The Newtown Pentacle

Wednesday

– photo by Mitch Waxman

The region of the Pittsburgh Metro which HQ is located in is called ‘The South Hills.’ In the past, I’ve already established that Dormont where HQ is specifically located, is part of an area once known as Lower St. Clair.

Practically next door to Dormont is the municipality of Carnegie, which is about a 15 minute drive on local streets away from HQ. Water runs through Carnegie, specifically Chartiers Creek. I’ve brought the camera here before but there’s a lot to see in Carnegie.

Luckily, Our Lady of the Pentacle had scheduled a class she wanted to take in Carnegie, on a recent weekend day. I drove her to her deal, and then I went to work on visiting several waypoints I had dropped onto a Google map the night before. I do a lot of remote scouting this way, using street view to figure out if there’s opportunity in unknown spots.

– photo by Mitch Waxman

Since I was in the car, I was traveling heavy. Tripod, all the lenses, etc. one of the waypoints I had coded into my ‘Carnegie Map’ was the Wheeling & Lake Erie RR’s Rook yard. A nice history of how this rail yard got sited here, and why it’s called ‘Rook’ can be experienced at hmbd.org.

Turns out I didn’t need to have all that gear with me, but since I didn’t have to carry it – who cares? Also, I got lucky. The W&LE RR people were getting busy and moving trains around when I randomly drove up, and on a Saturday no less.

– photo by Mitch Waxman

#6996 up there was functioning as a DPU, Diesel Power Unit. Everything you might want to know about the W&LE outfit – its rolling stock, rights of way, corporate structure – can be gleaned here.

It was a beautiful day in Carnegie, PA. Mid 60’s in temperature, with a strong breeze. The Rook Yard was one of several places which got a quick drive by and lookie loo.

– photo by Mitch Waxman

#3049 was in the lead, and after coupling to a train of tanker cars, began moving away from my position. Not entirely sure where they go after this. I have vague ideas, but finding out is one of my summer projects.

I had my little railfan radio scanner with me, and was listening to the conversations between tower and engineer, but it might as well have been Greek they were talking. I’ve got to learn to speak railroad.

– photo by Mitch Waxman

I had a couple of hours to myself while in Carnegie, and spent about a half hour or so of it right at this spot watching other people at work. Definitely coming back here in the future. No fences!

There were a few other spots which I wanted to take a good look at, but it was also Memorial Day weekend. When I got to a some of those other points of interest (tomorrow’s post), in the residential sections, back yard parties and BBQ’s were going on and I was sticking out like a sore thumb.

Next time, it’ll be a weekday morning visit, when the streets are a little less populated.

– photo by Mitch Waxman

Chartiers Creek runs through Carnegie on its way to the Monongahela River which it is a tributary of. This post shows where that admixture occurs nearby the West End Bridge.

There’s all sorts of ‘desire paths’ along the water which fishermen use to get down to the shore. I plan on following a few of those this summer as the ankle situation continues to improve.

Back tomorrow.

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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.