Bridgeville’s Bridge No. 1
Friday
– photo by Mitch Waxman
Recent endeavor found your humble narrator casting shadows in Pennsylvania’s Bridgeville, part of the larger Pittsburgh metro area and found just a few miles from HQ.
Pictured is a section of Chartiers Creek, which has been mentioned before in connection to massive environmental remediation efforts that various governmental entities have been working on in order to ameliorate an acid mine runoff condition. Bridgeville used to be a center for coal mining, and processing, at the end of the 19th and first half of the 20th centuries. They also mined Vanadium, and a few other elements and minerals hereabouts.
Basically, and as I understand it, when you’re operating a mining operation the two biggest problems you’ve got involve the pumping out of ground water, and then piping in air for ventilation.
When the business shutters, nobody is performing those functions anymore. The mine fills with water, the volume of which in turn gets incorporated into the subterrene patterns which ground waters flow through, down below, which then migrate back up to the surface.
Hydrology, yo.
– photo by Mitch Waxman
Again – as I understand it – the thing that makes Coal a great fuel choice is that it’s a rapid oxidizer. That’s why it alights fast, and burns hot.
The post facto of the mining process exposes left behind or non harvestible coal to the atmosphere, and to ground water, which causes it to oxidize in place. Iron pyrites, amongst other compounds, are found in the Appalachian layer cake that forms the coal’s firmament. The pyrites rust, and leech out of the flooded mines, entering the ground water/aquifer.
The pH of this leachate water is altered by the carrying of these dissolved metals, and thereby it leans towards acidic. No bueno for the bugs, turtles, or fish.
Less than a mile away from the first shot in today’s post, and that’s the Chartier’s Creek tributary McLaughlin Run pictured. As you can see, the running water here is a bright orange. That’s rust from those iron pyrites.
It’s the 1941 vintage ‘Bridge No. 1 McLaughlin’s Run,’ that’s pictured above.
– photo by Mitch Waxman
As is my habit, I photographed the bridge’s signage – click here for that.
I’ve read that Bridgeville has experienced severe storm flooding in the not so distant past, and lots of built accommodations for high water events were observed around this structure. Notice the chain on the manhole cover above, securing it to the raised pipe.
One had a bit of time to kill, on this particular morning, and a few new toys I wanted to play with.
– photo by Mitch Waxman
Your humble narrator was in ‘full kit’ mode, as I had the car with me for this effort. Both a tripod and that ‘super clamp’ mentioned a few posts ago were deployed. I was also experimenting with a set of magnetic lens filters which I had just received.
These things are magic – btw – you can just snap a polarizer or Neutral Density filter onto your lens, in seconds.
As you’ve likely noticed, there is a rail trestle/bridge here, which belongs to the Wheeling and Lake Erie outfit.
– photo by Mitch Waxman
McLaughlin Run is containerized behind masonry retaining walls, and forms the back yard border for several commercial properties and homes.
My time grew short, and there were other things that didn’t concern me which I wanted to stick my nose into, so the gear began to go back into the bag as I prepared for departure. One more shot, though…
– photo by Mitch Waxman
This one (and several others in today’s post) used a 10 stop ND filter, and the superclamp tripod setup. Bucolic, no?
Back next week, with something different.
“follow” me on Twitter- @newtownpentacle
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Lots and Lotsa Hey Now!
Thursday
– photo by Mitch Waxman
This most recent of scuttles finished as many do, with your humble narrator rehydrating at what’s now called the ‘Burghers Brewery’ on Pittsburgh’s South Side. Hey… it’s really close to the T Station!
This time around, I was trying out a new brew of theirs – an Irish style Red Ale called ‘The Red Funicular.’ It was good. That’s my review.
Hey Now! CSX #503 appeared, heading northwesterly.
– photo by Mitch Waxman
I had finished my earlier peregrinations by crossing the Monongahela River, via the Smithfield Street bridge, pictured above.
The masonry of that bridge was designed by John Roebling, and the steel structure above is by Gustav Lindenthal. That’s the designer of the Brooklyn Bridge, and the designer of the Queensboro Bridge – back in a superior City, for the curious.
It should be mentioned that the Newtown Pentacle time warp has actually increased in severity recently.
The photos in this series of posts were captured on the 21st of May, and the very words you’re reading were encoded a month later at the end of June. At this writing, I’ve got close to a thousand shots which haven’t been processed yet – just sitting there on my computer’s hard drive – so hopefully I’m going to be able to continue with my longish ‘lead time.’
– photo by Mitch Waxman
CSX #3165 elicited a ‘Hey Now!’ when it turned up in the very same spot that #503 formerly occupied, less than twenty minutes earlier. I headed inside for a ‘reload,’ and paid my tab. Two is plenty for me, these days.
I used to be able to outdrink Russians when I was a kid. Was always the last one awake at a party, me. A lot of that was paranoia, I’d imagine.
– photo by Mitch Waxman
Just as I was exiting the establishment with my final boss of a beer in hand, CSX #3409 appeared and was headed in the opposite direction, southeasterly, towards the steel mills and ultimately – Maryland or West Virginia.
Hey Now!
– photo by Mitch Waxman
Man, I got lucky on this particular day. Hey Now!
That’s CSX #5465 rolling along there, just as I downed the last of my second beer. I returned the glassware to the brewery, and began a final set of steps to get back to HQ, where Moe the Dog was likely wondering what the heck had happened to me.
Moe is a worrier.
– photo by Mitch Waxman
A ten minute walk saw me at those ‘Station Square’ platforms offered for the T light rail service, which carried me back to HQ.
Moe was fairly indifferent five minutes after my return to HQ, but I did get a very emotional greeting from him – barks and squeals.
Back tomorrow with something different – 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.
Clamps, clamps, clamps
Wednesday
– photo by Mitch Waxman
Your humble narrator had been involved in a fun scuttle for a couple of hours, when the photo above was captured.
Depicting the Fort Pitt Bridge over the Monongahela River, this and a couple of the other shots in today’s post were shot in the name of testing out a new piece of gear, recently added to the camera bag.
I should mention that I’m obsessed with unique camera support devices. One of the few spaces wherein I ‘tinker’ revolves around building novel support mechanisms for the camera. I’m forever attaching tripod heads and ARCA Swiss plates to all sort of things – bean bags, blocks of silicone, you name it.
The new addition is a ‘Super Clamp.’ Clamp, clamp, clamp.
– photo by Mitch Waxman
It needed some modification, ‘out of the box,’ to fit my particular ‘use case scenario.’ Specifically, an extended bushing which introduced instability into the mount needed to go. I ordered a smaller bushing from Amazon which I swapped in – a tripod mount screw size (1/4 inch 20 turn) on one side and tripod head mount size (3/8ths 16 turn) on the other. That allowed me to securely attach a tripod head to the thing.
I screwed a ten stop ND filter onto my lens for these, to ‘slow’ down the flowing waters of the Monongahela and capture reflections.
– photo by Mitch Waxman
The beauty of this device is that it allows me to clamp my camera onto fences, poles, even fire hydrants – offering a rock steady mount.
Given that I was quite taken with the thing’s performance, it’s become a regular carry ever since. My problems have now transferred over to the lens filters themselves. The ones I’ve been carrying – for years and years – are screw on filters, which are a pain in the neck to manipulate in ‘the field.’
My problem is encapsulated in the shift to the next shot.
– photo by Mitch Waxman
I had time to unscrew the filter, and ‘rekajigger’ the camera settings away from ‘long and loving’ exposure over to a ‘freeze the moment’ setting, for this shot. It isn’t always the case that I can do this quickly enough, so I often miss stuff when the camera is set up for filter usage.
Accordingly, I’ve spent a bit of cash on a new set of lens filters, which use a magnetic system in lieu of the screw in system. You do have to screw an adapter into the lens, which is ferrous in composition so when a magnet enabled filter gets close to it, the glass disc just snaps right into place.
Just got these delivered, at this writing, so the verdict is out on whether or not I pissed away my money, or if the things will work as I hope and help rather than hinder my efforts. I’ve been ‘feeling’ longer exposures again for some reason.
Comparing the two bridge shots above, you can really discern the amount of color cast which my older filters alter the scene with. All ND filters have a ‘cast,’ some more severe than others.
Also, clamps.
– photo by Mitch Waxman
Can’t miss a Towboat shot though, can I?
Gotta say, I’m missing the smell of salt water these days, and it’s been a long time since I was on anything but a tourist boat.
This is about when I heard the hissing.
– photo by Mitch Waxman
This Canadian Doofus was angry at me.
A bit of recent research in this direction revealed that – in Pittsburgh at least – the Canada Gooses segregate into two groups. There’s a purely migratory population of them, and there’s a static one which occupies the waterfronts all year long – even in winter. The latter are larger in stature and weight, according to the Pennsylvania environmental peeps. These monstrous iceholes enjoy Federal and State protection, and their only natural predators are Coyotes, Eagles, and Owls.
These predators don’t mess with adults like the one pictured above – mind you – instead preferring to pick off either the newborn Goslings, or sick and or elderly adult Gooses who can’t fight back.
I stand by my conviction that Canada Geese, as a specie, are dicks.
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.
Just step right up, and hear a tale…
Tuesday
– photo by Mitch Waxman
Chokepoints. Pittsburgh is full of them. Especially so when you’re on foot. I’ve mentioned this a few times. It’s a city which is set up entirely for the convenience of automobile and truck drivers, and for vehicular ‘flow.’
That latter concept is a city killer. You want people to park their cars, walk around to local shops, and spend their money. This ‘system’ of highways facilitates the exit of that money to distant suburbs, and other municipalities, where it will be spent and the sale will be taxed by a different municipality instead. You want your citizens to spend money as close as possible to where they earned it.
Also – It really sucks to be a pedestrian in areas like this. Street crossings, in particular, are fairly scary. Meh!
– photo by Mitch Waxman
One scuttled up the ramp to the Fort Duquesne Bridge. This section of Pittsburgh’s ‘North Shore’ where it’s found received quite a bit of attention during the late winter and early spring here at Newtown Pentacle.
Mainly so due to the presence of two ‘T’ Light Rail stations nearby the stadiums, which allowed one such as myself a quick and easy ‘debark’ point from a mass transit service that tracks back to HQ in Dormont.
Essentially, anytime I’ve gone ‘out’ for a scuttle in the last year or so, the plan has always involved using mass transit for at least one leg of the effort. Partially, this is economic, but it’s also kind of become a ‘challenge thing’ for me. Let’s see how far away I can start a walk, and…
For this particular day, the rideshare dropped me a couple of miles north for my starting point. The challenges offered by any choice in my route were;
a) finding a path which hadn’t already been polluted by my presence but was still photogenically ‘interesting,’ b) figuring out a roundabout way to get back to the T, c) not getting squished by a car while crossing streets.
– photo by Mitch Waxman
I’ve been noticing odd things.
While walking over the Fort Duquesne Bridge, I was keeping an eye out for what looks like a former pedestrian path, one which has been abandoned and intentionally clipped off. It breaks off of the riverfront trail, and is attached to an onramp of this bridge.
There’s a concrete barrier, pictured, which blocks the path towards the Point State Park, but the counter side of that path leading from the park is still accessible. Weird.
Go figure, huh?
– photo by Mitch Waxman
Another closed pedestrian lane is present up on the bridge itself.
Normally, this POV is locked away from prying eyes, but the gate was unlocked and just hanging open, so I cracked out a shot. This pathway just terminates, at a spot where there were likely stairs or a ramp connected once, but which would now just offer a dead drop into the Allegheny River, from high above.
Fun.
– photo by Mitch Waxman
The path from this area was pretty simple:
Bypass Downtown Pittsburgh by skirting its edges, and then cross the Monongahela River via the Smithfield Street Bridge. Ultimately, I was heading for that familiar brewery on Pittsburgh’s South Side where the CSX tracks are found and I like to shoot trains.
Still had a decent amount of walking to accomplish.
– photo by Mitch Waxman
Hey Now! Speaking of CSX, and the southern shoreline of the Monongahela River…
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.
In the air, and everywhere
Monday
– photo by Mitch Waxman
As you might recall from last week, your humble narrator was scuttling through Pittsburgh’s ‘Chateau’ neighborhood on the city’s North Side.
There’s lots of lovely homes here, many of which are in a sad state of repair. Condemnation signage is common, as are empty building lots.
I just like to follow my nose around this area, and had only a vague directional notion of where I was going. That little compass dangling off my camera bag was consulted a couple of times.
– photo by Mitch Waxman
A sudden rush of research activities, centered around a former Standard Oil cannery (behind me, and discussed in a prior post), which revealed that this was a populous but fairly poor neighborhood back in the 1950’s – with churches, shops, and homes.
In 1963, Pittsburgh decided to ‘fix’ this area under the guise of urban renewal/slum clearance, which took the form of erecting an enormous series of highway viaducts and access ramps in lieu of that former mixed use setup. The project eradicated what used to be here, and used the rubble of that civilization to landfill into the Ohio River.
If your residential or commercial property was on the ‘wrong’ side of the new highway, it’s now zoned for ‘heavy industrial,’ so get the ‘eff out.
A 2006 survey revealed that only 39 people were living in the Chateau neighborhood, which kicked off a fresh round of urban renewal.
Don’t know anything about what the population numbers are right now, but the ‘powers that be’ have just started another of their ‘this will save Pittsburgh’ developments nearby. This time around, there’s going to be a Ferris wheel.
Always have to remind, they had a Rachel Carson here in Pittsburgh, not a Jane Jacobs.
Robert Moses always talked about wielding a ‘meat cleaver’ for his projects, wherein if something was in the way he just chopped and chopped at it with the metaphorical cleaver until it was gone.
They really seem to have embraced that ‘Powerbroker’ philosophy here in Pennsylvania.
– photo by Mitch Waxman
To get an idea of the sort of grandiose buildings lost to these generational cascades of Urban Renewal, look at the surviving blocks of Chateau – where Chateau’s streets merge into the Manchester neighborhood.
Admittedly, this mansion sized home is an outré example, but holy smokes – it looks like Batman grew up there.
Check that out, spooky looking Victorians, yo. Magnificent.
This entire ‘zone’ that I was cutting through was once part of a separate municipality called ‘Allegheny City,’ annexed by Pittsburgh in 1907.
Just like Queens back in NYC, as soon as the annexation/political consolidations we’re finished, the larger city began exporting its dirty industries, chipping away at the lesser entity’s neighborhoods, and began ramming highways and sewer plants through to serve the larger entity.
– photo by Mitch Waxman
Street Furniture was spotted.
It was a fairly warm day, but breezy and overcast.
Luckily, I had dressed for ‘high summer,’ with shorts and one of my silly Guayabera shirts (they offer four secure pockets, bro), and an even sillier fishing hat that I had purchased at a Costco for $9.
One had the ‘full’ camera kit onboard, and was carrying it all in a knapsack. Didn’t end up using much from the bag, other than the bottle of water I now carry. Basically did a ‘one lens’ sort of walk, with an ‘all in one’ 24-240mm zoom lens.
– photo by Mitch Waxman
It’s a very convenient lens, but it’s huge and kind of heavy, and has limitations on aperture. I refer to it as ‘the brick.’ Reliable, but heavy.
As far as all the crap in my camera bag – if I didn’t have it with me, I’d desperately need it. I carry a bunch of non-camera related stuff in there too – a basic first aid kit, lengths of para chord in case I pop a shoelace, or if there’s a failure in the straps of the camera, or the bag itself.
There’s also a flashlight, a very loud whistle, gum, a series of tools for field repairs on the gear, a scanner radio set to railroading frequencies, and all sorts of discrete or handy items which I’ve gathered over the years that are useful to have with you, when wandering about with a camera. Everything is filtered according to its weight, of course.
When the bag is full of all this junk, and lenses, and the tripod is attached, it clocks in at about a thirty pound load. When you’ve walked literally tens of thousands of miles over the last twenty years, as I have, you just learn that there’s ‘stuff’ you want to have with you – just in case – and the ‘carry’ is justified.
– photo by Mitch Waxman
I got to see Allegheny Valley RR’s #6004, again.
This is the same locomotive that was pictured a few posts back, sitting inert in a rail yard, but this time around it was hauling what looked like a series of empty gondola cars – the sort you’d normally observe black minerals within, likely coke or coal – rolling through the rail trench at Allegheny Commons Park.
Hey Now!
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.
The Newtown Pentacle 