Posts Tagged ‘Homestead’
Homestead trio
Monday
– photo by Mitch Waxman
Occasion found me driving through the ragged and unmarked border between Pittsburgh’s ‘Duquesne’ and neighboring ‘Homestead.’ Both communities were once mill towns, in the age of steel. When the mills left, economic devastation and demographic collapse occurred.
That’s a Norfolk Southern locomotive pictured above, #4305. I’m led to believe it’s a rebuilt GE AC44C6M model, and originally christened as ‘NS #9171 (C40-9W)’ when it was built back in 1998.
– photo by Mitch Waxman
While ‘up in the hills’ in neighboring Homestead, a series of abandoned homes caught my eye. It’s madness, how many of these there are in the greater metro area here in Pittsburgh. Good news is that the price of non abandoned homes continues to be dragged down by all of this housing stock that’s just sitting inert. There’s spots less than hour’s drive from the dead bang center of Pittsburgh where you can buy a home for under six figures. In the center of all things, it’s a bit more pricey, as you’d imagine.
Saying that, I don’t want to live in Homestead, Duquesne, or even Munhall. Too close to the still functioning steel plants, which pollute the air with sulfur dioxide (related to burning coke/coal) and it often smells like rotten eggs around these parts.
– photo by Mitch Waxman
There are so many of these. Reminds me of the outer edges of Brooklyn and Queens back in the 1980’s, and of the Bronx too.
Back tomorrow with the start of an ultramundane adventure.
“follow” me on Twitter- @newtownpentacle
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New tires? Well, sheiste…
Tuesday
– photo by Mitch Waxman
My car is still kind of new, and the warranty agreement with Toyota is obliged by bringing the thing into the ‘stealership’ about every 5,000 miles, to have the tires rotated and all of the vital juices and jellies in the engine and power train examined, or changed out, or replaced.
Imagine my surprise when the mechanics told me that I needed new tires, on a factory new car which I took delivery of in October of 2022 and that only has 25k miles on it. It was undeniable, they showed me the tread depth with a special PA. approved tool, and then they did the penny test as well. They told me about a sale they were having in October, but one of my tires began losing about 5 PSI of pressure every day, so I had to get the process going a lot quicker than I would have liked.
The penny thing is kind of interesting to me – from a folk knowledge POV. You take a penny coin, turn it upside down, and then insert it into one of your tire treads. If the tread isn’t touching Lincoln’s head, then you need new tires.
That’s how and why I found myself back in Homestead, in a Costco parking lot, with a couple of hours to kill while the Costco mechanics set the MOP (Mobile Oppression Platform) up with a new set of shoes. Luckily, I’m remarkably self entertaining and ‘kicking dirt’ is a specialty.
– photo by Mitch Waxman
The tire guy was actually stunned that I’d gotten about 25,000 miles out of ‘OEM’ (Original Equipment Manufacturer) supplied tires, and he said that normally he sees new car owners by 15k.
It was implied that the same tire molds were used for the supplied tires as the commercial model, but different materials were used to manufacture the things which aren’t as robust as the commercially available and consumer facing products. The OEM tires are sold to the manufacturer at a loss, with the inherent gamble that the end customer is likely to just buy a set of the exact same tires as replacements. Grrr.
This banged me out for just under a thousand bucks, in the end.
– photo by Mitch Waxman
Time to kill, nowhere to go, God’s lonely man… all that.
I headed towards the walkway leading to the off ramp of the Homestead Gray’s Bridge, connecting Homestead across the Monongahela River with Squirrel Hill, and other residential neighborhoods on the other side. It is set fairly high up, the bridge, and provides interesting views.
– photo by Mitch Waxman
This POV looks roughly south, towards the community of Homestead.
I’m told things get pretty wild up in those hills at night, but until I’ve witnessed something personally it’s just heresay. Especially so, now. Don’t believe anything that you don’t personally observe, these days. All is false, lies, and deceptions. Pay no attention to the men behind the curtain.
Luckily, there are multiple lines of railroad tracks which are leave behinds from the age of steel found here. Lots and lots of railroad tracks, in fact.
– photo by Mitch Waxman
CSX #6025 appeared. It was heading southeast.
Vehicle traffic was unusually heavy on the bridge, due to a cataclysmic fire in Squirrel Hill that decimated a high occupancy apartment building found fairly close to the entrance of the interstate. That exit was closed, and detours were sending all of that traffic towards Homestead. Yikes.
I decided on Costco for the tire replacement, incidentally, for a combination of their warrantees and price on the job. It was also convenient, which is always a factor that I ‘price in.’
– photo by Mitch Waxman
On my looping path back to the tire center at Costco, I spotted a Norfolk Southern locomotive just sitting there, idling. The pickup sitting next to the train indicates that there was likely a crew change or something ‘official’ going on.
No trip to Costco is complete without a foot long hot dog, so I scratched that off the list while waiting for the text that my car was ready.
I ended up buying Michelin Cross Climate 2’s. All season tires, warranteed to 40,000 miles, and their unique tread pattern qualifies the things to be embossed with a snow tire seal. Haven’t taken much of a hit on mileage yet, so seemingly a ‘win.’
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.
Gap Trail: Homestead to South Side, part 1
Friday
– photo by Mitch Waxman
The Great Allegheny Passage rail trail is a bike and pedestrian path which connects Pittsburgh to Washington D.C. via the right of way of defunct railroads. It begins at Pittsburgh’s Point State Park and proceeds to Cumberland in Maryland, and then to Washington D.C. following more or less the path of the Potomac River. I’ve been walking the Pittsburgh side of it in sections, and this scuttle started in Homestead.
The enormous brick chimneys are a historic leave behind from the largest steel factory on earth, which was once found here. Today, squatting in the footprint of the mill is a gargantuan shopping center called ‘The Waterfront.’
– photo by Mitch Waxman
I was all huffed up for this one, but it ended up being a fairly boring walk – to be honest – until its very end.
Heavy vegetation obscured many of the wonders the path moves past, and it was also a quite warm and humid afternoon. I had a rideshare drop me off in the parking lot of a Costco, plugged my headphones into the ear holes, and then got down to scuttling about.
This time around, it was an unabridged audio play of Christopher Lee performing Bram Stoker’s ‘Dracula.’ Lee performs all of the voice parts himself, including Lucy and Mina, which was fascinating.
– photo by Mitch Waxman
The first thing encountered on the trail is a water park called ‘Sand Castle.’ It was closed, as this was a weekday and the kids are back in school. This is good, as I was able to take photos of the place without children present so nobody accused me of being a pervert or a pedophile.
It’s amazing how many people see a ‘professional’ camera and think ‘he must be taking perv pics of kids’ with that. Odds are it’s not a stranger who’s going to abuse your kids, folks, it’s your weird uncle. Just saying.
As a note: Pervs and the ‘upskirt crowd’ generally use their phones for such pursuits, and not a very obvious DSLR with a huge zoom lens on it that draws attention. In recent years, I’ve actually tried to stick out and be incredibly obvious when out photographing. I used to wear a reflective worker’s vest around the Creek, particularly at night. A blaze orange ball cap has become part of my kit in recent years, as an example.
– photo by Mitch Waxman
As mentioned, I wasn’t terribly happy with my decision to walk this section, and there’s a couple of reasons why I haven’t done so in the past.
The path follows the Monongahela River, and I’ve scuttled along the opposite shoreline’s ’Duck Hollow Trail’ previously. Just to the southeast is another section of the GAP trail which I find fantastic – nearby the community of Duquesne.
This section of the Gap trail passes by Hays Woods, a natural preserve and park. What the first two links show is a massive amount of infrastructure and rail activity, and what this section offers is basically a walk in a shit section of the woods. Bah!
– photo by Mitch Waxman
Regardless, I’m a completist. Had to scratch this section off my list.
At least I had Dracula.
– photo by Mitch Waxman
Speaking as a former New Yorker, the subject of public bathrooms always annoys me. Bringing it up with ‘officialdom’ back home usually resulted in representatives of the City of New York saying they’d have to spend multiple millions in order to build any kind of public accommodation, and thereby it never builds lavatories. Then they bring up security, junkies, and the Cops to further why ‘they can’t.’ Ultimately, it’s affordable housing and bike lanes that will solve the problem, just as they will all the other things.
It positively galls me that little Pittsburgh has solved this most basic problem of human existence with low cost ‘Porta Potty’ leases. These things are everywhere. Even here on a trail in the middle of nowhere. They even set out a disabled style one ready for wheelchair people.
Grrr.
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.
The universe complied, with my wishes
Wednesday
– photo by Mitch Waxman
Win, win, win. Finally, CSX played ball with my aspirations and sent a train over that rail bridge visible from the Homestead Pump House. It’s called the Pinkerton’s Landing Bridge, by the way, it’s aka the ‘Pemickey’ bridge.
The Pittsburgh Subdivision of CSX, which I often photograph further down the river, nearby the Sly Fox Brewery in the South Side Flats section of Pittsburgh’s inner core, crosses the Monongahela River here. It used to spur off to the Homestead Plant and to Carrie Furnace, but today its tracks lead to the massive Edgar Thomson U.S. Steel plant a few miles east.
– photo by Mitch Waxman
I was listening to the radio chatter on my scanner radio, and this was a 260 axle train according to the automated defect detector. That’s a mechanical circuit checker which lets the engine at the front of the train know that they haven’t lost any cars along their path, the defect detector is. Multiple units along the route will report how many axles are present at each way station.
Hey, I learn things.
– photo by Mitch Waxman
This was a fairly rare dusk/evening (these days) photo session for me. My old ‘night owl’ habits in NYC have been completely reversed here in Pittsburgh. It’s been a minute since I shot in low light around dusk and evenings. I get up really early these days.
Pittsburgh is very much an ‘early to bed, early to rise’ sort of place.
– photo by Mitch Waxman
I’m planning on returning here about this time of day to see if lightning strikes twice. If it does, and this is more or less when CSX schedules a run across the Pinkerton’s Landing Bridge, there will be a spectacular ‘night shot’ to be captured here in the fullness of time.
It’s right about at this point that Our Lady texted me saying that the event she was participating in was winding up. I fired up the Mobile Oppression Platform, a Toyota, and then hurtled towards Carrie Furnace.
– photo by Mitch Waxman
The train was mostly hauling shipping containers.
It’s about a 15 minute drive from ‘a’ to ‘b’ but most of that time is spent sitting at traffic lights. On my way over to Carrie, a bit of news filtered in. It seems that some group of lefties decided to decry a ‘fascist, genocidal, zionist’ politician. This time around, it was Bernie Sanders. Bernie. Sanders. Sigh…
Y’know, we have a fairly shallow bench sitting in the dugout on the left side of the field, these days. Maybe two or three of them are ‘stars’ hidden amongst the entire crew of loathsome sentience. Perhaps, just perhaps, it’s not a good idea to chip away at these stars, right about now.
As always, however, the American left is compelled to start to eating its own arm in order to guarantee the right its victory. I still think that the Republicans should send Tiffany Caban a thank you note for her introduction of the phrase ‘defund the police’ to the national conversation.
– photo by Mitch Waxman
Another CSX train appeared – heading in the opposite direction and back towards the Pinkerton’s Landing Bridge – just as I arrived at Carrie Furnace for my reunion with Our Lady.
8 to 8:30 p.m., that’s my new deal here. Should be a pretty cool sight as the days grow shorter during the approach of Autumn. On it.
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.
Homestead, & towing action on the Mon
Tuesday
– photo by Mitch Waxman
Kicking dirt in Homestead, and killing a couple of hours prior to picking up Our Lady of the Pentacle – who was over at Carrie Furnace on the other side of the Monongahela River – your humble narrator drove over to the Homestead Pump House. In addition to a parking lot, a rail bridge is there that I’ve been… patiently… waiting for a train to transit over while I’m present for close to three years now. More on that one tomorrow.
Today, ya got’s one a dem boats.
– photo by Mitch Waxman
You can read up on the 1981 vintage ‘Vernon M Weiland’ Towboat at tugboatinformation.com. Apparently, it’s currently operated by an outfit here in Pittsburgh called ‘Ohio River Salvage Incorporated.’
Me? I’m always just happy to see the maritime industry being industrious.
– photo by Mitch Waxman
As mentioned, Our Lady of the Pentacle was taking a class in metal working at Carrie Furnace, the ruins of which which rise out from behind the tree line on the opposite shore in the top right of the shot above. The nonprofit outfit which looks after the Homestead Pump House, the actual furnace site, and a few others spots in the ‘Mon Valley’ is called ‘Rivers of Steel.’ They offer all sorts of ways to connect with the past, and work to shape the future.
Back tomorrow, with my pay-off for the many hours I’ve vaingloriously sat here waiting for a train to transit over that rail bridge.
“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 