Whitaker Flyover
Wednesday
– photo by Mitch Waxman
Recent endeavor was the causal agent of my oft repeated phrase of ‘every other day’ again, so a quick drive across Pittsburgh’s South Hills was perpetrated and soon I was scuttling along the Great Appalachian Passage trail nearby Homestead for one of my constitutional walks.
There’s a terrific amount of rail trackage in this area, and one’s expectations were not disappointed during direct observation.
That’s the Union RR pictured above, which is sort of the ‘house brand’ for U.S. Steel’s operations in the Monongahela Valley. By ‘house brand,’ I’m referring to the sort of private label products which supermarkets and other retailers offer – Kirkland at Costco, for instance.
– photo by Mitch Waxman
Speaking of the Monongahela River, the Towboat Alquippa was passing by while I was at the Whitaker Flyover. It seemed to be towing mineral barges of – what looked like – gravel or concrete.
The Whitaker Flyover is just one part of the GAP trail’s many charms, a pedestrian and bicycle focused truss bridge that spans these busy rail tracks and allows egress from one section of the ‘rail trail’ to the next.
– photo by Mitch Waxman
Norfolk Southern’s #4294 appeared at the head of a long snake. It was hauling a thoroughly consistent series of cargo cars which exuded a very familiar smell to one such as myself. It was NYC’s garbage heading west!
Back when I was doing the Newtown Creek tours around the waste transfer stations in Queens and Brooklyn, I’d always relate the experience of having asked a DSNY Commisioner what the destination for the City’s trash was. I was told ‘can’t tell you, Homeland Security.’
Those blue boxes were hard to miss as they moved through Pittsburgh’s Homestead section, however, as I’d often see them in the wild back home.
– photo by Mitch Waxman
Ultimate destination? I’m guessing here, but this train was heading towards Ohio… so… do the math. There’s lots of mined out holes in the ground that need filling found in this part of the country, a holdover from back when there was a coal mining industry.
Good news? Future archaeologists are going to absolutely love us.
– photo by Mitch Waxman
Union RR returned, and was the headed in the direction of the steel and coke plants found down river. I’m told that those are fairly old locomotive units which the Union RR uses, but that’s not too big a problem for them as these things are never too far from their home base at the mills. Long distance transport is accomplished by third parties like Norfolk Southern or CSX.
One was just hanging around on the Whitaker Flyover at this point, pacing from one side of the bridge to the other. About a dozen people appeared during this interval, mostly riding bikes. One or two of them were the official ‘bike bros’ type of jagoff, wearing the silky racing shirts and lycra shorts, and riding very expensive bicycles. These were the ones who said ‘get out of my way,’ as opposed to the normal people who ride bikes that simply said ‘Hi.’
Hey, yinz noticed how I used ‘jagoff’ there? I’m finding myself leaning into Pittsburgh idiom and slang occasionally. Next, I’m going to want french fries on the inside of my sandwiches.
– photo by Mitch Waxman
After a few more minutes of restive waiting and pacing, yet another Norfolk Southern train set appeared, led by #4737. It was hauling what seemed like an entirely random series of cargo cars – tankers, car carriers, cargo shipping boxes.
It was starting to get a bit warm out, and the hour was growing late, but I also wanted to commit a bit of time to something else found along this path so I started heading that way to get on with all that.
Back tomorrow.
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Denial of Service
Tuesday
– photo by Mitch Waxman
Recently, a humble narrator’s pursuit of exercise and outdoor time found him once again at Pittsburgh’s Seldom Seen Greenway, located in the larger City’s Beechview section. As long time readers will tell you, I’ve been haunting a set of rail tracks here which are infrequently crossed by rail traffic, and then returning home empty handed for the effort.
There’s a parking lot, and the magnificently well appointed brick tunnel which leads you under the rail trestle, and which then leads back into a set of paths that are garlanded along the hills, is pictured above. One of those paths leads up a hill, and carries you to those rail tracks.
– photo by Mitch Waxman
Boy, that would be a nice shot this would be if there was a train in it, huh? If you like it, I’ve got several shots of these empty tracks I could show you.
A Wheeling & Lake Erie train is said to come through here about four times a day, on an irregular schedule. I’ve put in a lot of hours standing around here and waiting for that to happen at this point. Persistent effort is one of my ‘things’ so it’s just a matter of time until I get it. This spot is about a 15 minute drive from HQ, so no biggie, but it’s frustrating.
– photo by Mitch Waxman
After about an hour, one threw in the towel and headed back down the path. I was out for a walk rather than a ‘stand around,’ after all, and the whole point of this exercise was ultimately exercise – so I got back to kicking my feet around in the dirt and mud.
Back tomorrow with the product of a far more successful outing.
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W&LE, Montour Westland
Monday
– photo by Mitch Waxman
Created – as it was – from the remains of bankrupted railroad’s right of way, there are several branches of the Montour Trail found snaking around the hinterlands of Pittsburgh.
One of these branch lines, in particular – the Westland – is fascinating to me. The somewhat sudden emergence of an industry which harvests gas from the Marcellus Shale formation in Western Pennsylvania (and in other nearby states here in Appalachia) using the hydrological fracturing – aka ‘Fracking’ – methodology, has caused a new set of rail tracks to emerge that more or less mirrors the route of the old Montour Railroad.
Recent endeavor found a humble narrator in PA.’s Washington County, walking along the Montour Trail, and also encountering a rail yard used by the Wheeling & Lake Erie outfit along this route.
For a history of the Westland Branch of the Montour RR – I photographed a signboard which the rail to trail people have installed.
– photo by Mitch Waxman
This was a lucky catch for me, as I had literally just scuttled up the trail from a nearby parking lot, and my arrival is exactly when the gates of the rail yard signaled an alarm and then opened up to receive this train. In the distance, a young eagle was twisting in the sky, and you could just make out the rumble of a diesel engine coming my way before it arrived.
The land surrounding this area is semi rural. A dairy farmer has a small property nearby and you could both smell and hear his cows just beyond the tree line. The trail itself was barely being used, besides myself there was some other guy jogging about and a young woman riding around on some fancy pants bicycle was also spotted.
– photo by Mitch Waxman
The Wheeling & Lake Erie train was hauling mainly tanker cars. Each one bore a screed exclaiming that ‘Liqueified Natural Gas’ was contained within. The fracking thing… well, I’m new here and I’ve got opinions.
Just like butt holes, opinions are, everyone’s got ‘em.
Serious consequence to ground water and seismic stability accompany the practice of ‘Fracking.’ Future generations will rue the day that our current civilization decided that harvesting this gas was a good idea.
Saying that, this industrial pursuit has accomplished a fifty year long quest to decouple the American economy from energy dependence on the Middle East, and consequently the United States has now become the leading exporter of hydrocarbons to the rest of the world. This has allowed the Foreign Policy types to introduce the Arabians to the Chinese and let them work things out between themselves. In my opinion, never have two groups of people deserved each other more, but that brings me back to buttholes.
It’s… complicated.
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Lucky scuttler
Friday
– photo by Mitch Waxman
At the end of a medium long walk, it was time for me to grab a beer at that brewery in Pittsburgh’s South Side Flats section which I’ve become a once every couple of weeks customer of. Just in the name of hydration, of course.
Just as I got to the intersection of a riverfront trail and the actual streets where it’s located, the rail track’s signal arms activated and CSX #5414 appeared, heading southeast.
After the thing passed by, I went into the brewery and ordered myself a glass of ice cold Pilsner. As is my habit, one gravitated to a table outside.
– photo by Mitch Waxman
While quaffing, phone oriented attentions dominated, and I answered emails and returned a phone call. Soon, the signal arms activated again and CSX #3220 thundered past my position. ‘All in all, a pretty lucky day for trains’ thought I.
Satisfied with the refreshing beverage, I paid my tab and used an elevator to get up to the street level offered by the ‘Highline’ development. It’s about thirty to forty feet, I’d reckon, from down here to up there.
– photo by Mitch Waxman
When I got ‘up there,’ I heard the signal arms start chiming again, and was barely able to get into position when CSX#3091 appeared, hauling what appeared to be coal or coke mineral cars to the southeast.
So glad I was able to see all this, and share it with you lords and ladies, here at your Newtown Pentacle.
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Cage match
Thursday
– photo by Mitch Waxman
As described yesterday, a humble narrator was navigating a set of Pittsburgh’s City Steps in the South Side Slopes neighborhood, dubbed as being the ‘Church Route Trestle Steps,’ in pursuance of finding yet another ‘point of view’ or POV of the Norfolk Southern RR’s ‘Mon Line’ trackage and right of way which snakes along the hillside hereabouts.
Say that three times fast, I dare you.
The section of the steps which overflies the RR tracks is contained within a fenced in steel truss, pictured above. It forms a short pedestrian bridge, and offers a pretty neat set of photo opportunities.
– photo by Mitch Waxman
Looking north and west across the South Side Flats area towards Pittsburgh’s downtown, that’s how I’d describe the shot above. I’m particularly pleased with myself, regarding this capture. I’ll take the credit, but kind light and the atmospheric conditions should really get the top billing. I just clicked a button or two.
While shooting this one, a conversation was struck up with one of the locals, who was walking back and forth and up and down the steps. He jokingly referred to the bridge and steps as his own 2.8 million dollar municipal stairmaster.
While chatting, a familiar rumble was heard coming from the east.
– photo by Mitch Waxman
Norfolk Southern #4675 appeared, hauling a varied series of cargo cars. There were tankers, and cars for cargo boxes, and also car carriers. I’ve been trying to accumulate some knowledge regarding what the many different train cars and containers I observe rolling past are used for. I’ve picked up just a bit of the lore, but this inquest moves me dangerously close to railfanning.
As always – not a railfan, I just like taking pictures of trains.
– photo by Mitch Waxman
Luckily, this tenancy of mine on the pedestrian bridge soon saw another subject appear from the west. Two trains in one go?
Well… it was time to tighten my belt and get busy!
The stair climbing fellow I was chatting with lived in the adjoining South Sides Flats area, and we had an amiable chat about what that’s like. He pointed out a few things to me, and we discussed the environmental consequences of a busy train line in your back yard. He asked how I knew the things I know, which is one of the few times since Ive been here that Newtown Creek has been discussed.
He thought I’d be leaning into talking about air pollution, which is a hot button item here in Pittsburgh due to the operations of U.S. Steel downriver, but I pointed out to him that there is no observable vegetation growing on or near the track beds despite it being surrounded by the urban forest.
Defoliants, pesticide, and leachates entering the ground water, sayeth I.
– photo by Mitch Waxman
Turns out that the second train was Norfolk Southern #9889, which also hauling a mixed up group of cars behind it. I shot a lot more images than just these three, of course, but these were the ones which seemed to tell my story most efficiently.
I bid my companion adieu, and continued on my way.
– photo by Mitch Waxman
The plan for the rest of the early evening was to walk to the waterfront after passing by the 1889 vintage St. Adalbert’s Church (on the left in the the shot above), hang a left at the river, grab a beer at that brewery I like with the CSX tracks alongside it and…
Well, you’ll see all that tomorrow.
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The Newtown Pentacle 