Overbrook Junction
Monday
– photo by Mitch Waxman
As described last week, your humble narrator (who cares nothing for the sporting world, and pathologically hates crowds) was avoiding Pittsburgh’s ‘Big Show’ on the North Shore, where the NFL Draft event was playing out.
Weirdo that I am, I decided that it would be a great interval to go look for remnants of large scale coal mining operations that were once extant in the Bethel Park (and here at the tippy tip of Castle Shannon) suburb, and also visit Andy Warhol’s grave.
Today’s post is from the end of that day’s efforts, when I was heading back to HQ via mass transit – specifically on the ‘T’ Light Rail.
Overbrook Junction, thereby, is pictured today.
– photo by Mitch Waxman
I should mention, in accordance with a long standing critique I’ve been offering about how bad Pittsburgh people are at signage and predictive wayfinding, that there are actually two platforms here at Overbrook.
One for the Red Line, and one for the Blue and Silver lines. You won’t know that unless you already know that, as the tiny and out of the way signage delineating the two stations has long ago had their pigment faded away by sunlight. Everybody knows where to go…
It has been mentioned that an annnoying cultural ‘custom’ in Pittsburgh is referring to modern locales through the contextual filter of times past, or landmarks which no longer exist, due to the presumption that the person you’re instructing has the same cultural/social background that you do.
Allow me to explain, then, from the perspective of a former Brooklynite, who is often confused by them:
‘Hey, I’ll meet you after lunch, around the corner from where Smith’s used to be, by the statue.’ That’s what the Yinzer might say.
The Brooklyn born response would be:
‘you’re an icehole, I don’t have any ‘effin clue what ‘effin time you eat ‘effin lunch, or where something ‘effin used to be during the ‘effin 1970’s. In the rest of the ‘effin world, we use – y’know- actual clock based ‘effin times, and the same sorts of ‘effin street addresses that the ‘effin Post Office and the rest of the motha ‘effin world does.’
Then you’d hiss at them like a surprised stray cat, and think about maybe punching them in the head to knock some sense loose in there, but don’t. At least I do, the hissing I mean, not the hitting.
– photo by Mitch Waxman
There’s an elevated freight rail trestle nearby, used by the Wheeling & Lake Erie RR outfit, and the road pictured above is a tertiary arterial street which intersects with the secondary arterial Route 88/Library Road nearby, and also heads northwest towards Mount Lebanon, and eventually Dormont, in the other direction. There’s multiple street grade crossings of the T here every hour, where the light rail units exit the station.
I’m absolutely ‘hep’ to get a shot of the W&LE crossing through on that trestle, but haven’t figured out a good time of day to lurk there.
– photo by Mitch Waxman
This one looks back at Library Road, a scene which caught my eye for some reason. Again, I’m currently enrapt by this coal story. These areas, where I’m spotting unnatural or artificial shaping of the ground, are on my radar and are something I’m ‘looking for.’
I’m not trying to ‘blow the lid off’ or expose anything hidden, I’m actually just tying to understand. The past harvest of bituminous fuel hereabouts is hardly a secret. The locals really don’t seem to want to talk about it, which is also odd.
– photo by Mitch Waxman
While waiting for my ride, I became fascinated by this broken window at the station. What can I say, I’m nearly sixty and I still run after fire trucks while yelling ‘firemen, firemen.’ Shiny.
One roughly shambled over to the correct platform for the Red Line light rail, photographically sated for the moment.
– photo by Mitch Waxman
It took about ten or so minutes, after the south bound T pictured above passed by, before a north bound rail set arrived and carried my carcass back to Dormont.
This was the first of several ‘coal explores’ which occurred the week of the NFL Draft.
Back tomorrow.
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Library Road, or part of it anyway
Friday
– photo by Mitch Waxman
As you might recall from recent folderol, your humble narrator was hiding away from the tumult of the NFL Draft, during the last week of April, by hunting around Pittsburgh’s Bethel Park area.
I was looking for remnants of the massive footprint that a series of coal mines once enjoyed in this area. After visiting the grave of Andy Warhol, one’s feet were again pointed at Route 88/Library Road.
This coal thing with me kind of started while driving along this route. ‘It’s a modern road, set up in the 1930’s and 40’s, why is it serpentine?
– photo by Mitch Waxman
The answer was – of course – railroading.
Significant trackage used to exist here (beyond the elevated tracks of Wheeling & Lake Erie, pictured above), servicing a series of coal mines found along the Saw Mill Run waterway, which is a quick flowing urban stream. Said waterway should be regarded as a bit more of a ‘watershed,’ if you wanted to get a bit more ‘nitty gritty’ about it.
Saw Mill Run is fed by hundreds of smaller springs and streams, which trickle down out of the steep hills surrounding it. A primary arterial street called ‘Saw Mill Run Blvd.’ more or less shadows its path.
Saw Mill Run has been mentioned here quite a few times.
– photo by Mitch Waxman
My rather hazy and still forming picture of things hereabouts suggests that the right of way used by the T light rail runs more or less in the footprint of the defunct Saw Mill Run RR, which carried mined coal to the Ohio River waterfront via a tunnel punched through Mount Washington.
Library Road narrows suddenly, and of course the thing that they didn’t have any room for anymore was sidewalk pavement. One was thereby forced to divert.
– photo by Mitch Waxman
Nearly every stage of life is covered by that shot up there – the school’s playground is childhood, handicap parking is for the middle aged, and there’s a cemetery up on the hill. Neat, and very efficient. That’s ‘thinking ahead,’ right there.
Truly, the lengths I went to in the name of avoiding the NFL Draft, held in Pittsburgh in the last week of April, were ‘outré.’
To maintain my pedestrian access to sidewalk pavement, and not get squished by a pickup truck on Library Road, where the sidewalk just disappears I diverted to a small bridge, carrying an intersecting local road over the Saw Mill Run waterway.
– photo by Mitch Waxman
Coincidentally, this adjusted path just happened to follow the tracks of the T Light Rail service. Fancy that.
There are three lines currently; Blue, Silver, and Red.
Red is the one which flows through Dormont, where HQ is found. All three terminate to the southeast behind a shopping mall, and the antipode of that spot is found on Pittsburgh’s North Shore, nearby Acrisure Stadium. They’ve got some sort of ‘hop on-hop off’ dealie going on with the fares, which I’m kind of hazy about the rules for, but it seems that when you pay a fare there’s a grace period during which you can transfer onto another T, or a bus, or one of the inclines.
It’s all very confusing. Nobody in Pittsburgh fully explains things. You’re just expected to ‘know.’
– photo by Mitch Waxman
One was scuttling towards a nearby T station called ‘Overbrook,’ where I’d be able to catch one of the ‘Red’ line rail units back to HQ.
This is a pretty little section of Bethel Park, have to say. There’s quite a few local shops, and I often see people actually walking around here, while I’m driving through. It’s a dichotomy.
I generally end up driving through this section a few times a week during my daily rounds. There’s quite a few interesting spots here, beyond the whole coal angle which I’m currently fascinated by.
Back next week with more, at this – your Newtown Pentacle.
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Coal Mining and Andy Warhol
Thursday
– photo by Mitch Waxman
That’s what drew me out to Pittsburgh’s Bethel Park, pictured above.
Supposedly, this building, which clearly sports ‘newer’ and ‘older’ sections, used to be the motor room for a coal mine’s ‘tipple’ – or so I’ve been told. It’s where the electrical traction equipment which was used to haul the mined mineral up and out of the depths was located.
Pittsburgh Coal Company was a monopolistic ‘trust,’ operated by the Fricks and Mellons, which fixed standard regional prices for the fuel.
Coincidence that the principal buyers of this mined fuel happened to be the steel mills, which were also owned by those baronial families. The company store, getting paid in ‘script,’ renting the house from your boss, private Police forces…
Such vertically integrated beneficence, that these Captains of Industry displayed towards their vassals subjects staff, huh?
– photo by Mitch Waxman
I’m told that the newer section of the building houses electrical equipment used by the transit service’s light rail system. Neat!
Wish I could have gotten closer, but ‘No Trespass’ signs abound.
– photo by Mitch Waxman
One hung a left, onto a wide street called ‘Connor Road.’ At its intersection with Route 88/Library Road, a small bridge carries the roadway over the Saw Mill Run waterbody.
I was heading for a cemetery, since I was in the neighborhood.
– photo by Mitch Waxman
A few posts back, I promised to offer photos of what ‘miner’s houses’ look like, and there you are. These have largely received additions and renovations, but the plot size and homogeneity reveal them. The original model of this style is what the bosses would rent to you when you agreed to mine for them, and would kick you and your family onto the street from if you tried to organize a union, or talked back against their system.
You’ll be seeing lots and lots of examples of this sort of housing plan in forthcoming posts here. The mill houses are a big part of the coal story.
That’s Connor Road going up the hill, coincidentally.
– photo by Mitch Waxman
St. John the Baptist Byzantine Catholic Cemetery, that’s where I was heading.
Had to pay a visit to another New Yorker, since I was in the neighborhood. They apparently participate in Pennsylvania’s Anti Vampire program, with that displayed cruciform vouchsafing the land nearby a body of flowing water.
Andy Warhol was created by Pittsburgh, but became who he was meant to be over in New York City.
There are only one or two documented visits he made to ‘back home,’ after he became famous. Post mortem – and the return to Pittsburgh of his remains – the Yinzers installed a plaque on his childhood home, named a bridge after him, and opened a museum dedicated to his work and life.
From everything I’ve ever heard about Andy Warhol, he’d likely find that funny and sweet at the same time.
– photo by Mitch Waxman
The grave of Andy Warhol has a 24/7 live webcam streaming the monument out to the world. That is very, very Warhol, if you ask me.
Back tomorrow.
“follow” me on Twitter- @newtownpentacle
Buy a book!
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The ‘T’ to Bethel Park
Wednesday
– photo by Mitch Waxman
The history of Pittsburgh is pretty large.
There’s a whole lot of young George Washington, you’ve got Lewis and Clark, glass factories, steel mills, deindustrialization, and then rebirth under their ‘Eds and Meds’ conceit. It’s a lot to wrap your hands around, and I’ve been doing a lot of reading on the subject, but it’s still all quite confusing.
A big part of the confusion involves the rapacious business environment which was prevalent here, for much of Pittsburgh’s existence.
The darkest forms of capitalism were practiced hereabouts – company stores, unincorporated towns where the local Police were employees of the mill or mine and who were loyal to the boss and not any sort of actual law, with both the laborers and their families treated like medieval serfs.
I’ve decided to learn all of this ‘stuff’ by starting at the beginning.
Neither the Washingtonian nor post colonial eras for me, there are dozens of academic books authored by lettered historians on those subjects, if you’re interested in that particular part of the story.
Nope, I’ve decided that the thing I want to learn is the first rung on the industrial history local ladder, and that’s coal.
– photo by Mitch Waxman
I’ve mentioned my growing fascination with this coal subject in prior posts, but the tipping point at which I stop reading about something and then ‘go there’ to see what’s still extant occurred recently.
It should also be mentioned, the photos in this and subsequent posts were gathered during the week of the NFL Draft, which took over most of the central section of the city in late April, and which I avoided at all costs.
I don’t care about sportsball, and hate crowds.
– photo by Mitch Waxman
One boarded a T Light Rail unit in Dormont, heading southeast.
There’s a largish community nearby, which like Dormont is part of the larger ‘South Hills’ region, and is called ‘Bethel Park.’ I’m still getting my timelines and details together here, but I’m led to believe – by scholarly sources – that there used to be five distinct and enormous coal mining operations in Bethel Park, starting in the late 19th century, and one of these mines was in business all the way up to the early 1980’s.
Now, I’m fairly familiar with this ‘zone,’ but from the perspective of driving through it. Moe the Dog’s Vet is out here, and there’s a variety of retail establishments which we also frequent in the area.
There’s freight tracks rolling through here as well, with the logic of their location now making some sense to me, given a history of mining.
– photo by Mitch Waxman
Washington Junction is the T stop where I debarked from the light rail.
I’m led to understand that part of the reason that the transit people set these lines in where they are had to do with assuming or ‘nationalizing’ the abandoned ‘rights of way’ once enjoyed by the defunct freight rail services that were laid down to service the mines.
Washington Junction is set upon a large flat space, which is largely depressed downwards, and away from the surrounding hilly landforms. Guess what used to be here?
– photo by Mitch Waxman
There’s a fair bit of housing density nearby. One and two family homes from the look of them. These also look decidedly 20th century in design.
A bit of a ‘shlep’ carried me across the parking lot of the T station’s ’park and ride’ lot and up towards Route 88/Library Road.
– photo by Mitch Waxman
A local gas station chain had sponsored free rides on the T during the NFL Draft, with said chain called ‘Sheetz.’ Interesting family owned company, which is expanding, and if they ever go public I’m buying stock. They have a great business model, excellent marketing, and a pretty big multi-state footprint in the Appalachian region.
In return for their sponsorship, Sheetz got to do vehicle wraps with their brand colors for the T, advertising their wares to the MFL crowd.
Tomorrow, hunting for coal town remnants, and Andy Warhol.
“follow” me on Twitter- @newtownpentacle
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Hey Now! and auld acquaintances be forgot
Tuesday
– photo by Mitch Waxman
Mountain Avenue to Yard Way part four/ ‘fin.’
After a fairly fun scuttle, through the South Side Slopes section of Pittsburgh, one found the stinking pre-corpse that his brain is trapped within shambling forth unto the South Side Flats region. The flood plain of the Monongahela River is how I’d describe this area – quite atypical for Pittsburgh – which is a patch of absolutely flat ground.
My plan for the remainder of the day was a simple one.
– photo by Mitch Waxman
First, I walked out onto the South 10th street bridge to see if there was anything going on, as far as maritime traffic goes.
Allow me to teach you an Italian American slang word here – ugatz. That’s what I got, as far as boats go, ugatz.
No bueno.
Second, that brewery I used to mention all the time, that one which is nearby the railroad tracks and had been closed, has reopened – with a new owner operator occupying the space.
It had been a few weeks since I had drank a beer, so I set out to rectify that situation. I walked about six or seven blocks worth of Pennsylvania to get there, using one of the nearby waterfront trails.
– photo by Mitch Waxman
Soon, while drinking a Pale Ale, CSX #3100 appeared, heading east.
After quaffing the brew, I returned my glass to the bar and then ‘inspected their porcelain.’ Refreshed, I was soon heading up a flight of stairs and towards the second level of this so called ‘Highline’ location, which the brewery is based in, towards a truss/ramp structure which offers a higher POV.
– photo by Mitch Waxman
One had a bit of time left to me, so I found a spot to sit down and then just sort of waited for something to happen. Time was passed by shooting the various T light rail units moving back and forth over the Panhandle Bridge, spanning the Monongahela River.
In the distance, to the west, a train horn sounded.
– photo by Mitch Waxman
Hey Now! CSX #4793 appeared, hurtling through the scenery. Hooray!
It was definitely time to head back to HQ afterwards. One began scuttling towards the T’s nearby Station Square stop, to catch a ride back to HQ in Dormont, found about five or so miles from this spot.
That’s when I saw it. Conspicuously displayed in an area which I move through regularly, and have published multiple posts about doing so.
– photo by Mitch Waxman
Cobbler? The Queens Cobbler?
Single shoes have been noticed recently, alongside pathways that I frequent here in Pittsburgh, starting back during the winter. Chalked this up to coincidence… something which I chuckled about… but… it’s odd.
I haven’t mentioned this to anyone, really, but I’ve been seeing cast off singular shoes, on prominent and conspicuous display for a few months now, scattered along the roads here in Pittsburgh. Can it be?
Back tomorrow… with something different… I hope…
“follow” me on Twitter- @newtownpentacle
Buy a book!
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The Newtown Pentacle 