Posts Tagged ‘CSX’
How many axles, now?
Friday
– photo by Mitch Waxman
The last test which I subjected my newly solid ankle to was walking down a street covered in pavers. Many refer to this sort of street cover as ‘cobble stones,’ but that’s anachronistic and incorrect – they’re called Belgian Blocks by the traffic engineers. Suffice to say that they’re also challenging to walk on for someone regaining his feet after a long medical recovery period.
This scuttle ended up being just shy of about 7,000 steps, according to the somewhat inaccurate reporting offered by my phone. I’m happy to report that I wasn’t suffering in the manner that I was after attempting a similar path just a couple of weeks previously. Progress, lords and ladies, progress. That huge brick structure is the former terminal warehouse building which houses the brewery nearby the CSX tracks, so after a trip to the loo, logic dictates that I soon had a beer in hand and was waiting outside for the signal arms along the CSX Pittsburgh subdivision to start chiming. I didn’t have to wait long.
– photo by Mitch Waxman
CSX #3235 appeared first, hauling what looked like empty coal ‘bucket’ cars. These trains were heading ‘away from Ohio’ and ‘deep into Pennsylvania in the direction of West Virginia and Maryland.’ I’m still learning all of this train stuff, I’d remind. 3235 is an ‘GE ES44AC-H’ model locomotive, part of General Electric’s Evolution series of products.
I had ordered a pint of Stout, and it was delicious. After #3235 passed, I went into the brewery, ordered a sequel, and then paid my tab. Two are enough for me these days, I’m a lightweight these days, after not drinking a drop of alcohol during the entire ankle recovery. Last thing I needed was to add alcohol into that mix of pain killers and fog.
– photo by Mitch Waxman
Regarding the title of this post, as mentioned yesterday I’ve recently added a new gizmo to my camera bag, a radio scanner which allows me to listen to the transmissions between train operators and their towers. One of the things which pops up, amongst all the squelching, is the automatic defect detector equipment which counts the number of axles that the engine is pulling or pushing. If the number suddenly changes, the operator knows there’s a problem, possibly a derailment. The train pictured above reported 318 axles at work shortly before arrival.
The 318 axle train was CSX #3184, pulling a train composed of container cars – some automotive, some cargo boxes. #3184 is a GE B23-7 model locomotive and it’s almost as old as I am.
Me? I was pleased with my day. Pain was at a minimum, I kept moving (one of my credos), and at the end of the day the memory card on my camera was nicely packed with all the images you’ve seen this week.
Back next week, hopefully, with something different at this – your Newtown Pentacle.
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Placeholder, too
Wednesday
– photo by Mitch Waxman
Still under the weather, your humble narrator is, but new material will be occurring again here tomorrow and beyond. I’m still struggling with getting the schedule back to normal on this publication, but it’s a one man show and what with a) the ankle, b) the flu, c) the weather – it’s been a bit difficult to get ahead of the deadlines. Normally, I’m operating at least a week or two away from what’s going live here, but these days it seems like the pixels are still wet when published.
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.
Hey now, a train’s a-coming…
Friday
– photo by Mitch Waxman
So, this is how I wrapped up the first scuttle of the post broken ankle period, back at the brewery alongside CSX’s tracks in Pittsburgh’s South Side Flats neighborhood. I don’t have to wait long before the signal arms began chiming and CSX #7589 appeared.
My plan didn’t involve much more than grabbing a quick beer and then summoning a car to drive me back home. According to the not entirely accurate ‘health’ app on my phone, I had taken 7,742 steps since leaving the PT appointment, and then boarding a T light rail, which brought me to this area.
Not bad, really, and with all things considered.
– photo by Mitch Waxman
The combination of the PT appointment and the walk had inflamed the ankle and the thing had swole up a bit. That’s normal, the surgeon tells me, and I can expect to be dealing with swelling after exercise for at least the next year. When the cab dropped me off at HQ, your humble narrator was absolutely spent. I oozed into my reclining La-Z-Boy style chair and just sat there moaning for about thirty minutes.
Eventually, I managed to unpeel the shoes off of my feet. When sleepy time arrived, I hit the pillows and was out for nine straight hours. Surprisingly, the next day I was pretty ok. Sore, but ok. Progress!
– photo by Mitch Waxman
It’s going to take me a bit of time to get back to normal, that’s for sure. Rebuilding muscle and stretching out all of the internal rubber bands in the foot and ankle is not going to be fun, but pain is the oldest and best friend I have, after all. I can always count on pain, who never turns its back on me. Pain also doesn’t betray or gaslight, it’s loyal.
Pain is family.
Back next week with more tales from a broken and enfeebled man, and his busted ankle, 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.
CSX 5470, too
Wednesday
– photo by Mitch Waxman
One had no intention of running two posts in a row with nearly identical photos in them today, but… recovering from the broken ankle and having multiple bands of snow and ice blowing through Pittsburgh on a seemingly never ending daily cycle… so… that’s CSX #5470 advancing towards the lens in the shot above.
Captured these the same evening that I got yesterday’s post, as you’d imagine. It was all very exciting, really. What was I saying about ‘working the shot’ in yesterday’s post?
Things are progressing according to schedule hereabouts, with continuance of my twice a week ‘PT’ – or Physical Therapy – appointments. I’m walking better, although balance seems to be a bit of a challenge at the moment. Still displaying a limp, however. If you saw a time lapse of me attempting to walk over the last six weeks, I bet it would look a lot like the tracking shot of ‘Verbal’ at the end of the ‘Usual Suspects.’
– photo by Mitch Waxman
Saying all that, keeping ‘close to home’ has been my watchword, but the desire for adventure is positively ringing in my ears. A humble narrator was trained to never say ‘I’m Bored’ as a child. If I uttered that forbidden phrase, one of my parents would announce ‘I can fix that’ and I’d soon be working on some unsavory household job or doing the laundry.
When a humble narrator entered his adolescent existentialist phase, I tried having a conversation about Camus with my Dad. He looked at me, and then said ‘that’s interesting, why don’t you tell me about it while you’re cleaning the toilet?’ An attempt at a conversation about Nietzsche once resulted in me detailing his car. Saying all that, it’s been a minute since I had any fun at all.
– photo by Mitch Waxman
Train photos are kind of fun, but I’ve been to this spot a bunch of times. I’m desirous of the novel, the new, the unexpected. About three months of my life were lost to this injury, including all of autumn and that’s normally my favorite time of year. I missed Halloween, for goodness sake.
CSX #5470 is a GE ES44DC model locomotive which – I’m told – rolled out of the factory in 2007, as an aside.
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.
CSX 5401, coming through
Tuesday
– photo by Mitch Waxman
Our Lady of the Pentacle and myself headed out on a fairly nice evening – with temperatures in the high 40’s and just a bit of wind, no precipitation – with the intention of drinking a couple of beers at the Sly Fox Brewery location found in the South Side Flats section of Pittsburgh and waving the camera about if and when a train came by.
So… I’ve been asked why I keep going back to take from this same well, and present a fairly similar series of shots of trains here time and again. You’ve seen one CSX train, you’ve seen them all, right? Not so much, for me at least. I’m working on camera technique, and hoping ‘the planets align’ on a few fronts eventually.
– photo by Mitch Waxman
A habit born back in NYC, when I’m ’working a shot,’ I’ll return to it a hundred times until I get ‘the one.’ There’s variants of photos captured in this spot which are pretty close to what I’m hoping to get. Is the T Light Rail is visible on the Panhandle Bridge in the background, is the sun hitting the freight train, and is the locomotive itself is kicking up dust that’s also catching the sun? If so, hoorah!
For instance, this version of the scene from September was fairly banging, as far as what I’m looking for in this composition. Saying that, this spot has become a bit of a hang out for me, and when you find ‘fish in a barrel’ you return to that spot.
Suffice to say that this brewery location offers a lot more comfort than you’d normally get while out shooting – easy access to a toilet, beer and food, etc. The trains roll through, in the evening hours, about once every 30-40 minutes here and you really can’t fault a location for the frequency of interesting subject matter which comes hurtling past the lens.
– photo by Mitch Waxman
I used to have sludge boats, you see, and several well worn locations on Staten Island where you could be assured of a maritime presence. I also used to have a certain Creek, which had fairly infrequent rail and tugboat action, but it had them. Honestly, if there had been a bar up on the Pulaski Bridge…
These days, it’s freight trains, one reckons. I swear, if I don’t take a picture of a large machine at least once a week…
Back tomorrow 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.
The Newtown Pentacle 