The Newtown Pentacle

Wednesday

– photo by Mitch Waxman

That’s the Allegheny Valley RR’s ‘Carload Express’ locomotive #6002 pictured above, rolling through a rail trench found in Pittsburgh’s Allegheny Commons Park, on the city’s ‘North Shore.’ I more commonly see Norfolk Southern and CSX traffic in Pittsburgh, as AVRR is a far smaller outfit than either of the two giants. Sightings of them are so rare, for me, that I’ve come to refer to them as the ‘White Whale.’

This park is surrounded by a historic district, and it’s also one of the places which I regularly move through in Pittsburgh which seems ‘safe as houses,’ but most of the ‘Yinzers’ tell me this area is a crime ridden cesspit. ‘You’ll get shot,’ they say.

Honestly…

– photo by Mitch Waxman

The train continued on its way, crossing over the Merchant Street Bridge on its course to points eastwards of here. The first shot in today’s post was what I came to this ‘zone’ to get, and my plan for the rest of the afternoon would end with eventually riding the T back to HQ in Dormont. Saying that, I had budgeted away a few hours for ‘serendipity’ and decided to walk through a section of the area which I hadn’t formerly.

Looked over my shoulder the whole way for approaching hordes of East Asian horse archers, cannibal gangs of tooth sharpeners, and of course – Diurnal Vampires – was called for.

The way seemed clear. No feral kids in the trees firing poison darts at me, either, and most of the people I passed by seemed like I could take them in a fight – as they were either young children or quite elderly.

– photo by Mitch Waxman

So, pictured is a former post office which is now part of the Children’s Museum of Pittsburgh. A street has been pedestrianized into a plaza around it, and there were a few late 1980’s style apartment buildings surrounding the spot. A few people were walking around, moms with kids and a security guard or two.

There were no ogres, pirates, or barbarians. Just folks.

I was finishing up a relisten of an audio book offered by the HP Lovecraft Historical Society, adapting ‘The Dunwich Horror.’

– photo by Mitch Waxman

Practice, that’s how I got here, practice.

The rain started kicking up a bit, and thereby my pathway options began to narrow. I would be seeking ‘rain shadows’ for the rest of my scuttle.

If you spend a lot of time outside in urban spaces, rain and wind shadows can be your best friends. You see the former all the time, especially so back in NYC, where a three to four foot wide dry pavement patch around the bases of tall buildings can be observed during rain events. You also see them under elevated highway ramps and train trestles. When outside, use this unintended architectural consequence to your advantage.

Connect with whatever the environment you happen to be in is, and use its quirks to your advantage.

Back at Newtown Creek, for instance, you can pretty much pee wherever you want to, and I’d offer the advice to avoid industrial Maspeth during the summer months due to the heat island effect.

– photo by Mitch Waxman

Thusly, I found myself shambling towards the ramps of the highway connections which overfly the surface streets and move towards the direction of the Allegheny and Monongahela River’s confluence. From there I’d be walking under yet another set of ramps carrying different high speed roads, on my way to a T station for my ride back to HQ.

I still haven’t taken a bus in Pittsburgh, other than a shuttle which was running when the T was under construction. One of my winter plans is to get familiar with the ‘busways’ hereabouts.

– photo by Mitch Waxman

Cannot tell you what was going on here, but I did wonder if lifting that ball would summon a fireman. Most people call 911.

Back tomorrow with more.

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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.