Posts Tagged ‘Duquesne Incline’
Six mile scuttle continues on, and on
Monday
– photo by Mitch Waxman
As one may recall from last week’s mishegoss, your humble narrator took a lovely walk in Pittsburgh on a summer day and saw lots of cool things. Many photographs were collected along the way, and now you’re all caught up.
The Duquesne Incline is pictured above, descending from the heights of Mount Washington to its lower station. I refer to this incline as ‘the red one,’ as there’s also a ‘yellow one.’
– photo by Mitch Waxman
Whilst picking my way along the shoreline, the sound of rock being cut or drilled into began to echo. A cloud of white smokey dust began to billow from beneath the incline’s tracks, and then the incline was being run right through it. Neat!
There weren’t any fire people or cops running around, so I figured that there was no reason to panic. Atmospheric!
– photo by Mitch Waxman
I felt obligated to crack out a few shots of this scene, with the one above being my favorite. Glad that I had outfitted the camera with the ‘all in one’ Zoom lens that has a range of 24-240mm. Long reach, that.
This was roughly the half way point on this scuttle, which started on Pittsburgh’s North Side at the terminal stop of the T light rail.
– photo by Mitch Waxman
The Towboat Vulcan appeared, towing a very low in the water barge.
In the background is the Allegheny River, and the Fort Duquesne Bridge.
– photo by Mitch Waxman
The Fort Pitt Bridge would be where I next ‘took up station,’ but I mean beneath it not above. Troll, me. Under bridges, that’s where I can be found. Really, it’s also quite shady down there.
The signals over the rail tracks indicated that something was coming towards me, and there’s a spot I like under the bridge for rail photos, so I walked as fast as I could to it. Post broken ankle, I still can’t run, so I started heading towards that spot as fast as I could manage.
– photo by Mitch Waxman
A tourist boat, The Gateway Clipper, gave me something to point the camera at while I was waiting for the next train to arrive. It navigated under the Fort Pitt Bridge and away.
Back tomorrow with more from the Paris of Appalachia – at this – your Newtown Pentacle.
“follow” me on Twitter- @newtownpentacle
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“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.
Placeholding funicular
Monday
– photo by Mitch Waxman
Due to another band of winter weather, your humble narrator greets you on this President’s Day holiday with an archived shot from a couple of weeks back, when the Three Rivers of Pittsburgh were frozen solid. That’s the Duquesne Incline, one of two funicular railways here in Pittsburgh, which I refer to as ‘the red one.’ The other is the yellow one.
Back tomorrow with something a bit more substantial. I hope.
“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.
An agonizing scuttle
Wednesday
– photo by Mitch Waxman
Y’know what? A broken ankle really hurts, even four months later when you’re officially ‘on the mend.’ After getting off of the ‘T’ Light Rail, which I had ridden into town here in Pittsburgh after attending a ‘PT’ or Physical Therapy appointment nearby The T’s last stop, the ankle was definitively not happy. A weird clicking sensation was occurring on downsteps, and the muscular atrophy in my hips and upper thighs, caused by sitting in a wheelchair for two months, made itself known.
I walked half way out onto the Smithfield Street Bridge, which I had intended to cross from the other side of the river, but every step became an act of will to complete and I had debarked the T a stop earlier than my planned location.
This experience reminded me of the first time I walked to Dutch Kills from Astoria back when I first started getting interested in Newtown Creek after the cardiac incident almost twenty years ago. I was using a cane in those days, and the two and change miles walk to the waterway exhausted my reserves and it took me a couple of hours. It was a long walk, back then.
A couple of years later and this became a half hour to 45 minute walk, from Astoria to my beloved creek. You gotta just suck it up, sometimes, knowing that payoff is coming down the line. Push! Lean into it!
– photo by Mitch Waxman
My destination and reward for all this effort were about a half mile (or a little more) away from this spot. Normal circumstances would describe the following path as a 15 minute walk. It took me an hour. Luckily, one of my favorite podcasters – Dan Carlin – had just released a ‘Hardcore History Addendum’ broadcast featuring an interview with journalist Zeinab Badawi discussing the African Kingdom of Kush. (Spotify link). Worth a listen, and it’s a subject seldom discussed.
It was about 5 p.m. when I was walking around, a pretty busy interval in Pittsburgh as everybody is moving around and going from one place to another. Auto traffic is pretty heavy, and what they call ‘rush hour’ occurs. As a former New Yorker… it’s not heavy highway traffic if it’s moving at 35 mph. Hell, it’s not heavy traffic unless you put your car in park on the BQE and lie out on the car’s hood to work on your tan while waiting for things to loosen up.
– photo by Mitch Waxman
As mentioned in the past, I’m goofy for funiculars, so when I saw the incline moving around on snow covered tracks, I couldn’t resist. The fact that I got to stand still for a couple of minutes didn’t hurt either.
I still had the better part of a mile ahead of me, so I leaned into the walk and got moving. Unfortunately, and this wasn’t intentional, my stride length had diminished seriously at this point. I found myself walking like a penguin, with short steps and swinging my hips around more than my legs. Doesn’t matter, said a humble narrator out loud, got to keep moving. If you stop moving, you die.
You have no idea how horrible it is to have ‘me’ inside of my head. I’m tougher intellectually than I am physically, and I’m often a real dick towards myself.
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.
Inclined towards
Wednesday
– photo by Mitch Waxman
As previously described, one was executing one of my ‘long walks,’ which play out over several miles, one recent afternoon. Along the path I scuttled upon, you find yourself passing under the cantilevered trackway of one of the funicular inclines, specifically the Duquesne Incline (which I refer to as the ‘yellow one’). I got lucky, as the coincidental timing of when I was passing by included a close up of one the cars of the incline passing by virtually at arm’s length.
The T streetcars, the buses, and these inclines, are operated by the Pennsylvania’s Port Authority here in Pittsburgh. I still haven’t taken a bus, although I’m anxious to observe the various busways which snake through the city.
– photo by Mitch Waxman
That’s one of those T streetcars from above, exiting the Panhandle Bridge and heading away from the city’s center, to the Station Square stop on the south side of the Monongahela River. The properties surrounding the bridge in the photo above used to be rail yards, operated by the Pittsburgh and Lake Erie RR – back in the day. There’s supposedly a whole lot of real estate development going on in this area, as part of the post steel industry revitalization effort.
The sky was beginning to look ominous, but as is my habit – I had checked the weather report and was carrying an umbrella with me.
The zoom lenses had been left at HQ, and I was carrying my kit of ‘bright’ prime lenses only. One on the camera, three in the bag – 16mm, 35mm, 50mm, and an 85mm.
– photo by Mitch Waxman
Midway along the roadway I was scuttling down is found the 1924 vintage Liberty Tunnel, a high volume roadway dug through Mount Washington. Just over a mile in length, this tunnel is motor vehicle only, and it provides quick automotive access to the South Hills region of Pittsburgh from the ‘downtown’ center. HQ is at the bottom of one of those southern hills, and I drive through this tunnel frequently.
By the way, New Yorkers – this was shot at rush hour on weekday… they call this heavy traffic here. Wow.
It was starting to rain, but I was nowhere close to done with my day’s activities. My umbrella was deployed, and fixed into position between my camera bag’s strap and the left shoulder joint. This allows hands free usage of the thing, more or less.
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.
grave doubt
Thursday
– photo by Mitch Waxman
First things first – being from Brooklyn, I say things the way they’re spelled. “Hor d’oeuvres” is pronounced “whores da ova vreez” and “buffet” rhymes with bucket. I don’t say “terlet” or “erl” or “boid” but my parents did. The Duquesne Incline and the word “Duquesne,” thereby and in my mind, should be pronounced as “Doo Kezz Knee” but it’s actually pronounced “Doo Kayne.” It seems the Pittsburgh people are a bit sensitive about this topic, as I learned. Can’t take me anywhere.
Monongahela River is pronounced Brooklyn style, as a note – “Mo Non Ga Heela.” Saying all that, welcome to the Duquesne Incline, on Pittsburgh’s Mt. Washington along the Monongahela River.
– photo by Mitch Waxman
As was the case with the Allegheny Incline described in earlier posts, the Duquesne Incline is a funicular railway operated by the Allegheny County Port Authority. There’s a large patio/overlook at the facility which offers iconic views of Pittsburgh and the conjunction of its three rivers. I’ll show you the iconic views tomorrow, but for today I’m still in nerd mode and geeking out about the funicular.
For those of you who might have missed the earlier post – a funicular railway runs on an angled track up and down a hill, and it’s cars are connected via haul ropes or cables. One car goes up, the other comes down. This is a pretty early form of “people mover” and there aren’t that many examples of this technology left in the modern day world. Pittsburgh used to have 17 of these, including ones whose entire occupation revolved around moving freight.
– photo by Mitch Waxman
It’s 1877 vintage, the Duquesne Incline. Designed by an engineer dubbed Samuel Diescher, this funicular was originally powered by steam, but is now electrically driven. It’s 800 feet long and 400 feet in height, and is set against the hill at a thirty degree angle. It uses the Eastern European style broad track gauge of 5 ft, which is an outlier in the United States. The Duquesne Incline actually went out of business in 1962, but local residents raised the money to resuscitate and renew the thing, and in 1963 it reopened. It has since been refurbished and returned to its historic state, and along with the Monongahela Incline a mile away, serves up transit to one million riders a year. A big part of that ridership, of course, are tourists like me. The modern day incarnation is overseen by the Allegheny County Port Authority, as mentioned above.
Both inclines are on the National Register of Historic Places, and are on the American Society of Mechanical Engineer’s Landmark list.
– photo by Mitch Waxman
This one is from the lower station, and just like the Monongahela Incline, a round trip ticket cost me $3.50. The ticket agent actually left her booth to keep an eye on me while I was shooting this. She informed me that she couldn’t leave me alone in this area while the mechanisms were operating due to liability concerns, but that I could take all the pictures I wanted to. She seemed happy to be able to take a fresh air break, frankly.
I really have to compliment the Port Authority people for their friendliness and a willingness to answer questions. Another marked contrast with my daily experience in NYC.
– photo by Mitch Waxman
In the late 1970’s, the cars were refurbished and returned to a somewhat original appearance. Check out that tin roof detail. The cars were built in 1877 by a Philadelphia outfit called J.G. Brill and Co. who were manufacturers of street cars, motor buses, and railroad cars. They went out of business in 1954, and their intellectual property was acquired by General Electric’s transportation division in that year.
Gosh almighty, does a humble narrator enjoy his self a funicular or what? Nerrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrd.
– photo by Mitch Waxman
After riding up and down, one got busy with the camera again. Tomorrow – some of those iconic Pittsburgh views from the Duquesne Incline’s overlook. As a point of interesting trivia, I encountered this 1877 illustration, drawn from a point of view here on Mt. Washington. Marked counterpoint with the modern Steel City, huh?
More tomorrow, from your traveling 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.
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 