Posts Tagged ‘Monongahela River’
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.
NYC Trinkets, in Pittsburgh
Monday
– photo by Mitch Waxman
It’s funny, the way you can walk past something over and over without noticing it. Pittsburgh, as you’d imagine, never wants anyone to forget about the steel industry, and the role that this city and its satellites played in the industrial rise of the United States during the 20th century.
Everywhere you go, there’s some totemic representation for the ‘old days.’ Ingot molds, bucket cars, train cabooses, weird pieces of mushroom shaped slag which are installed on streets like art.
As a reminder, I was scuttling along one of the waterfront ‘rail trails’ after having explored a section of McKees Rocks earlier in the day. Eastwards was my direction.
– photo by Mitch Waxman
Despite the fact that I walk this stretch at least once every couple of weeks, I had never taken a close look at or really noticed one of these monuments before. Glad I did, as it was a little chunk of ‘the old neighborhood,’ just sitting there in a parking lot.
The thingamabob with the numbers embossed on it to the right is one of the ingot molds mentioned above, whereas the steel girder is a display item, promoting the mill which manufactured the steel for the Hell Gate Bridge, back in Astoria.
– photo by Mitch Waxman
Wowza, will this upset a certain bridge obsessed photographer I know from back home, or what? I don’t really discuss my ‘pissing contests’ with other camera/historian types, but my experiences back home with this guy in particular (and the historical society types too), are a big part of why I’ve been so solitary since moving to Pittsburgh at the end of 2022. I really do not like dealing with these people.
Have no idea how long this artifact has just been sitting in a parking lot.
– photo by Mitch Waxman
As is my habit, when encountering signage, I record a shot – signage link here. Apparently, this sample of American Bridge Company’s work was shipped about to expositions and trade shoes by the American Bridge Company, another one of Andrew Carnegie’s ventures. In addition to their contributions on Hell Gate, ABC built or worked on a lot of NYC’s minor bridges. Several of their projects were on Newtown Creek, as a matter of fact – notably the Pulaski Bridge.
Neat!
– photo by Mitch Waxman
Continuing along, and the Towboat Cori Weiland was observed navigating a huge raft of barges up the Monongahela towards the confluence point of the ‘Three Rivers.’ Black minerals, from the look of it, likely coal or coke.
As always – if I don’t know what something is – for sure – I get general. Yeah, it’s probably coal. Looked like coal. Do I know that as a fact? No? Black minerals, thereby.
– photo by Mitch Waxman
One last shot of the Towboat with the central section of Pittsburgh’s ‘Downtown’ area behind it. I owed myself a beer at this stage of the day, and I was pretty close to that brewery with the train tracks… so tomorrow we all get to say ‘Hey Now!’ again.
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.
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.
Failure of intent
Friday
– photo by Mitch Waxman
Ok, I’ll admit it, I willingly attended a Governmental meeting here in Pittsburgh. I’ve been doing historic research about Pittsburgh, too.
I was talked into it, but there was food laid out for the meeting, so that’s a tax refund – right? It seems that Allegheny County, which is a Governmental layer more or less synonymous with the municipality of Pittsburgh geographically, was publicly releasing an environmental plan that’s been in the works for a few years.
I figured that I’d work a scuttle into the endeavor, and found myself starting said walk at the top of Mount Washington, and specifically use Sycamore Street for the descent. Fun.
– photo by Mitch Waxman
This ‘plan’ wasn’t actually much of a plan, it was more of a wishlist visioning document without any mandated deadlines for its recommendations, which didn’t carry a budget along with them. Ambitious plans filled with terminology like ‘decarbonizing’ and ‘human powered’ populated its pages.
A presentation was given, and then attendees were led into a room with the easels and signboards, where people connected to the agency wanted to hear opinions and reactions to the plan. I saw the person who talked me into coming to this event, and made a bee line for her signboard.
I felt that I needed to point out that nobody but nobody is going to replace their gas stove with an electric one without some sort of tax incentive to do so. The expensive nuances of removing a gas system and having an electrician come in to pull new power lines up through the gas pipes isn’t something they thought of, nor is a funded mechanism to handle the tonnages of gas stoves and furnaces which would headed for landfills or recycling.
Also, that when a government says ‘we should do a thing’ without any sort of a timeline included in their statement, that’s just politicians talking about the ‘way things should be,’ and they don’t have any way to pay for this policy position they admire.
– photo by Mitch Waxman
Hey Now! CSX #104 was crossing underneath me while I was crossing the Smithfield Street Bridge, to get to the County building where the meeting would take place. I should mention something here…
I’ve given up. Nothing matters and nobody cares. The only thing which can stop people from pouring battery acid into water reservoirs is the threat of Police enforcement – and even then – not so much. I honestly believe that the best we can do at this point – environmentally speaking – is to try and manage the ‘new normal.’ It’s too late. We missed the window, as a culture, to do anything about the climate problem.
The County’s plan is solid in its logic. Its mandates are unfunded.
– photo by Mitch Waxman
The cost of retrofitting the ‘installed base’ of water heaters, furnaces, stoves and so on is massive. Just doing the government’s buildings represents a price that would double taxes for a decade.
The only way to achieve a changeover to devices fueled alternatively to manufactured gas is to either mandate the replacement and create a tax scheme to forgive and absorb the expense, or to just change the zoning laws for new construction and gradually move over to the newer/‘cleaner’ technologies in the fullness of time as housing stock is demolished and rebuilt over the decades. The latter is the sort of approach that NYC is taking.
NYC is also embracing a farcical rooftop solar agenda, but that’s a different tale.
Suffice to say, I’ve seen a lot of environmental plans presented by lots of very smart people, and it’s ultimately always a wish list or a ‘vision’ plan that you’re consuming. Important to do, mind you, but still just a wishlist.
I wish that I was rich, taller, and better looking. That’s my vision plan.
– photo by Mitch Waxman
The catering at the event was very political.
They had gluten free, and vegan, and all the other options which you’d need to have for a public ‘do.’ The food was prepared by a non-profit which specializes in providing the first steps for street people towards having a hirable skill set. Everybody I met was super nice, and friendly. I did my best not to talk to anyone, but that didn’t work as I was approached several times, and once they heard the Brooklyn accent…
I actually had to say it several times: ‘Hi, I’m Mitch Waxman…’ sigh…
– photo by Mitch Waxman
I found the whole thing slightly depressing, as I often find such gatherings. They are very happy and peppy in public, however, the political people here in Pittsburgh. Genuinely nice in person.
I walked back across the river and caught a T light rail back towards HQ. Hope that this plan gets funded, and that they figure out a great way to sell it to those who will automatically be hostile to it.
Try this:
Hey, Y’see those people over there… whom you don’t like… well, those other people that are standing behind that curtain over there want to take something away from you, and give it to them. Me? I’m the only one who can stop that… even though I’m actually one of those people behind the curtain… I’m the ‘good one’ who cares about you, your kids, your dog, and Veterans – of course. Vote Quimby.
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.
Accidentally, Homestead
Thursday
– photo by Mitch Waxman
So… yeah.
Failing to follow a detailed itinerary, which I had prepared in advance, with a literal turn by turn set of directions in the notes app on my phone, ignoring the carried prophylaxis against directional confusion offered by a compass… your humble narrator instead found himself staring down the barrel of a faraway place called Homestead.
There’s a waterfront rail trail I could have picked up from there to get back ‘to the center,’ but it’s a photographically boring route for most of that scuttle. It was also getting quite hot out.
Also, there was no freaking way that I was going to go and walk back over that steep hill which I had just surmounted. Bah!
– photo by Mitch Waxman
The 1936 vintage Homestead Grays Bridge is what this one is called.
Spans the Monongahela River, and over on the opposing bank was once found the United States Steel Homestead Steel Works. These days, that land which once made steel is a shopping mall.
I’m here a bunch for mundane ‘business of life’ tasks all the time, but always with the car. Dog food and paper towels at Costco, burgers at Red Robin, catch a movie at the IMAX – that sort of stuff.
In the distance, that’s not a continuation of the bridge, instead it’s a terrestrial road leading down a hill. I cannot say it enough times, how insane and challenging the terrain is, here in the Appalachians.
– photo by Mitch Waxman
Hey, it’s the water of the Monongahela River. The muddy color, I’m told, is caused by sediments the waterway picked up on its north western journey through West Virginia.
They’ve got rivers out here which flow in all sorts of directions.
Since NYC is the logical center of all reality, and everything else in the world is just a distorted reflection of or a reaction to the Five Boroughs, it blows my mind that all global rivers don’t follow north/south axes like the Hudson does. What cheek…
I mean, it’s obvious, right? Right? RIGHT?
As a note, yeah I know about the Nile… it’s just interesting that my brain constantly jumps back to the ‘rivers naturally flow north to south’ paradigm, all the time.
– photo by Mitch Waxman
Lucky for me, I was distracted by and got to shout ‘Hey Now!’ once again, as Norfolk Southern #6998 appeared.
It was at the head of a group of three locomotive engines, and they were hauling bucket cars filled with a black mineral – probably coal or coke, but can’t say for sure – so – mineral.
It also reminded me that I had to go food shopping at Aldi pretty soon.
– photo by Mitch Waxman
One debarked the bridge, and headed for a decision point.
The atmosphere was fairly warm, and the first stage of this scuttle had been a lot more strenuous than I had intended, due to that steep and unending hill. I walked through the shopping mall, which was largely shaded. Debating my next move while doing so…
Bah… better to clip things off. Discretion, valor, all that.
Can’t believe that I walked the wrong direction. Again. Gah!
– photo by Mitch Waxman
Another ‘Hey Now!’ buoyed the flagging personal opinion about my own capabilities and efficacy.
CSX #7106 hurtled by, hauling a long line of double stacked cargo box cars. I was in front of the Costco anyway for this shot, so I went inside and bought one of their footlong hot dogs and drank a half cup of lemonade.
Cooled down a bit in there, but your humble narrator was spent. A quick but expensive rideshare cab ride ensued, and then I was once again confronted by Moe the Dog at HQ back in Dormont.
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.
