Hanna Roundhouse

The old railway roundhouse in Hanna is a fascinating building.  I have shot here many times in the past.  In recent years a one third section of the old structure was destroyed.  I believe it was as the result of a fire, and not simply deterioration and collapse.  The building now has historic designation and a non-profit society has taken over.  They are now challenged with trying to save and restore the majestic old structure.  It is not very photogenic at the moment as all the windows are boarded up and everything is secured.  Maybe one day it will all be restored to its former glory.  My friends and I from the Monochrome Guild spent an hour or two here taking in the site and trying to gain an appreciation for what it once was.  I have included a few snap shots from the visit on this day, as well as a couple of scans of older images from previous visits.  Before the site was secured the building used to be accessible to the public.  That provided some great opportunities for photography, but also resulted in some issues with vandalism.  It was that vandalism that likely resulted in the destruction of one third of the building, so I can appreciate the need to secure the place now.  At one time, after it was abandoned as a roundhouse, it housed a livestock auction, and was also used as a storage facility.  The first time I was able to access the interior was shortly after the livestock auction had shut down.  It was heavily vandalized at that time, but I think later it must have changed hands as it was cleaned up a bit, and some old vehicles were stored inside.  Sometime after that was when the southeast section was lost.  The two images at the end are scans from large format 4x5 colar transparencies taken back in 1998.  The first four images are digital snapshots taken during this current trip.