Kicking dirt in Carnegie
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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The Newtown Pentacle 
Wonderful catch, though DPU is typically used to describe a locomotive at the end or middle of a train (Distributed Power Unit). Cool how that former UP geep still displays its original paint.
BraydenTakesPhotos
June 12, 2025 at 1:38 pm
A) thx for sharing the knowledge
B) this was the rarest of things in the northeast – a rail yard without fencing. W&LE’s Rook Yard, I think it was.
Mitch Waxman
June 12, 2025 at 2:10 pm
Y’all have fencing? All that’s down here is the ominous 12 gauge shells near the entrance.
BraydenTakesPhotos
June 12, 2025 at 2:23 pm
Normally worst case scenario w the fencing, the 1 inch diamonds that got bought with 911 homeland security money. I can deal with a normal chain link fence, the 2ish inch diamonds, but that small an aperture always turns up in the shot. You should see what they’ve got around Sunnyside Yards in Queens, where I used to live. There’s a lot of shots here, all around the yards, which houses Amtrak, LIRR, and NJT as well as the odd MTA holding. I used to exploit a series of surveyors holes in the plate steel fencing there, one of which I always called ‘hole reliable.’
Mitch Waxman
June 12, 2025 at 2:30 pm
That’s amazing! There’s a fairly good amount of chain link fencing in Decatur where the railroads cross the Tennessee, and the dispatchers have not so polite conversations with barges wanting to go through, but some unknown individual has cut holes for shooting through. Birmingham is a little better but most stuff is covered off by hills, creeks, and trees.
BraydenTakesPhotos
June 12, 2025 at 2:33 pm
A buddy of mine, who has passed on, was a photographer and SUPER railfan named Bernard Ente. You probably have seen his posts on rail message boards where he went by DrB. Bernie used to cut holes in the fencing all along the LIRR mainline between Jamaica and Sunnyside Yards, which he’d use to stick a lens through. The location of many of these spots were closely held, but I know about a bunch of them, in particular around Newtown Creek, North Brooklyn, and Western Queens. There used to be a few of us who went shooting together for ‘adventures.’ Amongst the group, we started calling the various fence apertures ‘Bernie Holes.’ I use that for every ad hoc visual breach in fencing that I encounter, even in Pittsburgh.
Mitch Waxman
June 12, 2025 at 2:39 pm
That name rings a bell. I’d like to go up there eventually and catch some passenger rail that actually is functional as opposed to Alabama’s sorry excuse for passenger rail.
BraydenTakesPhotos
June 12, 2025 at 2:41 pm
When you make the trip, get in touch. There’s a few ‘out of the way’ locations that are still pretty close to the center which are fantastic. Subways – Broadway Junction in Brooklyn, Smith 9th in Brooklyn, Queens Plaza from the east bound 7 platform looking westwards… Sunnyside Yards!… a subway train running across Jamaica Bay a couple of feet above the waves… also – ride the nyc ferries! Best tourist value in NYC.
Mitch Waxman
June 12, 2025 at 2:45 pm
Thanks for the tip. Same with you if you’re ever down here.
BraydenTakesPhotos
June 12, 2025 at 2:46 pm
[…] The scouting work pays off occasionally, and I’ve just found a point of view which looks downwards at Wheeling & Lake Erie’s Rook Street Yard. […]
Potpourri day | The Newtown Pentacle
July 31, 2025 at 11:00 am
[…] is Wheeling & Lake Erie’s Rook Yard, which I’ve visited at street level, via Carnegie, in the past. I’ve finally figured out a spot where I can both park the car and also get elevated POV photos […]
Down, and then out | The Newtown Pentacle
August 8, 2025 at 11:00 am