November 21, 2025 11:00 am
Friday
– photo by Mitch Waxman
Continuing with description of a fairly wide ranging scuttle around Pittsburgh: your humble narrator could be observed shambling along a waterfront trail, one which hugs the southern shoreline of the Allegheny River, in the so called ‘Golden Triangle’ section of the city.
This view looks in a westerly direction towards the confluence of the Monongahela and Allegheny Rivers, where the headwaters of the Ohio River form. The bridge closest to the lens is the Fort Duquesne Bridge, and the one in the distance is the West End Bridge.
– photo by Mitch Waxman
The staccato of a diesel engine echoed upriver, and I decided this would be an excellent spot for a quick ‘sit down.’ It had been a few hours since I was at rest, and since I wanted to get a few shots of whatever was coming down the river, it was an opportunity to just sit down and wait. It was nice to take my camera bag off of my back.
Just the other day, at a Doctor’s appointment, occasion found the Doc and I weighing the camera bag. Just under thirty pounds of stuff on my back, as it turns out.
The heaviest items in there, beyond the camera and zoom lens, are a series of prime lenses (which allow me to be ready for most things, including entering interior spaces with low light or night shots), there’s a tripod and other camera mounts, and a bunch of gear which I don’t necessarily ‘need’ but like having with me. I’ve got my rail scanner radio in there, and I actually carry a few comfort items like bandaids with me, just in case. There’s also small tools in there which I might need for the camera, or other gear, while out in the field – hex wrenches and the like. Sometimes, there’s an umbrella too.
The Doc was interested in what my physical exercise modality entailed, and he wanted to gauge physical capabilities, based on my reporting to him of scuttling distance and time. Luckily, I think this was my last ‘check up’ of 2025. At least, I’m hoping it is.
– photo by Mitch Waxman
The hull of this vessel includes a logo for an entity called ‘Alcosan,’ and a line of text that reads ‘ATB READSHAW,’ with its call sign being ‘WDJ4530.’
Alcosan is the ‘Allegheny County Sanitary Authority.’ Sewer and water agency, basically. Apparently, the boat is named for a former elected official who is now a board member of the Alcosan outfit.
The barge it was towing had a shed/structure and other equipment on it. Seemed pretty banal, but I take what I can get when behind the lens.
– photo by Mitch Waxman
I waited around for about 15-20 minutes as the underway tug headed towards the Fort Duquesne Bridge. I shot way too many exposures of the thing, but to fair, my hunt for rail earlier in the day had come up empty and I was fairly psyched just to have a subject to point the camera at.
Sometimes you get lucky and everything falls into place, other times it’s mile after mile of banality.
– photo by Mitch Waxman
‘That’s a cool view of the Fort Duquesne Bridge’ thought your humble narrator, and resolve to come back and capture this scene in low light hours blossomed within. I’m feeling the urge for night time shooting again.
Problem is that my old NYC night owl tendencies have fallen away, and it’s fairly common for me to be awake and drinking coffee by six in the morning. Accordingly, I’ve been going to bed quite early for a while now. As has often been mentioned, where I now live is dark and quiet at night.
Really no good reason, these days, for me to be awake at two or three in the morning. This ain’t Astoria.
– photo by Mitch Waxman
This contraption was encountered next.
It required a bit of detective work to figure out what this gizmo does, but this photo, and this one too, provided the key to unlocking the mystery. Turns out this is a ‘counter’ of some kind which manufactures statistical data as to how many of the humans pass by it on the waterfont trail. ‘Eco Counter’ is imprinted on an electronics box, and that’s the name of a Canadian company whose offerings operate in this space and provide governmental entities with analytics. Neat.
Back next week with more – at this – your Newtown Pentacle.
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Posted by Mitch Waxman
Categories: Pennsylvania, Pittsburgh
Tags: Allegheny River, Fort Duquesne Bridge, photowalk, Pittsburgh, Three Sisters Bridges, Tugboat
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That’s a scary web of ramps converging directly onto the Fort Duquesne bridge, southern end.
By dbarms8878 on November 22, 2025 at 7:57 pm