The Newtown Pentacle

Wednesday

– photo by Mitch Waxman

After executing a fairly long scuttle, along the Great Allegheny Passage Trail between Homestead and the South Side Flats section of Pittsburgh, just as I was arriving at the Sly Fox brewery for a rehydration session with a coy-Le of lovely pints of Stout, the train tracks signal arms lowered and the alarm bells started ringing.

A train was a-coming. HEY NOW!

– photo by Mitch Waxman

#3418 was heading westerly, towards Ohio. It was hauling cargo boxes and tanker cars. A ‘GE ET44AH’ model locomotive, its fairly modern by CSX standard, having been built just during the last twenty or so years.

‘Grade crossings,’ as in when a vehicle/pedestrian path is interrupted to allow train egress, are pretty rare back in NYC.

Apparently, Robert Moses made it one of his missions in life to eliminate as many of NYC’s grade crossings as possible, except at Newtown Creek. Here’s one in Blissville, one in Maspeth, there’s LIRR in DUPBO, and one that’s from East Williamsburg.

– photo by Mitch Waxman

The spot I was standing on was once part of the Pittsburgh & Lake Erie rail yard back in the days of steel, and the brewery I was headed to is sited in a building that used to serve as a rail yard warehousing and intermodal operation. Railroad tracks were here first, so everything else has to wait when a train comes through. Saying that, I see people racing against oncoming trains all the time. It’s only a matter of time before I photograph something horrible happening.

Hey now?

They don’t do Guinness at this establishment, but they do offer a couple of other choices in the ‘Stout’ category which I’d describe as ‘salubrious.’ After a quick visit to the porcelain within, and then to the bar, your humble narrator soon sat down for the first time in a few hours, and slurped on a pint of grog while hoping for the next train to arrive.

Vainglorious hope, and after an hour I paid my tab and started moving again. There’s an elevated truck ramp that overflies this familiar spot, which the current owners of the property have fashioned as ‘The Highline.’ I headed up there.

– photo by Mitch Waxman

Just as I got to the ‘top,’ the signal arms began to chime and another train appeared, this one heading south easterly and away from Ohio.

CSX #3200, its a GE ES44AC-H model locomotive. Same basic design as #3418, I’m led to believe, but equipped with different electrical gear and traction controls.

– photo by Mitch Waxman

You have to respect ‘nerdom’ and all the facets it may take.

There’s comics people, music people, sci-fi people, philatelists, sports people. Uncredentialed experts in their fields of study, these people nevertheless are amazing fonts of knowledge about esoteric things. Like railfans are. Respect.

As stated a hundred times: I’m not a ‘railfan,’ in terms of understanding all the nuance and detail that’s rolling past the lens. I just like taking pictures of trains, an activity which I find kind of challenging.

I’m a photo nerd, these days.

– photo by Mitch Waxman

After the train passed, it was time to head back to HQ and I opted for the lazy solution to getting home – calling a ride share. It’s about $12 for that fare, as Pittsburgh isn’t terribly large and HQ is roughly five miles from this spot.

Moe the dog danced and brayed on my return, then promptly fell asleep.

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.