Posts Tagged ‘Birmingham Bridge’
Eliza Trailing, part 2
Monday
– photo by Mitch Waxman
Your humble narrator was scuttling along the Eliza Furnace Trail in Pittsburgh, when we left off last week, and here we are!
This pathway is a former ‘right of way’ and track bed once owned by the B&O railroad, which has been converted over to a ‘rail trail,’ and the ‘zone’ hereabouts used to be defined by the presence of an enormous steel mill and iron furnace operated by an outfit known as the J&L Steel Company.
All caught up.
– photo by Mitch Waxman
As has been offered in the past, I’m visually fascinated by all of the massing shapes and parabolas offered by the many, many highway ramps in this area. This post, from July of this year, shows the scene I was scuttling through as seen from above.
Up, down, all around.
– photo by Mitch Waxman
The only hazard encountered down here involves bike riders, funnily enough. The E-Bikes you see in Pittsburgh are a bit overpowered due to all the hills, and when a rider is on a flat surface like this – they can get up to a truly inspiring speed. Some dude rode past me at what had to be thirty or forty mph. Then another dude did, and another…
Proof of a long running argument I had with the ‘bicycle people’ back in NYC, who assign all bad behavior on the streets to cars and trucks, and present bike riders as some kind of noble pilgrims who will lead us all to a world enjoying a decarbonized future. I’ve always laughed out loud at this.
Give someone a chance to be a dick, they’ll take it, every time.
That’s my POV. Allow somebody to ride a de facto electric motorcycle on a bike and pedestrian path with zero enforcement of ‘norms,’ you’ll soon get (mostly) guys riding at top speed on the Eliza Furnace Trail, while weaving around joggers, humble narrators, and baby carriages at speed.
Know what the solution to this situation is going to be, you self important jackasses? Speed bumps and traffic calming. Operator Licenses, registration plates or stickers, and vehicle insurance. You reap, and then the government will sow.
– photo by Mitch Waxman
Ramps, ramps, ramps.
The ones above are part of a complex interface with local streets that the Birmingham Bridge offers. I walk over this bridge fairly frequently.
– photo by Mitch Waxman
That’s Pittsburgh’s Second Avenue down there, which is not a terribly nice place to walk, so I stick to the trail instead.
The plan for the afternoon would continue on the other side of the river, and I’d be crossing it about a mile and change from this spot.
– photo by Mitch Waxman
There’s a section of Eliza Trail where you’re more or less parallel with an interstate (I-376) high speed road. 376 in this section is meant to be speed limited at 40 mph, but it’s common to have people blast past you at 80 on the ‘Parkway East.’
For you New Yorkers, this motor vehicles only road is Pittsburgh’s equivalent to the FDR drive, or the Henry Hudson Parkway – the last hurdle for motorists on their way out of the city. The section pictured here would be analogous to the FDR route just north of the UN, heading towards Triborough. At 80 mph.
Back tomorrow with more.
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Slogging south, and a Hey Now!
Thursday
– photo by Mitch Waxman
Something horrible must have happened on one of those highway ramps, as a big cloud of white steam, or smoke, or dust, suddenly drifted in front of the camera here in Pittsburgh.
Your humble narrator was nearing the end of a long walk, and my energy levels were flagging.
This scuttle ended up being around eleven miles, all told. Started up on ‘The Bluff,’ included a section of the Uptown Neighborhood, and then I attended a lecture at a library in Squirrel Hill after a quick cab ride. After the lecture, I started walking towards the South Side neighborhood, in pursuance of eventually accessing the T Light Rail, for my ride back to HQ in Dormont.
All caught up?
– photo by Mitch Waxman
God help me, but I do love this point of view.
Getting to this POV is kind of harrowing, but I’ve always talked about my love of photographing the massing shapes of highways, with their elevated ramps. The path involves following that sidewalk on the right side of the shot to the Birmingham Bridge over the Monongahela River. Have to get out here at night sometime.
As far as I’ve been able to work it out, this complex of ramps and highways is more or less where the J & L steel mill used to be found.
– photo by Mitch Waxman
There’s a lot of construction activity going on in the section of Uptown which it touches the Birmingham Bridge, which makes the scuttling a bit difficult as I need to vouchsafe my still gamey left ankle.
See? haven’t mentioned it in a while!
Here’s the catch up – it low grade hurts all the time, and I know when it’s going to rain as my ‘ankleometer’ goes off (due to arthritis). Fun!
Saying that, I’m more or less able to get around and do what I want to again, so… win?
– photo by Mitch Waxman
On the southern side of the bridge, there’s a point of view over the CSX Pittsburgh Subdivision’s Tracks, and I hung around a few minutes in the hope that…
Hey Now! (I literally say that out loud when a train appears)
– photo by Mitch Waxman
CSX #3174, which is some sort of train.
I’ve been trying to call out the make/model of these things, and figure out their stories. I’m not a railfan, I just like taking pictures of trains, and I just didn’t feel like deep diving for this trio of shots as it’s kind of surface level and fairly disingenuous to pretend that I care about this thing being rebuilt in some recent year. I feel like it’s offensive to actual railfans trying to speak intelligently about their area of expertise.
#3174 was heading easterly, and hauling a mixed up series of cargo cars.
Personally, I hate it when some newbie starts telling me about something I ‘nerd out’ about – comic books or sci-fi stuff which they’ve just discovered, which have the status of religious texts for me. I try to keep that resentment of the uninitiated newbie in mind, regarding the world inhabited by the railfans.
– photo by Mitch Waxman
My internal fuel tanks were empty by this part of the day, and a not insignificant mental effort to ‘keep going,’ not punk out by calling a cab, was underway.
It was just a few more miles… keep going… you’ll rest when you’re dead… go… go… go…
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.
Ramps, ramps, ramps
Monday
– photo by Mitch Waxman
Oakland to South Side
After a particularly scary street crossing, at a highway off ramp, your humble narrator was soon as safe as he could be. A busted series of sidewalks and pathways guided one along his scuttle, and one was heading over to the Birmingham Bridge, which I’d be crossing the Monongahela River upon.
There you are, all caught up…
One was staring to ‘run out of gas’ at this particular moment. I had attended a walking tour of around two miles in length, then started my peregrinations to get back to mass transit for my ride back to HQ.
One of the absolutely deepest mysteries involving Pittsburgh I’ve encountered is why they didn’t extend the T Light Rail service out to the actual population center of the city (at least for nine months of the year) from Downtown, in the areas surrounding the universities in Oakland.
The fact that the service doesn’t go the airport either is a mystery.
– photo by Mitch Waxman
Inviting, no?
I took the opportunity hereabouts to have a quick sit down, and allow my batteries to recharge. As stated, my policy is to never stop moving for more than a minute or two, as it breaks momentum.
I did require, however, a couple of minutes without twenty pounds of camera crap hanging off of me. It wasn’t even my full kit, but on this particular day it felt like I had a cinder block in the bag.
– photo by Mitch Waxman
A few quick steps found me angling towards the Birmingham Bridge, leading to the ‘South Side’ section. Part of me wanted to continue on, and on, but a louder internal voice cried ‘nay.’ As it turned out, I was spent.
A change of plan occurred. I desperately needed a beverage, and there’s a great bar right at the other side of the bridge where they habitually have Guinness Stout on tap.
There! Motivation! Onwards!
– photo by Mitch Waxman
I wasn’t scuttling, so much as I was ‘drag assing’ when this shot was captured. One was musing, after seeing the bicycle infrastructure of Squirrel Hill on the morning walking tour, about just how ‘effed up this section of the city is in comparison. There’s a reason, of course.
Wealthy and politically relevant people live in Squirrel Hill, so you do your ‘safe streets’ stuff there. For them. Poorer and less relevant people live in the direction I was heading, so…
– photo by Mitch Waxman
It is impossible for me to walk over this bridge and not take a photo of those mounds of raw materials, piled on the piers of a concrete company below. It just cannot happen.
My back was really starting to ache right about here, but I won’t mention what was happening to my front. Brrr.
– photo by Mitch Waxman
This was the last shot from this walk. I stopped off at that local bar and had a pint of Guinness, which was refreshing and offered me a bit of carbohydrate based energy to walk the next mile or so to get to the light rail, and then back to HQ. Moe the dog seemed happy to see me.
He might have been faking it though.
Back tomorrow with something different – at this – your Newtown Pentacle.
“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.
Monongahela style, Hey Now!
Wednesday
– photo by Mitch Waxman
After a harrowing and honestly terrifying walk alongside the west bound vehicle lanes of Pittsburgh’s East Carson Street, specifically between Becks Run Road and South 33rd street, your humble narrator began to relax a bit.
Couldn’t chance that ‘one of my turns’ might occur, wherein I fall to the ground – crying and quivering while kicking my feet at the sky – consumed by paroxysms of physical cowardice, and raw animal fear, while squealing in a high pitched manner.
Just like every time I see the full moon. The horror…
Once I felt nice and safe again on normal streets, and shortly after quaffing a Gatorade purchased at a nearby gas station convenience store, a few quick steps saw me walking alongside that waterfront trail which mirrors the Monongahela River’s shoreline through Pittsburgh’s ‘South Side.’
– photo by Mitch Waxman
There’s an ‘after’ and ‘before’ dealie going in that shot above. To me, at least.
Time was growing short, as I was meant to be meeting up with Our Lady of the Pentacle later on in the afternoon. Had the equivalent of about thirty city blocks to walk, a mere stumble for one such as myself.
Leaned into it, thereby.
– photo by Mitch Waxman
Soon, I was walking past the Birmingham Bridge, firmly on my way.
Naturally, I walked too fast, and got there nearly 45 minutes early.
I’m pathologically early, by habit. My Mom used to screech at me: ‘get there early, at least they can’t hold that against you.’ I also think that it’s a sign of respect for whomever you’re meeting that you got there ahead of time. Tardiness should be added as an ‘8th sin’ to the list of deadlies.
Luckily, there was a big pile of rocks that I could sit down on and wait.
A man needs a random pile of rocks, every now and then.
– photo by Mitch Waxman
While sitting on that pile of rocks, I waved the camera about.
This is a familiar location, nearby that brewery where I often shoot trains from. Different establishment for this particular evening’s diversion, but same neighborhood.
The signal bells then began to chime, and the barrier arms lowered.
– photo by Mitch Waxman
Hey Now!
It’s CSX #3380!
– photo by Mitch Waxman
That shot above was at the end of this particular scuttle.
Forthcoming, I went back a few days later to that starting point on Mountain Avenue, up on Mount Oliver, and walked in the correct direction for the ‘cool walk’ I had meticulously planned… sigh.
You’ll see all that fairly soon, so get ready!
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.
rolling rolling rolling… rawhide!
Wednesday
– photo by Mitch Waxman
The last legs of this particular walk were fairly uneventful, as your humble narrator picked his way along the shoreline of a Monongahela River ‘rail trail’ and towards my eventual destination at the Sly Fox Brewery.
I was scouting out a couple of locations along the way, ones with a pretty good view of the rail tracks used by CSX.
I’ll be showing you a scene quite similar to the one above in the future, but with a CSX train hurtling through it. This setup looks like it could be kind of promising.
– photo by Mitch Waxman
Once I was again safely sequestered from vehicular traffic and onto the rail trail, which follows the former ‘right of way’ of a defunct railroad, my headphones were reinserted into those ear holes one might observe on the sides of the sensory and gustation stalk that sticks out of the collar of my t-shirt. Just had to watch out for bikes.
As mentioned in a prior post, these photos were gathered on the Saturday of Thanksgiving weekend, and Pittsburgh was pretty much deserted.
Good. That’s the way I like it. The human infestation can be noisome.
– photo by Mitch Waxman
There’s a bend in the path when you reach the South 10th street bridge, which is where the trail transmogrifies into ‘Colors Park.’ Herein, street art and so called ‘graffiti’ is encouraged and allowed. By creating an out door gallery space for the pursuit, it cuts down on the vandalism and ‘tagging’ for nearby spots where graffiti is unwanted. Smart.
CSX’s tracks are on the other side of that little fence, found at more or less the center of the shot above.
– photo by Mitch Waxman
There’s always a bit of new art on the pier of the South 10th street bridge, which is where I took a moment to consider and observe.
I moved on. This excursion was about movement, and accruing speed in my striding gait. The ankle was singing an aria by this stage. It seems that I’ve got arthritis in that joint now, and as it was a cold day…
– photo by Mitch Waxman
Y’know, back in NYC… the NYPD would be very interested in this sort of scenario. In Pittsburgh… it’s likely that a groundskeeper just forgot to load up his fuel can after cutting the grass and left it behind by accident.
Regardless, one continued on. Thump, drag, thump, drag… hey, cut that out… thump right, thump left, thump…
– photo by Mitch Waxman
Hey now! Suddenly, CSX’s #3166 hurtled past.
I had less than 15 seconds to get this shot set up after I heard the thing coming. This is why I like shooting trains at the brewery, incidentally, as there are grade crossing signal arms on either side of that space and you get nearly a minute of preparation time for lining up your shot and figuring out the exposure settings.
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.
