Sadly, another structure of a fallen flag has been lost. This past Sunday, fire destroyed what was formerly a Reading Railroad 6-stall roundhouse in Cressona, PA. Granted, the building has been a textile waste (rags) processing facility for many years, but the building was still there and one could hope that someday it could be returned to what it once was. Even if not - it was a thriving business that provided people with jobs.
Police suspect arson – witnesses claim they saw some young people running from the building. The owner said the building contained 1.5 million lbs of rags – this is what fueled the fire beyond the point from which it could be saved. There’s an old depot there too – I hope it doesn’t meet the same fate.
That is sad news. Anytime an old railroad structure is lost to natural or man-made causes we loose a piece of history. Hope those punks get whats coming to them.
I’m sure the fire and insurance investigators are going to go over that one with a fine tooth comb. You didn’t say but I suspect this happened overnight which always raises a red flag regarding arson and rarely is this an act of vandalism.
The incident was reported at about 2:30 AM. Click on the links below to see some pictures – not much to see except a pretty big blaze and the morning-after results. Credit for these pictures goes to a member of railfan.net – Reading division.
I was actually looking for a “unburned” picture of the old roundhouse. I was able to find an antiquated picture (ca.1929) on the Railfan.net site. Someone had posted it in their message:
Good find – that’s actually a pretty good photo. Like the caption says, fortunately the turntable was moved to the Strasburg museum. I was fishing around the railfan.net website but couldn’t find a picture of the roundhouse – only a recent one of the depot there.
A friend of mine just sent me a link to this forum . My parents were the owners of the roundhouse that was recently destroyed . It was the home to our family business for over 30 years . Its still hard to believe its gone . Around 2am March 26th we received a phone call that our building was on fire. For as long as I live I will never forget stepping outside our home at 2am and seeing the sky was pink .(and we live about 20 minutes away from Cressona)
By the time we reached the building it was an inferno . The whole town was outside watching the blaze . One by one our employees arrived at the scene as they heard the news and all we could do was stand to the side and watch my father’s lifes work turn to ash .
The fire was no accident . It was arson . Witnesses saw 3 people running from the building after the fire began . Hopefully an arrest will be very soon .
I wanted to thank everyone for their comments and also the person who posted the photo from 1929 of our building . I grew up working their and never saw a photo of what the building originally looked like when it was the roundhouse for the Reading Railroad . I know my father will be very appreciative to see the photograph . If anyone else has any photos of the building I was wondering if they would mind emailing me a copy at their convenience ? . It would mean alot to myself and my family . We were so busy working their all these years we never really stopped and took any photos . We would like to remember the way the building was rather then what its now become .
We plan on rebuilding but unfortunately this historical building is gone forever .
