Subdivisioning
Wednesday
– photo by Mitch Waxman
Dynamic was your humble narrator, as he had spied from the corner of his wicked eye a CSX train set being held static by signals nearby the Fort Pitt Bridge, while said narrator was hurtling past in his automobile. Haste was made to arrange said automobile, a Toyota, into a parking spot and nearby a familiar location.
Happy day. The signal arms flailed about and lights and bells were activated. Just like Christmas, the bells and lights. Hooray. Like a sinner from hell’s heart, that CSX train arrived in a puff of noise.
– photo by Mitch Waxman
CSX #1972 appeared. Apparently, it’s a ‘Family Lines’ ‘Heritage Unit.’ My joy at getting a nice shot, above, soon became interlocuted with sadness. The sadness intruded because of the realization that I might have to deep dive on what the hell ‘family lines’ means, and reenter the Byzantine world of the railfans.
Really, I just like taking pictures of trains. It’s a difficult subject – huge, quick moving, need to be able to react quickly when one appears… that’s me. Commenting upon how the CSX people used the wrong screw on one of the metal plates, or that this train once rolled past something important is just way outside my wheelhouse. Maritime metaphor is intentional.
– photo by Mitch Waxman
I wasn’t planning on running this shot, but I got a request in the comments section a few days ago, asking about the appearance of the Sly Fox Brewery, which is often mentioned within similar posts that have also focused on CSX’s Pittsburgh Subdivision Tracks nearby this spot.
That’s Sly Fox in the background, but I wasn’t in attendance there on this particular day. First off, it was something like 11:30 a.m., and secondly I had the car with me. I also had other places to visit on this particular day.
Why use the car on a ‘photo day’? It was about 100 degrees outside with humidity and dew point levels in the 90’s.
Back tomorrow with something different.
“follow” me on Twitter- @newtownpentacle
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Canton Avenue, Pittsburgh
Tuesday
– photo by Mitch Waxman
The steepest known street in the whole world is Baldwin Street, in Dunedin, New Zealand. This abomination condemns its pedestrians to walk on a 34.8% grade. Baldwin Street holds the Guinness World Record currently for steepest street. In Wales, a former contender and holder of that Guinness Crown is Ffordd Pen Llech, found in Harlech, with a 28.6% gradient. The latter street was the steepest street for a while, as it was originally described as being set at a 37.45% gradient. Under an updated methodology used by the Guinness people, the current ‘28.6’ number was arrived at. Apparently the Welsh are appealing the decision.
(Via Google’s AI: Guinness World Records measures the steepness of a street by determining the maximum gradient over a 10-meter horizontal distance, based on the street’s centerline. This method ensures a consistent and fair comparison, as taking an average over the entire street could mask sections of extreme steepness.)
Pictured in today’s post is Pittsburgh’s Canton Avenue, found in the Beechview section, a street which has a grade of 37%. That makes it (the probable) steepest known street in the Northern Hemisphere, and whereas it might be the second steepest on earth it is certainly the steepest street in the USA (according to official sources).
I took a shot of an ‘official’ Pittsburgh signage, which proclaims this spot as ‘the steepest street in the Continental United States,’ click here for the image, and to hear it all directly from the ‘horse’s mouth.’
– photo by Mitch Waxman
There’s an annual bicyclist challenge ride called ‘The Dirty Dozen’ here in Pittsburgh. Participants ride up these crazy hills. This is the inverse view of Canton Avenue above, as in from the bottom. Check out those City Steps which are set along Canton as well.
Up top, it flattens out somewhat, but you’re entering an incredibly hilly section of Pittsburgh called ‘Beechview.’ Newtown Pentacle HQ is embedded into Dormont, right next to Beechview. Canton Avenue is about two miles from HQ.
This sort of terrain, while admittedly an extreme example thereof, is sort of normal here. Remember Rialto Street?
– photo by Mitch Waxman
This is one of the ‘ones’ that you’re supposed to visit. While I was there, that family you see in the looking upwards shot at the top of the hill, they had just pulled up to check out Canton Avenue with the kids.
Tourist trade, yo. If I lived there, I’d probably try to sell T-Shirts out of a booth on my lawn. Printed posters, stuffed toys, rock candy. I’d know who Canton was. (Actually, I looked into it and there’s no overt record of how they came up with ‘Canton Avenue’ back in 1905 after Beechview was created. Prior to then, the Canton was called ‘First Avenue.)
If.
Back tomorrow with something different.
“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.
Castling the Rook
Monday
– photo by Mitch Waxman
I’ve mentioned my current obsession with Wheeling & Lake Erie’s Rook Street Yard (found on the border of Pittsburgh’s Carnegie and Greentree) last week. Recently discovered, the point of view for today’s post looks down at the yard, and the tracks leading out of it.
This location is just a 15 minute drive from HQ, so I’ve been haunting it during my comings and goings, hoping to catch a bunch of shots of the sort displayed in today’s post.
Saying all that, I’m not saying these are ‘the’ shots for this location, just rather happy that I actually managed the ‘right time/right place’ variable correctly. Looking forward to ‘working’ this location again in the future.
– photo by Mitch Waxman
It was literally 95 degrees out, with what felt like a thousand percent humidity level, while I was standing in the sun on a steel and concrete bridge spanning the tracks. The little scanner radio thingamabob was with me too, so I was listening in on their radio chatter.
Wheeling & Lake Erie #3073 was at the head of this steel snake. Funnily enough, they never left the yard, and were instead just repositioning the lines of tanker cars that were being held on the yard’s spurs.
Going to have to come back to get a shot or two of them heading off into that trench, that leads to the tunnel, which leads to a trestle, which then connects through Seldom Seen Greenway on its way towards… Bethel Park, actually… and then… and then…
Yeah, I think that I’m starting to figure this place out.
– photo by Mitch Waxman
Saying that, still have lots to learn. This particular point of view includes a fairly safe spot to park the car, but it’s also a location that definitively requires an automobile to get to. Recent endeavor saw me buzzing all around the zone one recent day, starting at this POV over the Rook Yard. You’ll see all that over the next few days.
Tomorrow – something completely different.
“follow” me on Twitter- @newtownpentacle
Buy a book!
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Down, and then out
Friday
– photo by Mitch Waxman
After negotiating a Boulevard called Bigelow, and descending the steep streets of Polish Hill, and then crossing a set of rail tracks and a busway, one arrived at a flat section of the City of Pittsburgh, built upon the flood plain of the Allegheny River.
As is my recent habit, further scuttling occurred along the ‘way’ or alley streets in this zone. In Pittsburgh, if a street is called a ‘way,’ it’s an alley. The avenue blocks could be popping with crowds, but the ways are fairly unoccupied.
I avoid human infestations whenever possible.
– photo by Mitch Waxman
The way led me, unfortunately, back to an avenue.
The humans gamboled and played, honking car horns and drinking sugar solutions from plastic vessels. Some ate fried things. Others gesticulated towards various points of interest. Everybody seemed to have somewhere to go. There was a baseball game scheduled for the night of the day which this scuttle occurred on, so lots of humans were in the area, dubbed ‘The Strip District.’ They were buying souvenirs and sports jerseys, drinking their carbonated syrups, and eating the high fat foods.
Many of them seemed disused to walking. Their feet pointed outwards, and the steps were shuffling. They hung together in family groupings. Formations of mutual defense, perhaps. These units would often flatten out into skirmish lines, with five or more people slowly shuffling along shoulder to shoulder while pouring things into their mouths and watching their phones carefully for some sort of update. When a skirmish line met an opposing group or line, chaos ensued. Socially awkward and passive aggressive maneuvering of their formations occurred, designed to allow access through for the interloper’s passage but not comfortably so.
They walk just like they drive, I thought.
– photo by Mitch Waxman
Many were clothed in what I’d describe as ‘redneck drag.’ Suburbanites all dressed up to look rural. One guy I saw was wearing a shirt that said ‘patriot.’ He was wearing an American flag themed hat, which is – of course – a no-no as far as the official rules surrounding usage of the United States Flag, for patriots. Ask a Scout, they’ll tell you what’s kosher as far as using or handling the Stars and Stripes.
It was really, really hot out. My path was altered a bit to accommodate finding some shade. Luckily, lots of off and on ramps hereabouts.
– photo by Mitch Waxman
This was a short walk, maybe four miles in length if you consider the changes in elevation. I was engaged for about two hours worth of walking, all I had time for on this day. I wasn’t feeling terribly well, I should mention, due to a specialized diet which yet another forthcoming medical test demanded I eat. The plan involved me eating exactly the set of foods which I normally avoid, regarding my cardiovascular situation. Lotsa fats and carbs, basically zero vegetables or fruit. Yuck.
Luckily, at this writing, that test has been accomplished. Now, I’ve only got a Dentist Appointment to make and I’m done with my annual set of ordeals. I may have to admit that the Doctors are smarter than me, and thereby it’s logical to subvert my will to theirs, but I don’t have to like it.
– photo by Mitch Waxman
A rideshare was summoned, which would carry me back to HQ in Dormont in air conditioned comfort. Worth every damned penny.
Now, on to my latest obsession.
– photo by Mitch Waxman
The entire time I was sitting in that god damned wheelchair in Dormont, I was hearing train horns sounding off from a direction which didn’t make any sense to me. It took me a bit of searching, but… there ye be.
This is Wheeling & Lake Erie’s Rook Yard, which I’ve visited at street level, via Carnegie, in the past. I’ve finally figured out a spot where I can both park the car and also get elevated POV photos of the yard. This is where the RR enters into a trench, which then leads it into a tunnel under the neighborhood of Greentree, and I now have a pretty good idea where that tunnel comes out in West End… so, yeah…
For one such as myself, this is nepenthe.
Back next week with something different.
“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.
Means and Ways
Thursday
– photo by Mitch Waxman
There were a few ‘Bernie Holes’ cut into the fencing of the 28th street Bridge, connecting ‘Polish Hill’ with ‘The Strip.’ The lines of sight offerred nice views of a set of empty rail tracks and one of Pittsburgh’s ‘Bus Ways.’
Me? I was getting pretty f’shvitzed. High 80’s straying into the low 90’s and a dew point humidity level which the local CBS television station’s meteorological staff had described as ridiculous. I had also just passed out of an elevated area with abundant tree cover, and into an ‘urban heat island.’
– photo by Mitch Waxman
Newtown Creek was one of the places where this urban heat island phenomenon was first scientifically described, and it was once called the ‘Maspeth Heat Island Effect.’ Suffice to say, the collected heat radiating up and out of the concrete and asphalt grew staggering at this point.
I was ready for the weather. I even had an umbrella, just in case, although the forecast didn’t call for rain. This was the sort of weather, though, where a sudden ‘piss down’ storm wouldn’t seem out of place.
Better to be prepared. I was wearing a silly fishing hat with a wide brim that I bought at Costco for $7. Machine washable hats for the win, amirite?
– photo by Mitch Waxman
One last shot of the 28th street Bridge, which is a location that I will definitely be putting on my watch list for rail shots. There’s kind of a skyline/rail shot there, but it’s going to take a few iterations to ‘get it.’ It’s a complicated photo, actually, with horizontal layers of light valuation. Also, the obvious composition is basically a ‘T’ shape, which isn’t a great one.
Something to do, I guess. Whittle away at the lonely hours. All that.
– photo by Mitch Waxman
After crossing busy Liberty Avenue, one negotiated his way northwards in the direction of the Allegheny River, a left was hung on Spring Way. As stated in prior posts, in Pittsburgh, it seems that if a street has the word ‘way’ at its end, it’s an alley. Still considered a navigable public street, but an alley nevertheless. Currently, I’m obsessed.
A few of these ‘ways’ offer the only true profusion of graffiti that I see in my daily round. I mean… it’s a city, there’s going to be graffiti. Compared to just Western Queens, however…
– photo by Mitch Waxman
Most of what I saw were ‘tags,’ which are essentially signatures that say ‘I was here.’ Saying that, there were a couple of examples which rocked. This abstract and poetic one was pretty darned cool, imho.
Generally speaking, I don’t shoot graffiti/street art for copyright and usage reasons unless somebody asks me to. Don’t want to be perceived as ‘biting’ off somebody for my own aggrandizement.
– photo by Mitch Waxman
I love everything about the one above though. Click through and check out the line work on that duck. Great! Looks ‘like a sticker.’ If you click through to the photo, you’ll see an ‘insta’ tag, which I don’t want to put into readable text lest it draw the attentions of the gendarmerie.
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 