Penn Station, and the T
Thursday
– photo by Mitch Waxman
Due to ongoing construction in various spots across the line, Pittsburgh’s ‘T’ Light Rail is once again going to its otherwise unused Penn Station stop. This station is kind of a gem, but there we are.
I’ve brought you here before, in the post ‘Hullabaloo, too.’ In reflection, the light was a lot better in May than it was on the day when these shots were gathered. I’ve read that there’s some beef between the Feds, whose white building found alongside the tracks is pictured above, and the transit people regarding use of this station and right of way. Homeland security, security risks, blah blah blah.
I don’t know enough about the situation to have an opinion, truth be told.
After riding into town on one of these T train sets, your humble narrator decided to stick around a few minutes and get a few shots of the milieu.
– photo by Mitch Waxman
They were coming and going, I tell’s ya. A bus shuttle would bridge over the construction work underground, whereupon another T journey to the end of the line could start. Me? I decided to debark the thing and then start walking towards the Monongahela River and cross the waterbody on the Smithfield Street Bridge.
The ankle was giving me problems. The latest wrinkle involves it ‘clicking’ into a posture which is uncomfortable or just somewhat painful, resulting in limping or foot dragging going on. I’ve got instructions from the Doc for this sort of thing, which involves ‘sitting down.’ I’d be able to safely do that about a mile away, and just had to deal with the discomfort while getting there. This section is part of the zone occupied by a crowd of junkies, so any public seating that could be utilized for a sit down has been removed. The Docs have trained me to walk a certain way during these intervals, which involving comically and consciously shooting my left knee upwards during strides. Sigh… my life…
It looks like I’m practicing to be in a marching band, but it works and resets the ankle back to its proper position. A big part of my injury was that I didn’t just break my ankle in three places, I also dislocated my left foot off of the leg assembly. It was just hanging there, all loose.
– photo by Mitch Waxman
I’d spent a good amount of time under the panopticon of cameras mounted to the Federal Building (there’s a couple of other Fed office building properties nearby, State, FBI, Homeland Security, and Immigration are all in this neighborhood) but there’s likely other agencies based here. There’s also a giant post office nearby, I’m told. I began painfully scuttling towards a known ‘sit down’ spot.
Downtown, yo.
Back tomorrow, at this – your Newtown Pentacle.
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The Newtown Pentacle 
Thanks for making me look up “panopticon”.
dbarms8878
March 7, 2025 at 9:05 pm