksmith shop;
Buffalo Forge Company drill press; Monarch Machine Tool Company lathe.

The Westmoreland County Railway Company complex at Derry is located on the
railroad tracks that pass through the center of town. The motor barn now
functions as a garage and storage area for Ralph Smith and Son, Inc.,
while the adjacent Powerhouse has been attached to and incorporated within
Building E of the old Westinghouse Electric and Manufacturing Plant (now
Industrial Ceramics Inc.) The structure served as a boiler house and
blacksmith shop for Westinghouse.

History: The Westmoreland County Railway Company began railroad trolley
service in 1904 after a merger between the Blairsville and Derry Street
Railway and the Bradenville and Derry Street Railroad. The firm provided
trolley service between Latrobe and Derry along 7 miles of broad gauge
track. By 1919 the corporate headquarters of this traction company was the
Oliver Building in Pittsburgh. Financially unsuccessful even with a fare
reduction, the line ceased operations in 1932. The route was assumed by
the Chestnut Ridge Transportation Company's buses. More trolley companies
operated in Pennsylvania than in any other state, and the McGraw Electric
Railroad Directory of 1923 listed 104 Pennsylvania companies operating
9,549 trolleys on 4,625 miles of track in the state. Trolley systems were
constructed in every major city in Pennsylvania and in fifty-three of its
sixty-seven counties. New York exceeded Pennsylvania in track mileage but
was second in number of trolley companies. The Commonwealth has only three
operating systems: Pittsburgh-Port Authority of Allegheny County;
Philadelphia-Southwestern Pennsylvania Transportation Authority; Suburban
Philadelphia-Southeastern Arrow Division.

Sources:
Commonwealth of Pennsylvania, Department of Labor and Industry. Third
Industrial Directory of Pennsylvania, 1919. Harrisburg: State Printer,
1919.
Rohrbeck, Benson. Pennsylvania's Street Railways. West Chester: Ben
Rohrbeck Traction Publications, 1984.
Springirth, Kenneth. Viewing Pennsylvania Trolleys, 1971.

(errors in the summary of "current" systems theirs. Note also this summary
was from 1994. you can probably take the whole history with a grain of
salt but their building descriptions and typically very accurate)

Other commentary: Industrial Ceramics is gone. The complex was empty the
last few times I was through Derry. This wasn't an extractive industry and
yet it too has passed. Also, they just don't build buildings like that
anymore. A recent trip through coal patch towns of Westmoreland County
revealed that even still a number of colliery buildings, typically red
brick, survive. One might argue that buildings that outlast your business
are "wasted expense".