Archive for the ‘Long Island Rail Road’ Category
severed aspiration
Tuesday
– photo by Mitch Waxman
November 12th, and I was hanging out with none other than the webmaster of Forgotten-NY himself – Kevin Walsh. If you don’t follow the fellow, you’re missing out. Kevin practically invented the genre of urban history blogging here in NYC back in the dial up days, and I’m honored to consider him as being my friend.
One of the people whom I had to spend some of my last time in NYC with was Kevin Walsh. Thereby, I drove out to the Forgotten Cave’s secret entrance nearby the Forgotten mansion, and offered to take him wherever he wanted to go.
Kevin wrote about the day we spent at his Forgotten-NY site, which you can check out here.
– photo by Mitch Waxman
I should mention that the car I got, and I had virtually zero choice in color or trim – it’s what the factory sent us, take it or leave it, due to the whole supply chain thing – looks a great deal like the sort of thing you’d expect Star Wars Stormtroopers to drive around in. It’s white with black trim. It looks like Empire or First Order technology, so I decided to fashion a nickname for the vehicle as being the ‘MOP’ or “Mobile Oppression Platform.” Someday, I’ll mount a laser cannon on the roof bars… someday… right now, I’m debating whether the “MOP’s” all season radials will get me through the winter or if I’ve got to drop a bunch of money for snow tires.
Decisions, decisions. Despite what literally every New Yorker thinks, Pittsburgh actually get’s less snow than NYC does. It’s because of where they are in relationship to the Appalachias, and the fact that NYC sits next to… Y’know… the ocean. It does get colder for longer periods, apparently, with deep freezes persisting a bit longer than they do in the coastal areas of NY and NJ.
– photo by Mitch Waxman
Kevin Walsh hungers occasionally, which is a dark and terrible moment for any nearby. Thunderously, He demanded entry to the Bantry Bay Inn on Greenpoint Avenue, and so did the trees of Calvary tremble as he passed. Within the establishment, Innkeeper Clooney answered his demands for sustenance and grool. Soon sated, the webmaster of Forgotten-NY returned to his normal state of geniality. We returned to the Mobile Oppression Platform, and a humble narrator did convert the webmaster back to the Forgotten Cave in Eastern Queens.
The Forgotten Cave isn’t in Little Neck, which Kevin’s propaganda would have you believe. It’s location is secret. It’s where the Forgotten Computer, the Forgot Alert, and the Forgotten Cycle are stored. Several of the specialized Forgotten costumes may be observed – the underwater one, the space one, and the Iron Forgettatron are – in particular – deserving of the attentions of his few visitors.
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myriad other
Friday
– photo by Mitch Waxman
November 7th, and one back in NYC – I had to move the car for alternate side, so I went to a point of elevation nearby HQ for an hour and shot a bunch of train photos not unlike the one above. I also ran out a pretty large panorama shot, which you can look at here.
I’m working on a City focused transliteration of the Bible which I dub “The New Yorker Testament” wherein the lord rests on the third day as there’s no alternate side, and it’s got a “good spot.”
– photo by Mitch Waxman
November 9th, I had a few minutes to spend on my own pursuits and needed some “head space” from all the have-to’s of moving out of the City, after making my last run to the scrap yard. I hopped in the car and headed over to my beloved Creek.
While in Brooklyn’s Greenpoint section, at Apollo Street and while shooting the photo above, I noticed a freight train moving westwards along the Lower Montauk Tracks of the Long Island Railroad, on the Queens side of Newtown Creek, and thought “hey, I’ve got a car now, I can do this.”
– photo by Mitch Waxman
Using routes familiar and loved, one zoomed over to Maspeth’s Haberman siding and got there just as this GATX freight unit was heading back towards the Fresh Pond yard. Win!
More next week, at this – your Newtown Pentacle.
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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.
proper edge
Monday
– photo by Mitch Waxman
October 27th found a humble narrator driving back from an assignation in Brooklyn’s Greenpoint section. As part of the big move to Pittsburgh, one decided to inventory literally every possession and scrap of paper which has accumulated into HQ over the years and decide whether or not I wanted to move it 400 miles west with me or not. This process revealed a staggering amount of electronics waste – cables, old computers which I’d been keeping for parts, gizmos and gadgets. Lots of stuff made of metal also didn’t make the cut. Thereby, several carloads of gear were transported to one of the local scrapyards for recycling or whatever. There’s also a lot of paper which went to a different recycling company found along Newtown Creek.
On my way back to Astoria from one of these junk yards one recent afternoon, one decided to try and grab a few last shots of places familiar and loved. The first two are from “DUPBO” or “Down Under the Pulaski Bridge Onramp.”
– photo by Mitch Waxman
Said onramp is pictured above. I get asked all the time about the off ramp to nowhere on the Pulaski, which I’m told was originally meant to connect to the Long Island Expressway. Apparently they ran out of money to complete that, in the late 1950’s when this bridge was erected.
Wish I could have lingered, but there’s been so much to do.
– photo by Mitch Waxman
On my way back to Astoria, I did find a minute or two while waiting at traffic lights to stick the camera up through the car’s moon roof.
Depicted above, the Queensboro Bridge and the nearby TerraCotta House, as seen from Vernon Boulevard.
More tomorrow.
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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.
brood capriciously
Thursday
– photo by Mitch Waxman
Sometimes you get lucky, as I did on September 29th.
It had been raining for a couple of days, and the clouds began to clear just before sunset. One set out for a short constitutional walk.
– photo by Mitch Waxman
The light was staggering. Saturated and warm.
As soon as I got to Northern Blvd. I knew where I’d be heading.
– photo by Mitch Waxman
Sunnyside Yards, which is within throwing distance of HQ.
Just as I got there, it looked like the sky had caught on fire.
– photo by Mitch Waxman
I made my way to “Hole Reliable” just as an LIRR train set was passing beneath it.
Continued on, a humble narrator did.
– photo by Mitch Waxman
Skillman Avenue at Honeywell, just as the light show was ending.
This was a short walk, stretching my legs, as it were, so I headed back to Northern Blvd. intending to head back to Astoria.
– photo by Mitch Waxman
By the time I got to another one of my catalog of fence holes, dusk was giving way to night.
“Every time might be the last time.”
“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.
tenebrous others
Tuesday
– photo by Mitch Waxman
On the 26th of September, one perpetrated a short scuttle around a long set of railroad fence lines. A hurricane was tearing up Florida, and we got lucky hereabouts in terms of spectacular skies for about a week. Eventually, NYC was going to get hit with 6 or 7 dreary rain days due to the weather system, but on the evening of the 26th it was perfect photo weather, so off I went.
A humble narrator crossed Northern Boulevard out of Astoria heading south along 39th street – aka the Harold Avenue truss bridge over Sunnyside Yards.
– photo by Mitch Waxman
Progress was made towards “hole reliable,” a surveyor’s POV cut into the steel plate fences of the rail coach yard. There’s actually two holes there, reliable and “hole alright.” The shot above is from the alright one. It’s inferior to reliable because of that metal bar in the foreground. Reliable? Unoccluded!
That’s the Long Island Railroad, heading towards the City, at the Harold Interlocking. This is one of the top ten bits of infrastructure in New York City, in terms of importance on a National level.
– photo by Mitch Waxman
An LIRR train set heading eastwards and away from the City.
What makes Harold Interlocking so important is the commuter rail, pictured above, which connects Nassau and Suffolk Counties to the five Boroughs of NYC. What makes it even more important is Amtrak’s Northeast Corridor service used to share this route. Amtrak moves north bound trains through a tunnel under the East River, then emerges at Sunnyside Yards, travels through the yards to the New York Connecting Railroad, and then over the Hell Gate Bridge. This Harold Interlocking is one of the strategic pinch points in our National system, which is the sort of thing that should make the Homeland Security crowd unable to sleep at night.
– photo by Mitch Waxman
One of the wonders which I’ve been privileged to get a LOT of photos of is due to the discovery of Hole Reliable. Since 2009, the East Side Access project has included an incredible amount of construction work at Sunnyside Yards. Part of that has been the addition of additional tracks here at Harold. Yeah, I know, I’m a nerd.
Saying that, a derailed LIRR train no longer shuts down rail traffic on the East Coast of the United States within a couple of hours as Amtrak’s resultant “situation” ripples out of Queens. LIRR service is fairly frequent, and actuaries will describe a predictable number of annual incidents of every type to prepare for – including derails.
– photo by Mitch Waxman
One scuttled down Skillman Avenue and headed for the 7 train station at Hunters Point Avenue. On my way, yet another LIRR train was spotted, this one heading towards Manhattan.
As mentioned, short walk for me. A constitutional during which I cracked out a bunch of photos. Managed to find about 90 minutes or so to stretch my legs, in the midst of all the tumult back at HQ. Moving is always stressful, and you lose all sense of comfort at home due to constant “have to” and stacks of boxes. Also, there’s always something to do. Never ends.
– photo by Mitch Waxman
The 7 train arrived, one boarded it, and whereas my plan was to linger around Queensboro Plaza for a bit while waiting for the N to arrive, my intended ride was arriving just as I did. Not wanting to look a gift subway in the mouth, I quickly transferred and headed back to HQ.
I had kind of a big thing coming up the next morning, after all.
More on that 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 