It was for some reason a personal challenge for the photographer to try get a usable shot of the Pennsylvania's line to the New York Central west of Buffalo Central Terminal, which for practical reasons was only possible from the long-distance Penn Central train to or from Chicago. The challenges were triple: the time of day (it was usually getting dark), the weather (usually winter) and the windows (always dirty). This was the first of two attempts, and over the years almost all of the color has faded from the slide leaving only magenta. Incidentally, Buffalo Central Terminal is to the left, which meant that the few Pennsy trains in and out of BCT had to perform a reverse move to access the station.
This was not an oversight on the Pennsy's part. Before the construction and subsequent opening of Buffalo Central Terminal in 1929 the Pennsylvania used a station originally built by the Western New York & Pennsylvania, located west of this point just before the wye connection between the New York Central mainline and its line north to Niagara Falls. When the Pennsylvania moved its passenger service to BCT it did not feel the limited number of trains involved warrented the expense of a new connection, with the result that all incoming Pennsylvania trains had to back into the terminal, and all outgoing trains had to back out. Ultimately only the New York Central and its affiliates used the new (and expensive) terminal apart from the Pennsylvania.
