Posts Tagged ‘CSX’
Gazing, a ride, and then a ‘hey now’
Thursday
– photo by Mitch Waxman
This shot involves the ‘gazing’ part from the title. Downtown Pittsburgh, with its shadow casting monoliths.
They don’t seem to do ‘set backs’ out here, so the massing of the upper floors of these towers mirror their bases. This causes a permanent sense of ‘dusk’ for these downtown streets, except for those narrow stripes of sunlight which somehow manage to beam past them. No Bueno.
This walk had been a pretty involved multi hour effort, but I wasn’t done yet.
– photo by Mitch Waxman
The T light rail stop at Gateway Center was entered. I used the elevator to get down to the platform level, just to see how well it functioned. Your humble narrator will often go out of his way to see what people who are less abled might be experiencing in these sorts of municipal systems. But for the grace of god…
I boarded the first T that came into the station, and merrily sat down. First time I had sit down since I was moving through Skunk Hollow about two hours prior.
– photo by Mitch Waxman
It would only be a few stops on the T, and all in the ‘free zone.’ The light rail runs for free at the City’s core. It’s all very civilized.
The light rail unit made its underground stops, then emerged back onto an elevated causeway at First Avenue Station, whereupon it then proceeded across the Panhandle Bridge spanning the Monongahela River.
– photo by Mitch Waxman
The transit service vomited me forth and onto the mean streets of the South Side Flats section, at the Station Square stop. Soon, I was kicking dirt again.
My plan for the rest of my day involved reward for the effort.
The brewery which I haunt is a 15 minute walk from this spot, and I was powerfully thirsty by this point. Hadn’t had a drop of liquid pass my lips since leaving the house, and I’d pretty much walked here from all the way over in East Liberty.
I’ve had to break my usual rule of not carrying water with me on photowalks in Pittsburgh during the summer months, but during the winter months? Not so much. If you drink liquid, you’ll need to pee. That creates a logistical problem, even in a place which routinely deploys Porta-Potties around the city for use as public bathrooms.
– photo by Mitch Waxman
The light was pretty great, so I cracked out a shot or two of the Liberty Bridge. This bridge is the ‘other side’ of West Liberty Avenue and the Liberty Tunnels which I showed y’all recently.
A quick call to HQ revealed to Our Lady where I was and served well enough as ‘confirmation of life’ for her to say ‘Have Fun.’
– photo by Mitch Waxman
It had been about a month since I was able to grab a beer and hang out by the CSX tracks here on the South Side. Missed that.
Tomorrow – lotsa Choo Choo.
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Hey now!, and a boat
Friday
– photo by Mitch Waxman
A triplet post for this final installment of a fairly long scuttle that began on Troy Hill, crossed the Allegheny River and then proceeded through Pittsburgh’s Downtown to the Monongahela River and then finally over to the South Side Flats section. At this final destination, the CSX Pittsburgh subdivision’s locomotive traffic flows along their right of way, often offering a wandering photographer the opportunity to say his favorite thing:
HEY NOW!
– photo by Mitch Waxman
Presumptively, those rail cars are filled with either coke or coal, but since I don’t know for sure – let’s just call it minerals. This sort of specificity has gotten me in trouble with the sort of people who see everything through a political filter. ‘Freaking liberal pansy boy,’ call it coal. Well, in response, I don’t know – for a fact – what it is. Looks like, smells like, but ‘fact’? Can’t swear on a Bible about something? Then you should speak in general terms about it. That’s the mantra.
The locomotive was heading ‘towards Ohio,’ which is something I can actually say categorically.
– photo by Mitch Waxman
Out on the water, a Towboat was negotiating itself against the river currents. I watched it for a bit, but it didn’t seem to be docking so I headed back out to the streets. A rideshare chariot was summoned and soon I was back at HQ and fending off the attentions of Moe the Dog.
Back next week with something different – at this – your Newtown Pentacle.
“follow” me on Twitter- @newtownpentacle
Buy a book!
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Hey Now! West End edition.
Monday
– photo by Mitch Waxman
As described last week, your humble narrator was perpetrating a constitutional scuttle, around the titular center point of the Pittsburgh Metro area. My horrific footfalls carried me from a T light rail station on the North Side over to the West End Bridge, whereupon I’d squamously cross the Ohio River and enjoy a point of view or two from the other side.
Midway across the span, a CSX freight train appeared, one which was moving directly towards my point of view.
– photo by Mitch Waxman
That’s CSX #3430, pictured above. I’m told that it’s a ‘GE ET44AH’ model locomotive, which you can read more about here. Right about this moment was when the other train, the one which had been held in place for a bit, began to move. Fun.
Did I mention that it was cold and windy?
– photo by Mitch Waxman
The train passed over an outfall which allows Chartiers Creek to express itself into the Ohio River, quite close to the confluence of Allegheny and Monongahela Rivers which form the headwaters of the Ohio.
I kept on keeping on.
– photo by Mitch Waxman
I’ve always thought that if you really want to hide something, and you’ve got a budget, that the best place would be a train cargo car. The budget would be required to keep the thing you’re hiding constantly moving, and if there’s enough cash available you could theoretically keep the hidden item on the move indefinitely. Connecting it to one random freight train after another, you eventually send it to a train yard in either southern Mexico or Boreal Canada where your secrets can be forgotten.
Theoretically, the same approach would work with a semi trailer, and leave behind a far sparser paper trail.
– photo by Mitch Waxman
Just before it was time to deal with my terrifying descent down a flight of stairs on the south side of West End Bridge, a tug caught the eye.
Yeah, I know… it’s a Towboat out here, not a Tug. I know.
– photo by Mitch Waxman
The Gale R. Rhodes has been mentioned here before, in this post from 2024, which was published about a couple of weeks prior to the ‘orthopedic incident.’ That’s how I’m referring to the broken ankle situation from this point out, so just get used to that one, lords and ladies.
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.
Cold and lonely, always afraid
Friday
– photo by Mitch Waxman
Continuing with a forced march around Pittsburgh, in today’s post.
Simple plan. I’d follow the headwaters of the Ohio River to the West End Bridge, cross over to the southern shore, then track back up the shoreline towards that brewery I hang around, nearby the train tracks on the South Side of Pittsburgh. Drink wasn’t on the menu for this particular day, but I was very interested in capturing a few shots of freight trains.
– photo by Mitch Waxman
Hey Now! Norfolk Southern was getting up to something on their elevated trestle tracks. The static train in the foreground was CSX’s, and they seemed to be held up by signals. These train shots are all telephoto ranged ones, with the zoom lens dialed all the way out to its maximum objective.
One kept on keeping on.
– photo by Mitch Waxman
My cursed footsteps pollute the waterfront trails with intransigence, but nevertheless did your humble narrator navigate his carcass to the West End Bridge. This part of the walk exposed me to stairs, which the rotting worms in my skull box have devoted a phobia about, an afterimage of the ‘orthopedic incident’ which defined my life for most of last year.
I’m all ‘effed up.
– photo by Mitch Waxman
It’s not the going up that affects me, it’s the descent. In particular, it seems, the steel steps that are painted with Pittsburgh’s ‘brand color’ of PPG brand ‘Aztec Gold’ seem to really excite the old amygdala, especially so when descending them. ‘Mustn’t grumble.’
After urinating on a nearby bush, your humble narrator moved upward and onwards, and ascended the scary steps.
– photo by Mitch Waxman
This walk has become one of my ‘stations of the cross’ routes. That’s what I call easy to reach areas that are ‘pregnant,’ in terms of photo possibility, but which also offer long stretches of mostly flat terrain that I can lean into. The ‘easy to reach’ part is kind of important.
Back in Queens, I’d head south – out of Astoria – for a Dutch Kills walk which served a similar function and ‘reachability.’ Down Steinway to Northern, where it becomes 39th. 39th to Skillman and Sunnyside Yards, Skillman to Hunters Point Avenue, and then I’d hang a left towards Dutch Kills. After visiting a few spots along the water, I’d then scuttle back out to 43rd street and turn north for the walk back home to Astoria.
That walk was often referred to as my ‘patrol area.’
– photo by Mitch Waxman
Hey now! That’s a ‘heading away from Pittsburgh’ CSX freight train appearing on the second track, alongside that train from the Norfolk Southern shot which was being held by signals. Lucky!
Back next week with more.
“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.
Ends are always odd
Thursday
– photo by Mitch Waxman
At the end of a medium length scuttle, and your humble narrator once again had a pint glass filled with a yummy oatmeal stout beer in his grubby mitt, and that’s when CSX #913 appeared.
Hey Now!
The locomotive was pulling a mixed up line of rail cars. Automotive cars, containers, even semi truck trailers were in line behind it.
A ‘GE ES44AC-H’ model locomotive, that’s what I’m told #913 is.
– photo by Mitch Waxman
I was there for the length of two drinks, about an hour, and the only train which passed through the CSX subdivision choke point during the interval was #913.
It gets dark really fast in Pittsburgh during the winter, as the burning thermonuclear eye of god itself lowers itself behind Mount Washington and probably Ohio, a deep shadow is cast.
– photo by Mitch Waxman
There’s some of the semi trailers the train was hauling. I get comments all the time about only showing the locomotive engine, and not running shots of what it’s hauling, so there you are.
As the sky grew dim, and the air colder, I headed within and paid my tab. A quick visit to the loo followed, and then back out into the street.
– photo by Mitch Waxman
An elevator was used to raise my point of view, and I hung around in the dark for a bit, hoping another train might be transiting through.
No such luck, and I made my way back out to the street. I’d be summoning a ride to get back to HQ, something easier accomplished from ‘up here’ rather than ‘down there.’
– photo by Mitch Waxman
Along the way, I couldn’t help but react to the ‘noir’ being offered up by those darkened streets. Spooky. This is what 5:30-6 p.m. looks like here.
It took a while for a cab to get to me.
– photo by Mitch Waxman
Eventually, the rideshare chariot arrived and a reunion with Our Lady of the Pentacle and Moe the Dog ensued. Good times.
Also, Merry Christmas to all you Goyem.
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.
The Newtown Pentacle 