The Newtown Pentacle

Tuesday

– photo by Mitch Waxman

I really have to stop referring to these guys ‘the White Whale,’ as I’ve figured out several places to regularly catch their comings and goings at this stage of my residency in Pittsburgh. Melville references can only be used when something is an extraordinarily rare sight.

Allegheny Valley Rail Road is the name of the service’s corporate owner, and their branding on the Pittsburgh section is ‘Carload Express.’ Basically, the ‘big guys’ like CSX or Norfolk Southern handle the long distance transport of a rail car, whereas AVRR handles the ‘last mile’ of travel to the end customer.

Seriously though, that shot above is one of the top five rail shots which I’ve gathered since living out here in Pittsburgh. Zoom in on those wheels. You can see just how little of the wheel touches the rail, which is a very cool thing. NERD! NERD! NERD!

Yeah… but how often do you get to see a creep shot of a freight train, looking up a locomotive’s skirt, gaddammit?

– photo by Mitch Waxman

The berm which their tracks ride upon was around 8-10 feet high realative to the level of the street I was standing on, and it continued on towards downtown, paralleling a major vehicle thoroughfare and local street called ‘Penn Avenue’ for a spell.

Me? I just stood there, shooting and shooting.

– photo by Mitch Waxman

Surprisingly, I’ve seen this sort of thing multiple times in the last few weeks, specifically that the locomotive engines were running without a train of cargo cars attached to them. A violation of the first rule of freight, which is ‘don’t go anywhere empty.’ If you’ve ever had a job at a restaurant, this concept is related to the ‘empty hands do not go into or out of the kitchen’ rule.

As always seems to be the case, while this scene was playing out, a strong desire to urinate manifested.

I enjoy a variety of Doctor’s prescriptions related to my cardiac functions and circulatory health, it should be mentioned, and one of those pills happens to be a blood pressure medication. Said pill offers the label warning that ‘you may experience a sudden and immediate need to urinate.’ I can confirm this side effect.

I’ve realized that an ongoing theme here at Newtown Pentacle has revolved around me mentioning the need to suddenly have a piss while out in the wild, and that pill is why. I always try to describe the existential side of visiting these sorts of places, what I’m thinking or feeling, and so on. Ignoring basic biological function is silly and childish, to me. I’m not the City of Greater New York, after all.

That blood pressure pill does put me into real pickles, sometimes.

– photo by Mitch Waxman

After the train had passed, and some of the local plants had been watered, one decided to straighten out the straps for the camera and bag. I was about to enter a populated area again, and didn’t want to look all janky to the passerby. One leaned forward and resumed his herky jerky approximation of human locomotion.

Hey! Forgot to mention this, but I’ve finally regained the spring in my step, post orthopedic incident. I was moving at between 2.8 and 3.4 mph on this scuttle, according to the heath app on my phone. The upper margin is very near what’s considered ‘running’ speed.

Consider that nine months ago I was walking at 1.3 mph, and in the postural manner of the Batman villain Penguin, so that’s some good news right there lords and ladies.

– photo by Mitch Waxman

One more shot looking back over my shoulder, at where I had just walked through, under the Bloomfield Avenue Bridge. Neville Street transforms into Sassafras Street nearby, which parallels the fencelines of the old Iron City Brewery – an ‘abandoned’ property which seems to have an owner that’s experiencing a development dilemma.

Don’t know much about its story, but this brewery is a gargantuan former industrial property, plopped right at the edge of a ‘hot’ real estate area called Lawrenceville that seems to be trapped in ‘development hell.’

Think Brooklyn’s Greenpoint, or Williamsburg, around 1995-2000.

– photo by Mitch Waxman

The uphill route, out of the Skunk Hollow zone, shadowed.

Again, where is everybody? Maybe I am dead, just a wandering phantom with a camera… an animated but filthy black raincoat with no one inside…

Back tomorrow with more.

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