Posts Tagged ‘Freight Train’
CSX Trains and Hey Now! Vibes
Thursday
– photo by Mitch Waxman
A few shots from the end of a short but cool walk in Pittsburgh, and pictured above is the ‘Uptown’ or ‘The Bluff’ zone along the Monongahela River. Picture’s POV is from the pedestrian walkways of the South Tenth Street Bridge.
I decided to head over to the brewery nearby the CSX tracks that I frequent, in the ‘South Side Flats’ section. Hadn’t had a drink in a couple of weeks, and a cold beer sounded fantastic.
About 15 minutes worth of scuttling, and I arrived. Headed inside, inspected the porcelain, purchased my drink, headed for the door leading to the outdoor seating… and just as I was walking outside…
– photo by Mitch Waxman
Hey Now!
CSX #1852, all spiffed up with a July 4th paint job, hurtled through the pass. Funnily enough, the night before this was shot, I had been chatting with a railfan buddy of mine back in NYC, saying ‘I really don’t care about all that July 4 stuff they’re doing, if I were to get a shot or not, I don’t care.’ I also extended that statement to cover the Union Pacific ‘Big Boy’ event too. Pfft.
Of course, I got shots of everything, including Big Boy, which will be published fairly soon. Newtown Pentacle Time Warp reminder again, I’m way ahead of the schedule here – for once. This post is being written during the second week of July, for instance.
– photo by Mitch Waxman
Hey Now!
CSX #7505 came through next, heading westerly just like 1852 was. Empty mineral cars behind it.
Finished that first beer right about here, went inside and received a reload. Headed back out to where I was sitting, and…
– photo by Mitch Waxman
Hey Now!
Oddly enough, the sequentially numbered ‘next’ train coming through was CSX #7506, heading easterly.
Finished my second beer, and then paid my tab. Began getting ready to head for the T light rail, and catch a ride back to HQ.
– photo by Mitch Waxman
Hey Now!
CSX #3610 was the next one through, which I captured from an elevation. This is from pretty much directly over the spot that I normally shoot from, below at ground level. The train? Heading easterly.
Short walk, and a pretty cool day for a humble narrator.
– photo by Mitch Waxman
I keep on saying it to myself – ‘everytime you leave the house with the camera it doesn’t have to be a marathon, icehole.’
Just out of curiosity – if you’re having a mental chat with yourself, talking out loud to that person in the bathroom mirror for instance, how do you address the part of yourself you’re trying to speak to?
Hey ‘Jerkwater,’ ‘Sir,’ ‘youse,’ or do you talk to yourself formally, with a ‘Mister’ or ‘Frau’? I’ll usually unleash a chord of blue language at my doppelgänger, but that’s ok as luckily the other guy – the one in the mirror – finds my invective as funny as I do.
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.
South Side Hollow? and Hey Now!
Thursday
– photo by Mitch Waxman
One has been working his way along the Monongahela River facing ridge line of Pittsburgh’s Mount Washington for quite a bit now. City Steps, weird undulating roadways, all that are on offer to the curious in this ‘zone.’ I’ve been boxing off and trying to experience all the pathways up here. I’m told there’s lots of unofficial pathways too, which are known to kids from the neighborhood and dearly held.
Basically, my usual plan is to get to a high point and then find a path from the ‘South Side Slopes,’ or Mount Washington, which leads down to the ‘South Side Flats.’ This particular scuttle did begin in the South Side Slopes section, but a bit further east from where I normally walk.
I got started at the intersection of Arlington Avenue and Josephine Street.
– photo by Mitch Waxman
As is my habit, a fairly thorough bit of virtual ‘routing and scouting’ had occurred the night before, in the Google Maps app. My compass would be fairly useless in this area, so I had to rely on a list of ‘make a left’ and ‘turn right at’ directions for this leg of things.
There was a particular set of City Steps which I didn’t want to miss. I made it a point of recording the address of a home right next door to them so as not to walk right past them without noticing.
– photo by Mitch Waxman
The South 30th street steps!
What drew me out in this direction was a video which my failing memory originally thought was from the excellent ‘Time Travel with Tim’ channel on YouTube, but instead it’s a similarly great ‘Cruising Pittsburgh’ production. Check out their video here. I was intrigued by the author’s introduced concept of a ‘South Side Hollow.’
One set his toes firmly in the direction of the steps.
Y’know what happened? I didn’t experience the stairs based PTSD this time around when walking down them. Progress!
– photo by Mitch Waxman
At the bottom of those steps you find yourself on a patch of solid ground, which the kids might call ‘Jane Street.’ There’s a lot of electrical infrastructure at the far end of Jane Street, which I imagine was once used to power up the nearby J&L steel mill, located along the riverfront.
Guessing, there.
This is more or less where the elevation of the Norfolk Southern trackage on this side of the river becomes ‘flush’ with the ground level.
– photo by Mitch Waxman
Pure serendipity here, as I had just planned on scouting this area for future photo exploration, and then along comes Norfolk Southern #1225.
Hey Now!
This shot was dramatically overexposed, incidentally, but I ‘needed it’ to tell my story. Luckily, I shoot in RAW format, so there’s always a stop or two of ‘wiggle room’ for an exposure. Weird color in the sky, though.
– photo by Mitch Waxman
Got this one right. Hey Now!
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.
Three ‘Hey Now’s!’ and done
Tuesday
– photo by Mitch Waxman
Near the end of a fairly long effort, and your humble narrator got to shout ‘Hey Now!’ Once again when CSX #6919 appeared, heading westerly back towards McKees Rocks where I had spent the first half of the day.
My suffering is now non localized, I’d mention. This time last year, my gamey left ankle would have been demanding attention. Now, it’s just the body wide after effect of six months of sitting followed by a year of rehabilitation all focused on that ankle.
The rest of the physical firmament has turned to jelly, and these longer walks I’m involving myself with are designed to increase endurance time. All of the more discrete musculatures involved with walking, in my back in particular, need to be hardened back up.
The immediate goal is to make walking twenty miles with a thirty pound pack hanging off of me ‘normal’ again. Truth be told, can’t currently pull that off. I’m getting fatigued, and my back cramps up, at ten miles.
Upwards and onwards, however, I’ll get there and be glad I did when I do.
– photo by Mitch Waxman
In the meantime, it’s just suffering. Push on, don’t give up, just another thousand steps, go. Luckily, the idea of an icy cold beer motivates. I made it to the brewery, inspected the porcelain, and then ordered myself a single ale and took up position outside while quaffing. My feet were sore, from all the flexing and slapping against the pavement.
I didn’t have to wait too long.
– photo by Mitch Waxman
Hey Now! CSX #3272 thundered past just as I was swallowing the ‘backwash’ gulp at the bottom of my glass. That’s it, I thought, and resolved to start heading back to HQ. Returned the glass within, straightened out my various straps and pouches, checked the various settings on the camera, and headed towards the T light rail.
Turns out I wasn’t quite done yet.
– photo by Mitch Waxman
CSX #830 appeared, heading easterly. Y’know, I lost count of all the trains I saw this on this particular walk. Hey Now!
That was literally it, for me.
– photo by Mitch Waxman
It’s about a ten minute walk to get over to the Station Square T stop, and I just cannot resist cracking out a shot of the Liberty Bridge overflying that concrete factory down there. Can’t do it.
I seem to recall being a sweaty mess during this part of the day.
– photo by Mitch Waxman
At Station Square, a Red Line T was boarded.
It’s funny, I’ve heard the locals and even people who work for the service refer to it as ‘The Trolley’ several times. Always bothers me, for some reason.
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’s! and a raptor
Friday
– photo by Mitch Waxman
Continuing with a fairly epic scuttle, one which began in McKees Rocks, and after a quick bus ride, continues with Pittsburgh’s South Side Flats neighborhood along the Monongahela River shoreline.
I was standing on the pedestrian walkway incorporated into the Duquesne Incline, which provided for an elevated POV over the scene.
Hey Now! I don’t see CSX doing this sort of thing very often around these parts, they must have been pretty busy on this particular day. Normally, one set of tracks heads east and the other goes west, but on this day – both tracks were focusing locomotive traffic to the east.
– photo by Mitch Waxman
CSX #804 was being held in place while the other train rolled through.
Me? I was just ‘waiting for stuff to happen’ while enjoying a rare elevated point of view over the scene.
There’s a very familiar ‘rail trail’ down there which I scuttle along all the time. I’m always told that the South Side is ‘boring,’ but there’s frequent rail traffic on display here all the time!
– photo by Mitch Waxman
That first train which passed through, coincidentally, was CSX #833.
Hey Now!
Cannot resist the compositions available along this stretch.
– photo by Mitch Waxman
It was hunting around a half mile away, nearby the confluence of the three rivers, but I’ve got a zoom lens. That’s a bald eagle, heading towards the left of the shot. The ‘whatzit’ in the lower left is part of Acrisure Stadium, where the Pittsburgh Steelers live.
Serendipity, that’s what that is.
– photo by Mitch Waxman
Down on the ground level, and standing on the trail, I got into position just as CSX #804 began to move. Hey Now?
A reminder is offered that the Newtown Pentacle time warp has intensified. If my scheduling is correct, you’re receiving this in the third week of August, whereas the photos were captured at the start of July and these words typed out during the second week of July.
Hope that we all had an ok summer.
– photo by Mitch Waxman
CSX would be a featured player in my late afternoon. That will all be disbursed next week, however.
As a note, the one above isn’t ‘perfect’ but it’s a shot I’m working on getting right. I’m always trying to catch glimpses of the people working inside these giant machines.
Back next week with more from Pittsburgh – 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! and auld acquaintances be forgot
Tuesday
– photo by Mitch Waxman
Mountain Avenue to Yard Way part four/ ‘fin.’
After a fairly fun scuttle, through the South Side Slopes section of Pittsburgh, one found the stinking pre-corpse that his brain is trapped within shambling forth unto the South Side Flats region. The flood plain of the Monongahela River is how I’d describe this area – quite atypical for Pittsburgh – which is a patch of absolutely flat ground.
My plan for the remainder of the day was a simple one.
– photo by Mitch Waxman
First, I walked out onto the South 10th street bridge to see if there was anything going on, as far as maritime traffic goes.
Allow me to teach you an Italian American slang word here – ugatz. That’s what I got, as far as boats go, ugatz.
No bueno.
Second, that brewery I used to mention all the time, that one which is nearby the railroad tracks and had been closed, has reopened – with a new owner operator occupying the space.
It had been a few weeks since I had drank a beer, so I set out to rectify that situation. I walked about six or seven blocks worth of Pennsylvania to get there, using one of the nearby waterfront trails.
– photo by Mitch Waxman
Soon, while drinking a Pale Ale, CSX #3100 appeared, heading east.
After quaffing the brew, I returned my glass to the bar and then ‘inspected their porcelain.’ Refreshed, I was soon heading up a flight of stairs and towards the second level of this so called ‘Highline’ location, which the brewery is based in, towards a truss/ramp structure which offers a higher POV.
– photo by Mitch Waxman
One had a bit of time left to me, so I found a spot to sit down and then just sort of waited for something to happen. Time was passed by shooting the various T light rail units moving back and forth over the Panhandle Bridge, spanning the Monongahela River.
In the distance, to the west, a train horn sounded.
– photo by Mitch Waxman
Hey Now! CSX #4793 appeared, hurtling through the scenery. Hooray!
It was definitely time to head back to HQ afterwards. One began scuttling towards the T’s nearby Station Square stop, to catch a ride back to HQ in Dormont, found about five or so miles from this spot.
That’s when I saw it. Conspicuously displayed in an area which I move through regularly, and have published multiple posts about doing so.
– photo by Mitch Waxman
Cobbler? The Queens Cobbler?
Single shoes have been noticed recently, alongside pathways that I frequent here in Pittsburgh, starting back during the winter. Chalked this up to coincidence… something which I chuckled about… but… it’s odd.
I haven’t mentioned this to anyone, really, but I’ve been seeing cast off singular shoes, on prominent and conspicuous display for a few months now, scattered along the roads here in Pittsburgh. Can it be?
Back tomorrow… with something different… 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.
The Newtown Pentacle 