The Newtown Pentacle

Monday

– photo by Mitch Waxman

At the end of a medium length scuttle down through and around Pittsburgh’s South Side Slopes neighborhood, detailed in prior posts, your humble narrator now found himself in a quite familiar setting: drinking a pint of beer while at Pittsburgh’s Sly Fox brewery, and photographing passing CSX freight trains.

First up was CSX #3284. Heading northwesterly, towards Ohio, and away from the steel plants found along the Monongahela River, West Virginia, and or Maryland.

– photo by Mitch Waxman

This was a Saturday afternoon, which made it kind of surprising just how much rail traffic there was during my relatively short visit. I’ve started working out the timing of their operations, and have observed that there seems to be a long interval in the late morning and early afternoon when nothing is rolling through. After about 3 p.m., CSX seems to get a lot busier. I’m seldom if ever here in the early part of the day, so…

After the train passed through, I marched into the brewery, put my glass on the counter and said ‘reload.’

– photo by Mitch Waxman

In addition to the bartender, CSX seems to heard me say ‘reload.’

Next up was #430, which was heading in a southeasterly direction (away from Ohio). One of the things I like so much about this spot is there are two grade crossings with signal arms here. I get plenty of notice that something is going to be coming through, and an idea of what direction it’s coming from, based on which one of the signal arms triggers first.

They do blow the train’s horns while approaching, but that sort of sound isn’t necessarily ‘directional,’ due to it bouncing around off of buildings and the geology, if you know what I mean.

– photo by Mitch Waxman

It had been a pleasant early autumn day in Pittsburgh, weather wise. I was quaffing Helles branded draft Lager at the brewery. Intervals between train sets were about 15-30 minutes on this particular day.

After #430 passed through, I headed inside, demanded another ‘reload,’ and also paid my tab.

Big difference between ‘having a drink’ and ‘getting drunk’ for me is volume related, and these days alcohol in excess just makes me want to go take a nap. I always figure that I’m ‘paying rent’ for the train photo opportunity and am obliged to buy a drink in return for the seating, but this spot is ‘a public park area with a brewery’ rather than the other way around. I usually don’t mention the pints of water I’m also drinking, but there you go.

I could just sit and wait, but I like access to the bathroom and your humble narrator really enjoys a nice cold pint on a warm day.

– photo by Mitch Waxman

Last up – for me, at least – was CSX #7086. It was headed in the westerly direction, towards Ohio, and it was the last thing I’d end up photographing on this particular day.

After a little while, I summoned a rideshare to pick me up, and carry my carcass back to HQ. That habit is something I’m going to be (and have been since the time of this writing) attenuating.

Made sense in terms of the ankle situation, all these months, but I’m back to riding the T light rail again, and using it as my mass transit springboard into various situations and spots. The T has limited range, however, which is why it’s a ‘springboard.’

– photo by Mitch Waxman

So, that’s the end of my tale of the walk down the Sterling Street Steps, through the South Side Flats, and then gathering train photos at a familiar brewery. Nice time, for a Saturday in October.

Back tomorrow with something different – at this – your Newtown Pentacle.

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