Archive for December 2025
White Whale Spotted
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.
“follow” me on Twitter- @newtownpentacle
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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.
Many, many, ramps
Tuesday
– photo by Mitch Waxman
This particular scuttle, here in Pittsburgh, began with a ride on the T light rail. The plan, as it were, was simple – and involved a walk of about three to five miles. Your humble narrator was fully ‘kitted out’ camera wise, and the weather was somewhat chilly and rain was threatening.
Misty, it was, misty.
The T light rail was ridden all the way to its terminal stop on Pittsburgh’s North Shore. There’s a shot I wanted, one which hadn’t coalesced the last time that my presence was noticed in this area. Pictured is what it looks like when riding the service. The area that the rail unit was moving through in this shot was one of the busways, one which also has rails and catenary wires.
– photo by Mitch Waxman
The T soon deposited me on the North Shore elevated platform that functions as a terminal stop, and after a quick adjust of all the straps and whatnot involving the camera and bag, one leaned into it. I was ‘wearing’ the camera under the filthy black raincoat in case it started raining, a long standing habit which started back on the deck of vessels in New York Harbor, all those years ago.
One descended down to the street, where he belongs.
– photo by Mitch Waxman
This area directly touches the football stadium where the Steelers dwell, and it’s sacred ground in Pittsburgh. Said holy spot is to the right.
A maelstrom of black fabric whipping about in the breeze, wrapping itself about a decaying human husk, wherein my brain inhabits, one began his fitful imposture of human locomotion and attempted to blend into the background.
This isn’t always possible, given how children point and cry when I’m passing by. Old Ladies clutch at their purses, men start forming violent posses, dogs howl. Cats are indifferent. Always, an outsider.
Thump, drag, thump, drag… that’s my walking rythym these days.
– photo by Mitch Waxman
One cannot complain. Last year, it was questionable how much mobility I might have after the shattering of my left ankle. It has been an act of pure will (along with the attention and the expertise of a team of medical professionals) to get back to ‘doing my thing.’
What is ‘my thing’? Why is it ‘my thing’? Where do I go to do ‘my thing’? Is it just wandering aimlessly, or…? How is…
Best not to ponder such esoteric concepts and motivations, as the only ideation that really matters is to remain in constant motion, and enjoy the consequent unstoppability. Juggernaut, that’s the word you’re looking for.
– photo by Mitch Waxman
One feels like a corner has been turned quite recently, and aspirational thoughts have been blossoming. Ambitions, goals, all that crap.
A Jedi craves not these things.
Thump, drag, thump, drag…
– photo by Mitch Waxman
That’s the Merchant Street Bridge, which was described in a prior post.
Thump, drag, thump, drag…
The mists then began to slightly precipitate. Wasn’t ‘umbrella rain,’ instead it was just a fine layer of droplets suspended above ground level. Very atmospheric, but had to clean the lens of moisture often.
Back tomorrow.
“follow” me on Twitter- @newtownpentacle
Buy a book!
“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.
Bottoms end
Monday
– photo by Mitch Waxman
This post concludes a fairly satisfying walk over the gargantuan McKees Rocks Bridge, here in Pittsburgh. As stated at the start of this series, Our Lady of the Pentacle was attending a pierogi festival at one of the churches in McKees Rocks, and the opportunity was taken by myself for an exploratory walk over this mile and a half long span.
Just as I reached my ‘turn around point,’ the phone chimed and Our Lady was summoning me back to ‘base’ for the journey home.
– photo by Mitch Waxman
While scuttling along, a Norfolk Southern train was seen on the Ohio Connecting Railroad Bridge, on the Ohio River. This 2025 post from a painful scuttle at the end of May describes the section of the river from the ground level on the northern shore.
This is one of the very few times that I wished a very long and expensive telephoto lens was part of my kit. Conversely, carrying a six thousand dollar, eight pound lens around ‘just in case’ i see a distant train is kind of a non starter.
– photo by Mitch Waxman
This shot overlooks a former penitentiary, once which is scheduled to be gentrified away, and towards the so called ‘Golden Triangle’ of Downtown Pittsburgh. As mentioned last week, the skies were dynamic and changing by the minute as weather systems and storm clouds blew about.
I was scuttling back towards Our Lady the whole time, I swear.
– photo by Mitch Waxman
The train finished its crossing of the bridge and river, and reappeared behind the Alcosan Wastewater Treatment Plant (or whatever it is that they call it) and started heading north west in the direction of their enormous Conway Yard.
Tied a bow around my efforts for the morning, that.
– photo by Mitch Waxman
A short scuttle and I was back over the ‘Bottoms’ section of McKees Rocks. I still had a way to go, the staircase I’d be exiting from is connected to the fairly distant steel arch seen in the upper right side of the shot above. It looks further than it is, and it took me about 15 minutes to get there.
As mentioned, I was pretty ‘amped.’ Very productive and interesting location, and I’m definitely coming back for more in the future. The bridge was stolid enough to justify usage of a tripod for long and loving views of the place.
– photo by Mitch Waxman
Scanning about, noticing everything, that’s me.
Couldn’t help myself from locking onto a couple of random boats just sitting there in someone’s back yard.
Back tomorrow with something different – at this – your Newtown Pentacle.
“follow” me on Twitter- @newtownpentacle
Buy a book!
“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.
Pelagus Exhaurire
Friday
– photo by Mitch Waxman
Continuing with a fun walk, recently undertaken, on the McKees Rock Bridge. This series of shots are from the section of the bridge that overflies the Ohio River, which returns to solid ground on the very steep ‘north side’ of the Ohio, here in Pittsburgh.
That’s where you’ll notice a gaggle of gear, and a huge industrial plant.
– photo by Mitch Waxman
The Allegheny County Sanitary Authority, aka ‘Alcosan,’ operates this massive sewer plant. According to some very topical research on the facility, it opened in 1959 and processes wastewater from some 83 separate communities. The plant’s campus is some 59 acres in size, and the agency states that it processes some 250 million gallons of ‘honey’ a day. Sewer professionals (at least the ones back in NYC) call it ‘honey,’ as a note. They also hate the term ‘sewer plant’ and prefer ‘wastewater treatment.’ Saying that, the people back in NYC’s DEP were kind of divas and also overtly political animals.
Neat.
As long time readers will tell you – your humble narrator is fascinated by these sorts of systems.
This post provides a bit of an overview of the sewer plant in Brooklyn’s Greenpoint, and this one visits the Manhattan Pump House on E. 13th street and Avenue D. CSO’s, storm sewers… grab a beer and let’s chat. There’s dozens of posts discussing the subject here. Click around.
– photo by Mitch Waxman
The McKees Rocks Bridge just continued on and on. The pedestrian walkway circles around the masonry anchor pier, which allowed a small notch for me to stand in and get the shot above of the two arches supporting the roadway in this section.
Me? I was drawn – inexorably – towards getting a better view of the ‘Alcosan North Side Plant.’ I’ve been looking around for the ‘official name’ of the facility, but have seen at least three variants so I’m running with ‘Alcosan North Side’ until someone tells me differently. In accordance with my complaint about the presumption of knowing ‘Pittsburgh Vernacular,’ I’m figuring that ‘everybody from here knows what it’s called, so why put that on the website or mention it anywhere else.’
Vernacular also figures into my growing frustrations when there’s some social event, described as going on ‘after lunch’ at ‘Joe’s Garage’ in ‘Lawrenceville or something.’ Street addresses, yo. Not all of us are from here. In fact, I’d say at least 20% of the city are out of town college students, but there you are.
As a point of fact, the sewer plant’s street address is ‘3300 Preble Avenue.’
– photo by Mitch Waxman
Settling tanks! They’ve got aerated settling tanks! Last time I was up close to a set of these, it was with Ned The Nose in 2012.
This is one of the first steps which sewage takes after entering a plant.
Aeration equipment at the bottom of the tanks, which can be 20-30 feet deep, pump air bubbles up through the liquid. The liquid becomes so highly aerated that buoyancy cancels out and solids drop to the bottom of the tank for collection. The water is drained off, and the left behind solids are gathered for disposal in a sanitary landfill.
– photo by Mitch Waxman
The large round dealies in the shot above are skimmer tanks, which harvest surface level grease and cooking oils as well as ‘floatables’ from the flow.
Ahhh. It’s nice, this, like returning home for Christmas.
While researching this post, I discovered that Alcosan does an annual Open House day in September. Count on the fact that I’ll be there next year, presuming they allow photographers to photograph.
Man… there’s this Hindu temple in Monroeville that needs to be seen to be believed, but they specifically forbid photography there… so there’s no point to the endeavor of a visit.
– photo by Mitch Waxman
Cannot begin to describe how happy this sewer plant made me. All of the trouble and pain from the last year, and here I am – standing on top of a bridge and taking pics of a sewer plant. This is the sort of stuff I dream about.
There is a Santa Claus, here in the murder capital of Pennsylvania.
Back next week with just a bit more from the McKees Rocks Bridge.
“follow” me on Twitter- @newtownpentacle
Buy a book!
“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.
Caelum ad siphona ambulans
Thursday
– photo by Mitch Waxman
Continuing with a walk over the gargantuan McKees Rocks Bridge, in today’s post. As mentioned previously, everytime I’ve driven over this bridge during the last three years, it’s has been paramount in my mind that ‘I’ve got to take a walk over that thing sometime.’ The views from up here are spectacular.
In many ways, this set of views from up here are from ‘the Pittsburgh I’ve been looking for.’
– photo by Mitch Waxman
The Ohio River waterfront is largely industrial. There’s rail tracks set in and amongst all of the structures, and some of the buildings were of a type whose purpose I couldn’t necessarily identify. Fascinating. This one is from high over the McKees Rocks shoreline side. Looks like it might be a chemical storage facility, down there, maybe.
At first I thought concrete, but there aren’t giant piles of sand and gravel anywhere in sight. The cylindrical tanks are fairly clean in appearance as well. Concrete is messy. I’ll find out eventually, as I’m definitely going to be coming back up here again.
– photo by Mitch Waxman
This one looks back at the ‘Bottoms’ neighborhood of McKees Rocks. See what I mean about ‘the murder capital of Pennsylvania’? Place is neat as a pin. That isn’t what a dangerous neighborhood looks like. Economic distress I’ll buy, but dangerous? All of my ‘tells’ are absent – late model vehicles in various states of repair sitting in front yards, alongside clutter and uncollected garbage, groups of feral teenagers, abandoned homes, all of that sort of stuff.
It’s a grid based street pattern here, which is sort of rare for Pittsburgh, and most of what I was observing from above were either multiple family residential buildings, of at most three to four stories, which were surrounded by a predominance of single family homes.
Hardly anyone was out and about, but it was late on a Sunday morning when I was there.
– photo by Mitch Waxman
A bit of advice I can offer at this stage of the game, gleaned by my small experience, is to not lean on bridge fences in the State of Pennsylvania if you don’t have to.
This fencing was solid, mind you, but my advice remains the same. It’s about a 100 foot drop from this spot, on the pedestrian walkway. My understanding of why PA. seldom omits a walking option for its bridges boils down to the presence of significant populations of religious atavists – Mennonites, Amish, etc. – who pay their taxes but don’t drive cars. Fair is fair.
The weather was dynamic, with a lot of movement in the skies. Bolts of sunlight would suddenly peek through, disappearing when another round of moisture shot through. From up on the bridge, you could see various distant sections of Pittsburgh getting rained on.
I remained dry, since I had carried an umbrella with me, and the perverse humor that the universe enjoys at my expense played out as I didn’t have to use the thing once. If I didn’t have an umbrella, it would have been ‘pissing down.’
– photo by Mitch Waxman
I’ve walked the waterfront trail surrounding that disused penitentiary before. Check out this May of 2025 post for that, or this one from 2024. My understanding of things is that this POV is set to change fairly soon with a big mixed use real estate development that’s meant to start up nearby the confluence point of the three rivers. That’s supposed to bring a giant Ferris Wheel to the party, and demolish the former prison.
This is the moment when I realized what was directly in front of me. Nepenthe.
– photo by Mitch Waxman
A sewer plant… it’s a sewer plant. I’ve missed having a sewer plant to point the lens at. Love me a sewer plant, I do.
You can take the boy away from Newtown Creek, but you can’t actually change the fella or what he loves. Sewers!
Back tomorrow.
“follow” me on Twitter- @newtownpentacle
Buy a book!
“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.
The Newtown Pentacle 