The Newtown Pentacle

Monday

– photo by Mitch Waxman

Just a few scouting shots from an entrance to Pittsburgh’s ‘T’ light rail service today, found at the Dawn Avenue stop on the City’s Southern Busway.

As mentioned last week, one was killing some time while the Toyota was off at the ‘stealership’s’ mechanic shop for an annual inspection and a recall based replacement of an engine component. Your narrator had humbly scuttled down a primary arterial road here in Pittsburgh after his automotive assignation, a ‘stroad’ dubbed as ‘U.S. Route 19 Truck’ for its totality but which is designated as ‘West Liberty Avenue’ in this vicinity. One was heading for the Dawn Avenue stop on the “T” light rail service.

The opportunity to wave the camera around in this vicinity and scout out a few locations for future use was gladly taken.

– photo by Mitch Waxman

An interchange of local and arterial roads feeds vehicle traffic into the Liberty Tunnel, described in some detail in a prior post. Said tunnel provides connection between the South Hills section (where Newtown Pentacle HQ, in Dormont, is found – approximately five miles away from this position) and then on the other side you gain access to the rest of the Pittsburgh Metro’s road network, notably I-376 and I-379.

I drive through here regularly, but as is often stated: you can’t ‘see’ anything from behind the wheel of a car as you’re moving too fast.

– photo by Mitch Waxman

These rail tracks are used by the Wheeling & Lake Erie RR outfit, and I will certainly be haunting this location when the climate warms back up while hoping for rail shots to manifest. Directly across the street from those stairs leading to the busway, this is.

I waved the camera around for a bit.

– photo by Mitch Waxman

Heading towards my transit connection, but still shooting on my way to the busway where the stop is, which is up that flight of steps. These images should be defined as ‘what’s there’ snap shots, rather than being ‘photographs.’

Photographs – to me – are considered and composed shots meant to tell a story. A snap shot is something executed quickly, without much consideration. Mind you, there’s a lot to be said for quick observations, and about 80% of what you see here fit into my definition of ‘snap shots.’

– photo by Mitch Waxman

Yikes! The weird PTSD symptoms I’ve been experiencing around walking down flights of stairs was triggered by this sight. Yikes!

There are multiple ‘busways’ in Pittsburgh. These roads are closed to all but transit and municipal vehicles like those operated by the cops, fire departments, and ambulance services. The Southern Busway, which those stairs lead up to, incorporates tracks and catenaries for the T light rail. I’ve been riding past this particular stop at Dawn Avenue for three years, and I’m glad that I finally took a look at what’s here.

Plans for the warmer months which I’m crafting involve these busways.

– photo by Mitch Waxman

The Red Line T appeared, and one boarded the thing for a ride back to Dormont, where the plan for the day called on me to helplessly wait until the Toyota people called to say that the car was ready for pickup. I had photos to process at home anyway, so no big deal. They said they’d send a ‘courtesy vehicle’ to pick me up.

As it turned out I wasn’t done walking for the day.

Back tomorrow.

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