The Newtown Pentacle

Altissima quaeque flumina minimo sono labi

Archive for July 29th, 2024

Montour Trail at Library Junction

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Monday

– photo by Mitch Waxman

Recent endeavor found your humble narrator at the Library Junction section of Pittsburgh’s Montour Trail, taking a short walk on a very hot day. It was lovely, and one of the best kept sections of the ‘rail to trail’ setup which I’ve encountered. The surrounding countryside was suburban leaning into rural (there was an injured horse’s rehabilitation farm nearby).

Nothing in the way of sewer plants, running water, railroads, or anything else which most would consider as being ‘horrible,’ so I was a little bored on this section – to be honest.

– photo by Mitch Waxman

It was fiendishly hot out, and quite humid as well. One scuttled about two miles in and decidedly said ‘meh,’ then turned around to head back to the car. Sometimes you come home empty handed, photography wise. Other times you get lucky, but that’s the price of always seeking novelty, I guess.

My headphones were playing one of Dan Carlin’s ‘Hardcore History’ podcasts, specifically ‘Twilight of the Aesir,’ which discusses part of the struggles experienced by European cities during the ‘Vikings vs. Franks’ era of history.

– photo by Mitch Waxman

There was a bit of historic signage describing the function of this section of the Montour Railroad, click here for a photo of the sign if interested, but suffice to say for the ‘TLDR’ crowd: in 1918 there was a mine nearby, and the Montour RR outfit built a right of way here to service it, which also connected to the B&O RR’s right of way as well.

Back tomorrow with something different.


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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.

Written by Mitch Waxman

July 29, 2024 at 11:00 am