Judging by this photo, the railroad yard in Lansdale was quite busy back in the day.

Today’s photo was submitted by Dan Drissel of Landale.

He notes:

“This picture was thought to have been taken about 1934 or 1935. It is a picture of Sam Drissel, my grandfather, co-owner of Drissel & Badman Furniture and Frigidaire.

“They had a store in Lansdale where the Lansdale School of Cosmetology is now located. They also had a store in Quakertown and Perkasie.

“My father, Clyde, later started Drissel’s Hardware (1936) in what is now Wilson’s Hardware.”

This picture was taken at the Fifth Street and Cannon Avenue railroad siding in Lansdale. The large brick building seen behind the railroad cars is still standing.

Sam Drissel is the man standing in suit and hat. Ray Strauss is in the truck on the left. John Smith is in the truck in the center. Ed Kuhns and Ed Burnhard are standing on the truck in the center. A Mr. Shaddinger is standing on the truck’s running board at the right. The gentleman standing on the running board behind Sam Drissel was a dealer from Perkasie.

If you remember, last week we shared some vintage photos from the local radio station, WNPV, which is celebrating its 50th anniversary this year.

Today we have another radio gem, featuring KYW, courtesy of Ellis Kriebel of Harleysville.

According to Kriebel:

“Before Philadelphia’s Westinghouse station KYW became an all-news station, they had an early morning disc jockey who played popular music from the 1930s, 1940s and 1950s.

“Here is DJ Jack Pyle in 1951, having fun with newscaster Paul Taylor and the station announcer, with the flit gun.

“Jack, who was no Crosby or Sinatra, always sang along with the Pied Pipers and Tommy Dorsey Orchestra when he was spinning their recording of “The Sunny Side of the Street.

“Taylor, using his given name, resided in Lower Salford in the early 1950s.”

Soon after it signed on the air Oct. 17, 1960, Radio Station WNPV quickly established itself as the “Voice of the North Penn Valley.”

Almost immediately it became a place area residents could turn to for music, news, sports and a sounding board for the pulse of the region.

As the date suggests, WNPV will mark its 50th anniversary this month and the Lansdale Historical Society will join in the celebration.

The society’s Community Program on Tuesday, “WNPV Radio: 50 Years as the Voice of the North Penn Valley,” will be a trip back in time to the day when 1440 Radio hit the airwaves with all of 500 watts of dawn-to-dusk broadcasting power.

The show will span the decades as the station evolved from a middle-of-the-road music station — flying right in the face of the rock ’n’ roll revolution — to its news and talk format of today.

Along the way, we’ll revive memories of some of the on-air personalities like Dick Heist, Stu Montgomery, Bob Allen, Bob Fretz, Fred Day, Harry Prime, Dean Bennett, John Franklin, Paul Taylor and Jim Church, who came into our homes over the years.

In the photos featured today, you see Heist at the control board in one shot, and Bob Fretz — who later worked at The Reporter as a staff writer and copy editor — wearing headphones and speaking into the microphone.


The program will be narrated by current Program Director Darryl Berger, a 25-year employee of the station and host of “Comment Please by Univest.”

Other members of the WNPV family will also take part in the show, including John Skibbe, the original station manager who is still active at the station.

It will also include some vintage jingles, taped highlights of early shows and the original test broadcast of WNPV, which aired Oct. 14, 1960, three days before the station began regular programming.

Also planned is a video presentation of photos taken over the years, old programming schedules and other memorabilia from the archives.

As usual, the show will be held at the Lansdale Parks and Recreation Building, Seventh Street and Lansdale Avenue. There is no admission charge but donations are greatly appreciated.

This is Fire Prevention Week, so what better time to feature some fire engines?

That’s what Bruce Clark of North Wales thought, and we agree.

Today we feature two photos related to the film, “The Trouble With Angels.”

As Clark noted:

“It is a little-known fact that Hollywood came to Ambler in 1965 to film a much-loved comedy, ‘The Trouble With Angels.’ The film starred Rosalind Russel, Hayley Mills and June Harding. The story involves two teens as they attend St. Francis Academy boarding school for girls. The story covers three years along with the antics of the girls and the problems they cause for Mother Superior (Rosalind Russell).

“Released in 1966, local residents must have recognized the castle at St. Mary’s Villa in Ambler as the exterior setting for the Catholic school in the film.

“In one scene, Mills and Harding sneak into the castle basement to catch a smoke. They didn’t realize that they generated so much smoke that it could be seen coming out of the window, and a fire alarm was sounded. The fire trucks arrive and they are from the Fort Washington Fire Company No. 1, along with a half-dozen of their volunteers.”


Clark notes that the photos he has shared show Russell posing on the truck at St. Mary’s Villa. The other photo shows the castle and film director Ida Lupino (in hat) staging a scene.

Clark also has created a website to honor the local filming, wwwTheTroubleWithAngels.com, where he shares photos and information about the production.