Posts Tagged ‘Long Island City’
augmented party
Today’s post shows you how to wash a dirty locomotive.
– photo by Mitch Waxman
Hanging about and walking around Queens with a friend one afternoon, our path carried us up Skillman Avenue and past the gargantuan Sunnyside Yards. Luckily, something I’ve been trying to catch as it happens began to happen when Amtrak 934 sauntered into view.
from wikipedia
The Pennsylvania Railroad (PRR) completed construction of the yard in 1910. At that time Sunnyside was the largest coach yard in the world, occupying 192 acres (0.78 km2) and containing 25.7 mi (41.4 km) of track. The yard served as the main train storage and service point for PRR trains serving New York City. It is connected to Pennsylvania Station in Midtown Manhattan by the East River Tunnels. The Sunnyside North Yard initially had 45 tracks with a capacity of 526 cars. The South Yard had 45 tracks with a 552 car capacity.
– photo by Mitch Waxman
It seems that there is an entire industrial sector for whom the manufacture and maintenance of “train washes” is a focal point. It also seems to be the case that having a shiny clean locomotive pays a dividend in terms of aerodynamic drag and that the cleaner your train is, the more efficiently it runs.
from wikipedia
The AEM-7 is a twin-cab B-B electric locomotive that is used in the United States on the Northeast Corridor between Washington DC and Boston and the Keystone Corridor between Philadelphia and Harrisburg in Pennsylvania. They were built by Electro-Motive Division from 1978 to 1988. In the Boston Mechanical Department of Amtrak they are known as “Meatballs” and in the Washington Mechanical Department they are known as ASEAs since some of their major parts and components were designed in Sweden by ASEA (Allmänna Svenska Elektriska Aktiebolaget; translation: General Swedish Electrical Inc), which merged with Brown Boveri in 1988 forming ABB. They are also referred to as “toasters” by railfans, owing to their boxy appearance.
– photo by Mitch Waxman
One is informed by railfans that once upon a time, this was a tedious task accomplished by a sizable crew of laborers, who used pole mounted brushes to clean away the grime. The “modern” system (the unit pictured is somewhat archaic by 2013 standards) is far more efficient and highly automated.
– photo by Mitch Waxman
Fundamentally, its the same thing that happens when you wash your car, except for scale. The train rolls past water jets and a system of rotary brushes which chip away the patina of dead insects and grime which the train picks up during normal operation.
– photo by Mitch Waxman
This train wash is nothing new, of course, and has been on my radar for awhile. Were my methodology the same that is employed by most, I would have just lingered around this spot until I got my shots, but that’s not how your humble narrator rolls.
– photo by Mitch Waxman
Instead, if its not happening while I’m passing by, it might not have happened at all for all I care. You can’t force Queens into revealing herself to you, instead, you must trust in serendipity and that she will position you in the right place and at the right time.
“follow” me on Twitter- @newtownpentacle
Want to see something cool? June 2013 Walking Tours-
The Poison Cauldron– Saturday, June 15, 2013
Newtown Creek walking tour with Mitch Waxman and Atlas Obscura, tickets now on sale.
Kill Van Kull– Saturday, June 22, 2013
Staten Island walking tour with Mitch Waxman and Working Harbor Committee, tickets now on sale.
The Insalubrious Valley– Saturday, June 29, 2013
Newtown Creek walking tour with Mitch Waxman and Newtown Creek Alliance, tickets now on sale.
tunnel under
Today’s post depicts twilit scenery in Western Queens.
– photo by Mitch Waxman
One of my winter projects continues, which is called by the ineluctably unimaginative name “operation: night shooting.” The goal of this exercise is to practice low light photography techniques which forbids the usage of camera stabilization equipment such as tripods or clamps. The obvious instructions to increase ISO sensitivity and aperture are just the start of the operation, which has necessitated a change in both shooting posture and approach to handling the camera as compared to normal daylight conditions.
– photo by Mitch Waxman
The shots are pretty noisy for my taste, but color contrast and a decent tonal range are present, so I think that the right track has been found. Not bad for something hand held, however. Ultimately, the shot above isn’t something I could have pulled off a year ago, so some small victory is apparent.
Yay for me.
– photo by Mitch Waxman
It isn’t necessarily the “capture” that plagues me, of course, that’s just the small details and formulae of the dross settings on a dslr. Instead, it’s the time spent with the “raw file” (aka “digital negative”) in front of my monitor back at HQ that matters most.
“Operation: night shooting” continues apace, I’ll let you know what I get in the future.
“follow” me on Twitter- @newtownpentacle
Want to see something cool? June 2013 Walking Tours-
The Poison Cauldron– Saturday, June 15, 2013
Newtown Creek walking tour with Mitch Waxman and Atlas Obscura, tickets now on sale.
Kill Van Kull– Saturday, June 22, 2013
Staten Island walking tour with Mitch Waxman and Working Harbor Committee, tickets now on sale.
The Insalubrious Valley– Saturday, June 29, 2013
Newtown Creek walking tour with Mitch Waxman and Newtown Creek Alliance, tickets now on sale.
crude diagrams
Today’s post takes a walk around Long Island City.
– photo by Mitch Waxman
Having a few minutes to kill, your humble narrator will often wind up wandering all about the neighborhoods, and Hunters Point in particular is a frequent destination these days. Pictured above, the Long Island Railroad at work. There is no rhyme or reason at work as to why I wind up at one spot or another. Rather, I’m due at some location or another later in the day or evening, and were I to not take the “scenic route,” my arrival would be suspiciously early.
Luckily, Queens gets me to where I need to be, and never disappoints.
– photo by Mitch Waxman
Whimsy and intuition guide my steps, sometimes leading me into dimly lit subterranean ceramic corridors whose underground expanses honeycomb the human hive. Inevitably, access to the street will appear, but one fears whatever might lurk beyond the oddly alloyed gates which guard against casual access to that which might be beyond. Other times, one has found himself upon towers and bridges, in contrast.
You never know what Queens wants you to see, trust in her.
– photo by Mitch Waxman
Eventually, of course, one must get back to the business at hand. A meeting or job somewhere has to get done, and the world will shatter and spin off of its access if your humble narrator doesn’t get it done. At least in those interludes between tasks, one can find a few minutes to walk the earth and listen to what Queens is trying to say.
It should be mentioned though, that Queens speaks something like a hundred languages all at the same time, a cacophony which sounds a bit like thunder.
“follow” me on Twitter- @newtownpentacle
Want to see something cool? June 2013 Walking Tours–
The Poison Cauldron– Saturday, June 15, 2013
Newtown Creek walking tour with Mitch Waxman and Atlas Obscura, tickets now on sale.
Kill Van Kull– Saturday, June 22, 2013
Staten Island walking tour with Mitch Waxman and Working Harbor Committee, tickets now on sale.
The Insalubrious Valley– Saturday, June 29, 2013
Newtown Creek walking tour with Mitch Waxman and Newtown Creek Alliance, tickets now on sale.
wriggling out
Today’s post is about things that really suck.
– photo by Mitch Waxman
As often described, one of the many odd things about your humble narrator is my ability to suddenly notice an incongruous pattern or subtle environmental alteration invisible to others.
Something that has popped up recently are a large number of vacuum trucks plying area streets. The crew hard at work in the shot above was cleaning a noisome and aromatic sewer found at the foot of the Pulaski Bridge in Hunters Point, and they seemed to be doing an admirably sucky job.
– photo by Mitch Waxman
This truck sucks. It didn’t seem to be sucking in anything other than fuel at the gas station on the corner of Steinway and Northern, but it still had the potential to massively suck. It is, in fact, labeled as being a “Supersucker.”
– photo by Mitch Waxman
Greenpoint too, it seems, needs trucks that suck. Observed turning north onto West Street from Greenpoint Avenue with the Eberhard Faber Pencil Factory behind it, this massive machine seemed to possess a capability to suck harder than the other two, combined, could.
This odd predilection of mine, noticing hidden patterns and odd coincidences hidden around the blasted heaths of the Northern Brooklyn and Western Queens, often reveals things that just completely suck.
“follow” me on Twitter- @newtownpentacle
Want to see something cool? June 2013 Walking Tours-
The Poison Cauldron– Saturday, June 15, 2013
Newtown Creek walking tour with Mitch Waxman and Atlas Obscura, tickets now on sale.
Kill Van Kull– Saturday, June 22, 2013
Staten Island walking tour with Mitch Waxman and Working Harbor Committee, tickets now on sale.
The Insalubrious Valley– Saturday, June 29, 2013
Newtown Creek walking tour with Mitch Waxman and Newtown Creek Alliance, tickets now on sale.
untold number
“follow” me on Twitter at @newtownpentacle
– photo by Mitch Waxman
The site walk through which Sims Metal Management offered me was just coming to an end when the car carrier, pictured above, arrived. My tenders offered that we should move to a safe distance and accordingly we circled around to an opportune spot with efficacious lighting.
– photo by Mitch Waxman
These cars were compacted and processed by a separate company, and Sims purchases them. Gas tanks and volatile fluids have been removed, as well as other proscribed components. Sims will be sending this off to another one of their facilities to be shredded, which I suspect will located in New Jersey.
If so, this report from videos.nj.com describes the incredible shredding machine which will make short work of these autos, literally reducing them to pellet sized grains of metal in seconds, which is called the Mega Shredder.
– photo by Mitch Waxman
Last week, the posting “seething column” offered animated gifs of the action depicted in today’s post. It is hard to describe the sensation of seeing recognizable objects of calculable weight and substance being handled and swung about by the Materials Handler with such seeming ease.
– photo by Mitch Waxman
One after another, the autos came off the carrier and were subjected to a little extra dose of compacting. The Materials Handler would rear up and then smash its current charge on to the pile. It was all very exciting.
– photo by Mitch Waxman
The device itself utilized the installed claw tool to grasp and tear and crush. It’s a Sennebogen, manufactured by a German corporation which is operated by a single family and was founded by an enigmatic sire, not unlike the fabled deutschland clan called Steinway who left such an indelible stamp on the surrounding communities.
– photo by Mitch Waxman
Soon, the truck was emptied and the autos deigned for shredding piled neatly on the dock.
– photo by Mitch Waxman
One by one, they were all loaded on to a waiting barge.
– photo by Mitch Waxman
My visit came to an end soon after, and we headed back toward the front gate. On the way, the damage inflicted by Hurricane Sandy upon the terminal was described as we toured the generator room and some of the other interior spaces at the facility.
– photo by Mitch Waxman
Special thanks are offered for allowing one such as myself, and by extension- all of you Lords and Ladies of the Newtown Pentacle- into the Sims Metal Management Queens terminal for a day. Special thanks to Daniel Strechay, Dave, Paul Lawrence, and especially Tom Outerbridge for inviting us in for a visit.
Upcoming tours:
The Insalubrious Valley– Saturday, May 25, 2013
Newtown Creek walking tour with Mitch Waxman and Atlas Obscura, tickets now on sale.
The Poison Cauldron- Saturday, June 15, 2013
Newtown Creek walking tour with Mitch Waxman and Atlas Obscura, tickets on sale soon.
Kill Van Kull- Saturday, June 22, 2013
Staten Island walking tour with Mitch Waxman and Working Harbor Committee, tickets now on sale.
The Newtown Pentacle 