A Hey Now! Triad
Thursday sep 24
– photo by Mitch Waxman
After a medium length walk, one ended up at a familiar spot in the South Side Flats section of Pittsburgh.
What’s now called ‘Burgher’s Brewery,’ formerly the ‘Sly Fox Brewery,’ sits alongside a set of CSX railroad tracks that are fairly busy. Upon my arrival at the brewery, and after a visit to the lavatory, I purchased a pint of ale and got busy.
First up was CSX #1897, which was painted up in ‘heritage’ colors.
– photo by Mitch Waxman
American Railroads offered a quite confusing business map when they were the dominant form of investable industry in this country, and it gets more so when you enter and exit the post Conrail era. The current nationwide companies consolidated, with other survivors of the industry’s early 1970’s apocalypse and nationalization, out of Conrail.
Outfits like Norfolk Southern and CSX were formed from the smoking rubble of the bankrupted freight rail system, dominated by Pennsylvania Railroad and their arch rivals New York Central in the northeast.
This is too long a tale to tell, so I’ll direct you towards Wikipedia for what Conrail was and how all of the modern freight rail companies ‘fell’ out of it.
To understand the ‘world which was,’ let’s just analogize that in the late 19th and early 20th – you didn’t gamble on bitcoin or tech stocks which were promising breakthrough AI services – you bought into railroad stock, and then got out as soon as it paid a return. Rail was pretty much the ‘high tech sector’ back then, but was far more volatile. Let that sink in.
All of the modern freight carriers run ‘heritage units,’ with specialized paint jobs, which signify railroad routes and companies which they have consolidated into the modern operation. Rail fans love this stuff.
‘Monon Railroad’ was one of the many smaller outfits that were combined into CSX. Hear about 1897 direct from the horse’s mouth.
– photo by Mitch Waxman
I usually don’t keep shooting after the ‘head of the snake’ has passed out of frame, but there were several ‘DPU’ locomotives in line behind 1897 and a couple of them were interesting to me.
Y’know, even if I was shooting video here, there’s no way I’d be able to convey the absolute landslide of reflected noise which a group of locomotives makes when passing through a narrow brick lined slot like this. Were I able to record it, I wouldn’t be able to play it back at the same volume without the benefit of some movie theater’s sound system – and even then… LOUD.
– photo by Mitch Waxman
Another interesting locomotive was in line, this one painted up with the branding and color way of the ‘Maryland Midland’ outfit.
Hmm. That’s a new one.
I headed inside the brewery and ordered a ‘reload’ for my ale, and also paid my tab. As mentioned often, two drinks is plenty for me these days.
– photo by Mitch Waxman
I started walking towards the Station Square Light Rail station shortly after CSX #5236 up there passed me by. I followed one of the trails, after returning my glass to the bartender. Yep, inspected the porcelain again, then set off. I managed to meet up with the group of people I wanted to see, and got a free hot dog out of it too.
At the end of the game, after arriving back at HQ, I had walked something like nine miles all told. ‘Not every walk has to be the Bataan Death March’ is – as you might recall – a new motto of mine.
– photo by Mitch Waxman
While plying the trail towards the T light rail station, yet another CSX train rolled past me. All told, I felt pretty satisfied with the outing’s effort.
My day didn’t suck.
Back tomorrow with something different – at this – your Newtown Pentacle.
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Eliza Trail behind, Flats in front
Wednesday
– photo by Mitch Waxman
After leaving the Eliza Furnace trail on the north shore of the Monongahela River, one then crossed the waterway, via the South Tenth Street Bridge, and your humble narrator had but one goal in mind.
Beer and trains.
– photo by Mitch Waxman
It’s a short walk, but the path passes by a largish number of residential structures and clinics – many of which are involved in the charitable work of housing vagrants, while others are a part of the ‘medical/insurance industrial complex’ whose profits arise from addiction recovery services.
As is usually the case with such areas, a population of folks ‘living rough’ and ‘not in the program’ can be observed nearby. As such, this is one of the parts of Pittsburgh where you want to observe ‘NYC rules.’
Be aware of surroundings, spin around on your heel periodically to see if you’re being followed, don’t allow yourself to be ‘cul-de-sac’d’ on a dead end street, have your headphones not in your ears. I’m not saying it’s dangerous here, it’s really not, I’m just saying it makes sense to have ‘the radar’ turned on when armies of junkies are wandering around.
Maintaining a bit of paranoia is a life skill, for one such as myself.
That’s a particularly spectacular Ukrainian Church, pictured above.
– photo by Mitch Waxman
One slapped his feet against the pavement, on Pittsburgh’s Carson Street, which is the ‘via majorica’ of this section of the city.
Mixed use zoning here, including a set of particularly ancient residential structures, and punctuated by the occasional shop or storefront. Most of the commercial addresses seem shuttered, consequential of some long ago urban planner’s decision to turn the ‘local’ Carson Street into a primary arterial roadway, one whose design involves getting drivers through the area at a maximum rate of speed while they’re heading towards several nearby bridges and tunnels which lead to satellite communities.
People earn their money in the city, thereby, and then drive away to a distant suburb to spend it. It’s obvious what the problem is here.
– photo by Mitch Waxman
My case study for this particular POV remains the Cross Bronx Expressway – and the Long Island Expressway which I know more about – both of which turned into multiple mile long engines of blight generation for NYC, back in the 1960’s and 70’s.
A big part of making it absolutely hellish to drive into Manhattan in modernity, and forcing people to commute by transit instead, is to encourage the populace to drop some of their coin in the central business district. Ever wonder why the real estate types love congestion pricing and bike lanes so much?
The ‘planners’ look down upon our world like it’s a flat paper map, spread out on a mahogany desk in some City Hall office.
They don’t see groups of bored kids, or dog walkers, or imagine any of the small stuff in their plans – like a candy store, found on a corner. In fact, a candy store is usually in the way of what they want to do or have been told to want by the bosses. From an urban planner’s POV, a Trader Joe’s or a Target are much more laudable ‘anchor’ tenants for a project than some nickel and dime locally owned neighborhood candy store.
Growth, it needs to be organic and considered or it becomes cancerous. Oh, the urbanity of it all!
– photo by Mitch Waxman
The local Government, here in Pittsburgh, is currently floating a particularly short sighted policy scheme – creating a new tax regime for an area that is successfully growing itself, and then using that tax money to prop up an area that is dying on the vine.
In the case of Pittsburgh, this conceit is dubbed as being a TRID, and the current political regime wishes to direct the tax moneys generated by a successful development environment in one neighborhood (The Strip District) to buoy up the commercial and office sectors of the Downtown area nearby its transit hubs – a program which would play out over a forty year period.
Forty years…
I’d like to point out – as a point of reference – that Ronald Reagan was President some forty years ago – and that multi generational financial schemes such as this seldom work out well or ‘trickle down’ for the tax paying citizens who haven’t actually been born yet.
Gen X here, and I’ve watched this sort of political handout to the past which shortchanges the future before. Savings and Loan crisis, anyone? No bueno.
– photo by Mitch Waxman
Bah!
Luckily, I arrived at that brewery by the train tracks just in time.
Inspected the porcelain, ordered a pint, and took up station at the outdoor seating, just as CSX #1897 arrived at the pass.
More on all that tomorrow, which will be a ‘Hey Now!palooza.’
“follow” me on Twitter- @newtownpentacle
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Say goodbye to Aunt Eliza
Tuesday
– photo by Mitch Waxman
After having scuttled upon the Eliza Furnace Trail on the northern shore of the Monongahela River, your humble narrator reached the spot where he’d break off the trail and reenter the street grid (as it were) so as to cross the water and get over to the southern shore.
My plan was to cross the river via the South Tenth Street Bridge.
The section of the rail trail before me is referred to colloquially as ‘The Jail Trail,’ as it passes directly past the city’s jail, which is also right next door to an enormous homeless shelter. No bueno.
– photo by Mitch Waxman
A Towboat was spotted, towing a few barges under the Birmingham Bridge, but it was pretty far away and I can’t tell you much about it. Luckily, zoom lens.
I cut across a parking lot to get to where I needed to be.
– photo by Mitch Waxman
This sidewalk led to an intersection with the South Tenth Street Bridge, and coincidentally – the bridge’s intersection with the Armstrong Tunnel.
My goodness, it’s almost as if there’s a method behind all the madness.
– photo by Mitch Waxman
Your humble narrator was experiencing a bit of a lull in his energy levels. It had been a nice day climate wise, but the burning thermonuclear eye of god itself had been bobbing about in the sky, and the Eliza Trail offers little or any shade, so I was feeling a bit warm and fatigued.
Sol Invictus indeed.
Ebb and flow. Time for a quick break.
– photo by Mitch Waxman
Looking back at where I’d been, in that nest of ramps feeding to and from the Birmingham Bridge.
Luckily, a shady spot awaited me.
– photo by Mitch Waxman
Other than a plague of Spotted Lanternfiles who seemed to be reproducing as I watched, this little shady spot gave me a minute to unload the camera bag off of my back, and slurp down some of the water I had been carrying with me in that Nalgene water bottle so recently added to the kit.
I hate the weight of carrying water, yet enjoy its recuperative property. It’s a dichotomy, but I’m just like the kiwi – a fuzzy little fruit with a lot of personality. Man, I do miss having a Bodega on every corner…
Back tomorrow.
“follow” me on Twitter- @newtownpentacle
Buy a book!
“In the Shadows at Newtown Creek,” an 88 page softcover 8.5×11 magazine format photo book by Mitch Waxman, is now on sale at blurb.com for $30.
Eliza Trailing, part 2
Monday
– photo by Mitch Waxman
Your humble narrator was scuttling along the Eliza Furnace Trail in Pittsburgh, when we left off last week, and here we are!
This pathway is a former ‘right of way’ and track bed once owned by the B&O railroad, which has been converted over to a ‘rail trail,’ and the ‘zone’ hereabouts used to be defined by the presence of an enormous steel mill and iron furnace operated by an outfit known as the J&L Steel Company.
All caught up.
– photo by Mitch Waxman
As has been offered in the past, I’m visually fascinated by all of the massing shapes and parabolas offered by the many, many highway ramps in this area. This post, from July of this year, shows the scene I was scuttling through as seen from above.
Up, down, all around.
– photo by Mitch Waxman
The only hazard encountered down here involves bike riders, funnily enough. The E-Bikes you see in Pittsburgh are a bit overpowered due to all the hills, and when a rider is on a flat surface like this – they can get up to a truly inspiring speed. Some dude rode past me at what had to be thirty or forty mph. Then another dude did, and another…
Proof of a long running argument I had with the ‘bicycle people’ back in NYC, who assign all bad behavior on the streets to cars and trucks, and present bike riders as some kind of noble pilgrims who will lead us all to a world enjoying a decarbonized future. I’ve always laughed out loud at this.
Give someone a chance to be a dick, they’ll take it, every time.
That’s my POV. Allow somebody to ride a de facto electric motorcycle on a bike and pedestrian path with zero enforcement of ‘norms,’ you’ll soon get (mostly) guys riding at top speed on the Eliza Furnace Trail, while weaving around joggers, humble narrators, and baby carriages at speed.
Know what the solution to this situation is going to be, you self important jackasses? Speed bumps and traffic calming. Operator Licenses, registration plates or stickers, and vehicle insurance. You reap, and then the government will sow.
– photo by Mitch Waxman
Ramps, ramps, ramps.
The ones above are part of a complex interface with local streets that the Birmingham Bridge offers. I walk over this bridge fairly frequently.
– photo by Mitch Waxman
That’s Pittsburgh’s Second Avenue down there, which is not a terribly nice place to walk, so I stick to the trail instead.
The plan for the afternoon would continue on the other side of the river, and I’d be crossing it about a mile and change from this spot.
– photo by Mitch Waxman
There’s a section of Eliza Trail where you’re more or less parallel with an interstate (I-376) high speed road. 376 in this section is meant to be speed limited at 40 mph, but it’s common to have people blast past you at 80 on the ‘Parkway East.’
For you New Yorkers, this motor vehicles only road is Pittsburgh’s equivalent to the FDR drive, or the Henry Hudson Parkway – the last hurdle for motorists on their way out of the city. The section pictured here would be analogous to the FDR route just north of the UN, heading towards Triborough. At 80 mph.
Back tomorrow with more.
“follow” me on Twitter- @newtownpentacle
Buy a book!
“In the Shadows at Newtown Creek,” an 88 page softcover 8.5×11 magazine format photo book by Mitch Waxman, is now on sale at blurb.com for $30.
Eliza Trailing, part 1
Friday
– photo by Mitch Waxman
Your humble narrator had begun his daily scuttling, along a pathway offered by the Eliza Furnace Rail Trail – set into the former ‘right of way’ of the B&O Railroad – which travels along the northern shore of the Monongahela River here in Pittsburgh.
My goal for the day essentially boiled down to getting some exercise, with the hope that something interesting might appear in front of the camera as I was scuttling along. Headphones were in, and I was listening to a playlist of the Diana Ross era of the Supremes.
– photo by Mitch Waxman
The river facing properties used to house an iron furnace, and a steel mill, both operated by an outfit called ‘Jones and Laughlin’ or simply ‘J&L’ which shuttered back in 1968.
Pittsburgh is still trying to figure out what to do with all the post industrial land in this ‘zone.’ I see announcements of salvation being offered by some out of state real estate developer or investment group in the newspaper periodically, but nobody seems to be turning many shovels of dirt over on the property.
One’s toes were pointing in a northwesterly direction, towards the apogee of the central peninsula of the city. The ultimate goal was to get back to the T Light Rail for a ride back to HQ, but that would be hours away.
– photo by Mitch Waxman
Part of the mill’s former campus has been redeveloped, as a note.
There’s a sort of ‘tech incubator’ operation found alongside the Hot Metal Bridge, one which brings in tech company investment and expertise to fund whatever cutting edge stuff that the students at PITT and CMU are dreaming up.
The ‘J & L’ outfit were located on both shores of the river here, and the original built purpose of this bridge was for railroad units that carried molten metals, in ingots, back and forth.
The Hot Metal Bridge, as it’s called in modernity, has been converted over to vehicular and pedestrian/bike usage. Also, the colloquial name of ‘Hot Metal Bridge’ is commonly applied to a LOT of bridges around these parts, but it’s ‘officially’ the name of this one – now.
– photo by Mitch Waxman
Pittsburgh and its neighbors use a numbering system for their addresses which translates to describing the ‘blocks’ that streets are a part of. If you were calling 911 to report a traffic accident or something, and didn’t know the specific address, you’d say ‘I’m on the 0000 block of Hot Metal Street’ to the operator. It’s the same system that Los Angeles and other cities use, and you’re likely familiar with its language due to having watched the TV show Dragnet. NYC, behind the scenes, uses this sort of language, but it isn’t ‘colloquial’ used by the citizenry back home as it is here. In NYC, it’s “X avenue” between “Y” and “Z” streets that you’d report a location to a 911 operator via.
Neat.
– photo by Mitch Waxman
The trail itself has very few official ‘on and off’ opportunities.
You’re kind of ‘locked in’ for long stretches. Every so often, you’ll encounter a ‘desire path’ which indicates places where folks are ‘voting with their feet’ for an entrance or exit.
For those unfamiliar with the terminology, a ‘desire path’ is created by citizenry who seek out the shortest possible route between two points. You’ll notice dirt paths through planted grassy areas which break off from the sidewalk or something. A city planner wanted you to walk ‘that’ way and follow the pavement, but you and a whole lot of other people are going ‘this’ way instead. Over the course of time, and after tens of thousands of footfalls, that ‘desire path’ becomes a compacted and obvious ‘way.’
Desire Paths are one of the things I look for when wandering about. Sometimes they lead to well populated Homeless encampments, other times they lead to wonders. You don’t know till you’ve looked.
– photo by Mitch Waxman
The headphones were still solidly in my ears for this walk but I abandoned the musical playlist in favor of spoken word.
I switched to an old favorite on my Lovecraft Audio Books playlist – the 1989 Garrick Hagon performance of ‘The Call of Cthulhu.’ Google this one for a non YouTube version, as it’s seems to be available through streamers like Spotify, and the mp3 file is also available for download from a variety of sources. Good stuff.
Back next week with more – at this – your Newtown Pentacle.
“follow” me on Twitter- @newtownpentacle
Buy a book!
“In the Shadows at Newtown Creek,” an 88 page softcover 8.5×11 magazine format photo book by Mitch Waxman, is now on sale at blurb.com for $30.
