Rolling and Rocksing, the Ohio River
Thursday
– photo by Mitch Waxman
Topsburgh to Bottomsburgh part five:
Still onboard the McKees Rocks Bridge for this one, but a lot closer to the southern shoreline. Yesterday, I mentioned that I was purposely ‘drag assing’ a bit up here, lingering and loitering in the hope that the Ohio River might put on a show for me.
Lucky.
– photo by Mitch Waxman
While waiting for ‘something to happen’ I waved the camera about a bit. I was trying to ‘box in’ a set of exposures for the three cardinal directions that are visible from this position, and also figure out how to expose for the water below. I was hoping for a train, or maritime activity. Something.
Lucky.
– photo by Mitch Waxman
That’s the tippy tip of McKees Rocks sticking out into the water. My next forays in this ‘zone’ are going to involve trying to get close to that shoreline. Don’t know if there’s any access at all, but you don’t know till you try.
Lucky.
– photo by Mitch Waxman
Finally, the curtains opened, the band played, and the show I was hoping for started. I do miss my NY Harbor tugboats, yo, but I’ll happily take this.
Of course, this is a ‘Towboat’ on this inland waterway, not a Tug.
– photo by Mitch Waxman
It passed under the McKees Rocks Bridge, the Megan Ames did.
The boat was towing four barges of a black mineral that was likely coal. Might have been coke, as well, but the one thing which I can say for certain is that the material was colored dark/black.
Also previously mentioned, a temperature inversion overnight had created somewhat random misty conditions popping up out of isolated and wooded spots. The light was changing several times a minute.
– photo by Mitch Waxman
Off in the distance, another Towboat was observed, this one handling the back and forth of vehicles and crew to Brunot’s Island, where a ‘peaker’ electrical plant is maintained by the local electric utility.
That bridge is a railroad crossing for the Norfolk Southern railroading outfit, and is dubbed as the ‘Ohio Connecting Railroad Bridge.’
Back tomorrow with the payoff for being patient.
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