York Town Square

A maintenance train works on the Stewartstown Railroad in southeastern York County, Pa., recently. The non-profit, Friends of the Stewartstown Railroad, is starting its capital campaign with a Web donation page. “Recent times have not been kind to the railroad, and, in fact, the railroad is in real danger of disappearing if funds to rehabilitate and restore the line are not forthcoming,” the Web site states. (See additional photo below.) Also of interest: Historic Stewartstown Railroad heading to the auction block? and Stewartstown Railroad: ‘Truly a unique entity in the state, and possibly, the nation’

A mixed bag of neat stuff… .
The original Mack’s Ice Cream stand in Spry is vacant for the first time in decades, but it is offering its many flavors a few doors down South Queen Street in a former Burger King.
The ice cream scoopers appear to be as busy as ever, and tables with umbrellas are available out front, a trademark part of the old Mack’s… .

But the tables are farther from South Queen, which should make parents of youngsters feel a little better.
But it’s too far for those Little Leaguers slurping their ice cream and practicing that Mack’s tradition of pumping their hands to signal truckers to blow their truck horns.
At least that section of York Township will be a little quieter.
Web site of note: PhillyHistory.org, an online geographically-enabled database of the Philadelphia City Archives’ collection of historic photographs and maps, has just added more than 1,600 photographs from the Free Library of Philadelphia’s Centennial Exhibition and Historical Images of Philadelphia collections. A Philly.org news release states that this addition brings the collection on PhillyHistory.org to about photos and maps available for the public to search, use for research, share with friends, and purchase. “Featuring images ranging from a crowd of tens of thousands gathered for the Centennial Exhibition opening to a panorama of the city in 1870, the photographs show the bustling, diverse communities of Philadelphia in the late nineteenth-century,” the release states.
Local author: Yorkblogger Scott Butcher, who usually writes about York County and the surrounding region expanded his scope a bit – well, a bunch – with his new book: “Tombstone: Relive the Gunfight at the OK Corral.”
Blog post of the day: Scott Butcher has posted an interesting piece on a particular style of York County architecture: York in the Round.
Forum of the day: Vote for the best “P” in Yorkblogger Joan Concilio’s “ABCs of York County.”

Speeder cars navigate the Stewartstown Railroad.
Photos courtesy of Earl Long.