Posts Tagged ‘Freight Train’
Two Potato
Wednesday
– photo by Mitch Waxman
After CSX #148 hurtled past my lens, which is pictured above and was described yesterday, the CSX Subdivision’s signal lights indicated that the transportation company wasn’t quite done with showing off on this particular afternoon. Well… it was a humble narrator’s birthday, after all.
It was also the anniversary of the Pittsburgh incident of 1968, a fictional account of which was packaged up by local film makers for national distribution. Coincidentally, I share a Birthday with the original Kosciuszko Bridge, over Newtown Creek back in NYC. Like me, that bridge has left the city and the creek.
– photo by Mitch Waxman
You don’t normally see two trains facing in the same direction hereabouts, so that drew my attention when they appeared. The tracks to the right are generally hosting traffic heading west or ‘away.’ The train on that side was static, whereas the second train was soon hurtling forward on the left side track. Fun!
If you click through to the larger incarnations of the photo, hosted at Flickr, you’ll notice a great deal of heat distortion captured in the image. It was in the high 80’s, but luckily it was only a bit humid at this particular moment. If you don’t like the weather in Pittsburgh, just wait an hour and it’ll change into something different.
Ya got yaself whatch youse might call’s one a dem ‘volatile atmospheres’ here, sparky. What you gonna do?
– photo by Mitch Waxman
CSX #7006 broke out of formation on the left hand track and started pulsing its way towards your humble narrator. I’m told it’s a Rebuilt GE CM44AC model locomotive that’s been hurtling around North America since 1996, and is one of 593 such locomotives operated by the company.
As a note: I’m still fairly bewildered by all of this train stuff. The specificity, the overlapping ownerships, the nitty gritty of model types and years of – it’s all so very confusing.
– photo by Mitch Waxman
While the train was advancing, your humble narrator kept on moving from one patch of shadow to another hoping for an angle of view advantage. The trail is graded to rail standard and is thereby easy walking, but it has a very slight rise in altitude when you’re standing ‘here’ vs. ‘there.’ Splitting hairs, really.
There was also a tree line to contend with, one which occluded the Fort Pitt Bridge above and the Pittsburgh skyline behind it. I finally settled on this spot as the train neared.
– photo by Mitch Waxman
The second train on the right hand track was still static after #7006 passed by, pulling what looked like a collection of automotive carrier cars and random cargo or tanker cars. Scuttling soon resumed, but every few minutes a point was made of checking over my shoulder to see if anything was happening with that other train.
That second train was being held in place by signal lights, luckily they’re ones which you can plainly read from the neighboring trail.
– photo by Mitch Waxman
While walking along, I noticed a towboat on the Monongahela River heading towards the Ohio River. See – the photo above proves it.
Back tomorrow with more.
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One Potato
Tuesday
– photo by Mitch Waxman
A birthday scuttle was underway, and your humble narrator was hoping to see a few locomotives along the way. Sometimes, you get lucky.
My path followed the Great Allegheny Passage bike and pedestrian trail down the shoreline of the Monongahela River, and this section of the facility offers several commanding views of Pittsburgh’s downtown cluster of office buildings, and several bridges, along the way.
It’s also mirrored by the Pittsburgh Subdivision’s right of way, owned by the CSX railroad outfit, so there’s a pretty good chance of seeing a few trains running through what’s basically a choke point for CSX’s operations.
If trains were Persian soldiers, and these tracks were Thermopylae, that would make me Leonidas. That’s madness, you say?
Dis is Spartah!
– photo by Mitch Waxman
I spotted the first of what turned out to be several passing locomotives as it was transiting beneath the Fort Pitt Bridge. All of the land in this area used to be a rail yard owned by the now defunct Pittsburgh & Lake Erie RR outfit. Their yard property has been redeveloped as ‘Station Square,’ which hosts restaurants and bars as well as a couple of hotels and a Soccer Stadium in modernity. It’s also where the docks of the Gateway Clipper tourist boats are found. Saying that – CSX’s subdivision is still very active.
The three surviving U.S. Steel mills are found to the southeast, and CSX has an intermodal yard just west of Pittsburgh in an area called McKee’s Rocks. This location is more or less the middle point between those two other areas of interest. Lots of traffic.
– photo by Mitch Waxman
CSX #148 got close, and a humble narrator started a-clicking the shutter button as it did. Choo-Choo.
#148 was built in March of 1996, when the most popular toy in America was the ‘Tickle Me Elmo’ doll, and the #1 song on the national charts was ‘the Macarena.’ How popular was that song when #148 was spawned? Here’s Hillary Clinton clapping along with it at the DNC convention just a few months after #148 went to work.
#148 is a GE AC44CW model locomotive, I’m told.
Back tomorrow with more Choo-Choo.
“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.
Ferrea via
Friday
– photo by Mitch Waxman
A humble narrator decided it was time to blow off a bit of steam and headed over to the Sly Fox Brewery, found in the South Side Flats section of Pittsburgh, to quaff a couple of beers with a friend and shoot some passing CSX rail traffic while doing so.
As mentioned in prior posts, another new lens has been added to my kit, a superzoom which allows focal lengths of 24-240mm. This kind of ‘reach’ is something I’ve been craving, and it more or less completes my kit of zoom lenses. There’s officially two camera bag configurations I work with now – the ‘bag of primes’ and the ‘zoom bag.’
The primes are low light or night lenses with wide apertures, as a note, and the zooms are narrow aperture daylight lenses.
I’m very pleased with myself about the shot above, by the way.
– photo by Mitch Waxman
Same train, different POV for the shot above.
Apparently, #998 up there is a GE ES44AC model locomotive. One does not carry any of this train information in my head, btw, and I’d be lying if I said I did. When I’m shooting, what’s going through my mind is focus, composition, exposure, etc.
Occasionally, I’ll ‘know’ I got something special (hey, scroll up and enjoy that first shot again) but my long time habit is to collect massive numbers of images when in the field and then sort it out when I get home.
I’ve got friends who can look at a passing train and say ‘they used the wrong screws on that horn,’ but that ain’t me.
– photo by Mitch Waxman
Next up was CSX#148, which was hauling Coke. I normally avoid naming minerals or cargo unless I know for sure what it is, but the cars 148 was pulling were labeled as being the ‘Coke Express.’ No doubt heading for one of the U.S. Steel plants just east of here.
Back next week with more, and I mean “MORE” train oriented stuff at this – your Newtown Pentacle.
“follow” me on Twitter- @newtownpentacle
Buy a book!
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Quid habeo
Monday
– photo by Mitch Waxman
After a short walk on a very warm and humid afternoon your Humble Narrator settled into a pint of Cream Ale at the Sly Fox Brewery, in Pittsburgh’s South Side Flats. Eagerly, I awaited the chiming of railroad signal arms at the grade crossing of the CSX tracks found alongside the business.
There are outside tables here, in an urban park setting alongside the Great Allegheny Passage trail and the Colors Park. I didn’t have to suffer inactivity long before I heard the bells and horns, and those signal arms started to move.
First up was CSX #4736, an EMD SD70MAC model locomotive which was built in 2003.
– photo by Mitch Waxman
From the opposite direction, CSX #4050 soon thundered into view. A rebuilt EMD SD40-3 model engine, it was built in 1981.
As a note, I was using that new superzoom lens, mentioned last week, to shoot these photos. Thereby, these qualify as ‘test images’ wherein I was pushing the thing’s cooperation with my camera’s autofocus systems and try to see where the thing fails.
It performed like a champ, I’d mention.
– photo by Mitch Waxman
Also from the same direction, CSX #3312 next appeared. It’s a GE ET44AH model train engine, one of General Electric’s ‘Evolution Series’ locomotives which have been in production since 2003.
All told, I drank two of those Cream Ales and then began my journey back to HQ.
Back tomorrow with something very 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.
Terere tempus
Friday
– photo by Mitch Waxman
After a short walk on a very hot day, one took up his now familiar station at the Sly Fox Brewery found in Pittsburgh’s South Side Flats section.
A couple of enormous terminal buildings there create a puddle of shadow, in which one can shelter from the burning thermonuclear eye of God itself. Also, there’s cold beer and outside seating.
A grade crossing nearby hosts the typical sort of rail signal arms that ring bells and flash lights when activating, so you’ve got a good couple of minutes to get into position and figure out the exposure triangle before a train comes through.
– photo by Mitch Waxman
Luckily, this was a busy time of day for CSX , and multiple trains were crossing through the POV. First it was #3316 pictured in the first shot, followed by #5432 above. The T light Rail is out for the summer due to maintenance, and whereas a shuttle bus is being offered in its lieu, I had already decided to splurge on an air conditioned cab to get back to HQ. By splurge, I mean spending about $13 plus tip.
I paid my tab, walked back outside, and summoned a ride.
– photo by Mitch Waxman
While waiting, CSX #3254 suddenly appeared. Lucky capture.
Back next week 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 