Posts Tagged ‘Pittsburgh’
All Allegheny
Wednesday
– photo by Mitch Waxman
As is my habit, a long walk was recently underway. This time around I had ridden the T light rail to its terminal stop on Pittsburgh’s North Side and eventually found myself in front of a statue of Roberto Clemente. The bridge in the background is named for the athlete, and it spans the Allegheny River as part of a trio of mostly identical bridges.
This statuary is installed on the grounds of PNC Park, where the Pirates Baseball outfit resides.
As you might discern from the images, it was a lovely afternoon and the air temperature never rose above 70 degrees. Low humidity as well, a perfect late summer/early fall day.
– photo by Mitch Waxman
In the distance, there was a historic boat visiting Pittsburgh, one which was supposed to have been used to launch tanks during WW2, but I missed out on checking it out. Probably should have, but a humble narrator can’t always make it when something cool is happening. Hey, I attended that historic plane dealie back in July, remember?
Ultimately, this was a ‘long walk’ day, and that’s what was on my dance card. Scuttle, scuttle, scuttle – that’s me.
– photo by Mitch Waxman
My toes were pointed squarely in the direction of downtown Pittsburgh, and the Allegheny was crossed. Ultimately, my goal for the day was to ride back to HQ on the T Light Rail, with a penultimate stop which would reward me with a pint of beer, at that brewery I’ve been haunting that sits alongside the CSX subdivision tracks but that was still another river crossing and a few more miles of walking away from where I was in the shot above.
As a note – Pittsburgh is becoming more and more familiar to me at this stage of the game. I’m able to just wander around these days, rather than needing to map out a route prior to leaving HQ.
Back tomorrow.
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Catenaries and atavists
Tuesday
– photo by Mitch Waxman
I’ve mentioned that the local transit agency – dubbed ‘PRT’ for ‘Pittsburgh Regional Transit’ – which operates the T light rail service, has been conducting a profound series of repairs and upgrades to the Red Line light rail service which runs through the area that HQ is located in all summer long.
The availability of rail based mass transit is one of the factors which decided where Our Lady of the Pentacle and I would settle, I’d mention.
These repairs have been going on since June, and in lieu of running the T service, rail shuttle buses have been carrying the load instead. Theoretically, the week after Labor Day was meant to see a return of regular T service, but a fallen tree had interrupted things again by pulling down a series of the catenary wires that power the thing. Outbound from Pittsburgh’s center was running fine, but inbound towards the City was blocked by repairs and rewiring.
Sigh. I finally rode on a bus in Pittsburgh, thereby.
The rail shuttle carried my fellow commuters and I via surface streets to the Station Square facility along the Monongahela River, whereupon we were directed onto one of the T platforms to finish our journeys. The other two lines were, and have been, up and running and while waiting for a Blue or Silver line light rail unit to show up at Station Square to carry us the rest of the way, an outbound Red Line caught my eye as it entered the facility.
– photo by Mitch Waxman
This was a ‘long walk’ day. The Blue Line T arrived, and deposited me at its terminal stop on Pittsburgh’s North Side, nearby the sportsball stadiums. I was eschewing the headphones on this scuttle for some reason, wanting to pay attention to my surroundings with the whole compliment of built in sensory equipment. My goal was to wander back to more or less the start of this walk at the Station Square T facility.
The North Side is absolutely lovely, despite it having a somewhat ferocious reputation. There were a few spots along a loosely decided upon route that I had in mind, but I had planned in ‘serendipity.’
Serendipity is when you happen across something which you didn’t anticipate on a photowalk, and is a joyous sort of experience.
– photo by Mitch Waxman
As it turns out, there’s a Historic District tucked into the North Side, full of late 19th and very early 20th century structures, a fact which was otherwise unknown to me. It’s called ‘Allegheny West,’ and it’s one of twelve such historic districts in Pittsburgh which receive special attention from the City and the residents who live there. Neat!
I’ll definitely be wandering back through here again, and checking out what’s on display. How the other half lives, indeed.
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.
Hyde Park Foot Bridge
Monday
– photo by Mitch Waxman
On Labor Day, Our Lady of the Pentacle was attending an event in a fancy section of Pittsburgh which involved a ‘High Tea’ at a mansion. A humble narrator, after dropping her off at her ‘do,’ then drove about an hour outside of the city to the shore of the Kiskiminetas River. The Kiskiminetas is a tributary of the Allegheny River, and has several tributaries of its own. I’m told that the locals just call it ‘the Kiski.’
This used to be coal country, and there are many abandoned mines in the nearby hills which corrupt the Kiski’s water quality with runoff and drainages. One hadn’t committed an hour’s worth of northeasterly driving on a holiday weekend to muse about environmental matters, however.
I wanted to see and walk over the Hyde Park Footbridge. It sways! Also, it was designed by John A. Roebling and Sons.
– photo by Mitch Waxman
One side of the bridge is in Hyde Park, the other is in Leechburg. This area is very interesting to me for a variety of reasons, but especially so as this was a fairly large port ‘back in the day’ when the Pennsylvania Canal between Pittsburgh and… Philadelphia… was still in operation.
The masonry piers which support the suspension bridge’s footpath are remnants of an 1886 vintage railroad bridge. The ‘modern’ foot bridge was installed in 1950.
The walking bridge is supported by wire ropes, to which steel brackets are affixed by hangers. Every step you take, particularly nearby the shoreline anchors, transfers energy into the span which causes it to shake and shimmy from side to side. Neat!
– photo by Mitch Waxman
Pittsburgh Tribune published a concise history and description of the Hyde Park Bridge’s history at their ‘TribLive’ site in 2008, written by reporter Mary Ann Thomas – check it out here.
Me? I was just happy to be doing my thing. I haven’t set up the tripod and gotten all fancy-shmancy with filters and such in a while, so I took the opportunity to do so while on site. The always fantastic uncoveringpa.com had published a GPS location where it was kosher to park on the Hyde Park side, as well as offering one of their typically great posts about the span.
– photo by Mitch Waxman
Given that I was an hour away from Pittsburgh, timing was key, as I’d be needing to pick Our Lady up from her fancy pants event at some point. Time was short, thereby, and I got busy.
Check out this second Tribune link for a telling of a fatal 1913 ferry disaster here, which occurred before this 600 foot long steel pedestrian bridge was built.
Long story short: The original rail bridge was wiped out by the 1889 Johnstown Flood, and in 1937, a wooden pedestrian bridge was built here, which the pictured steel bridge replaced.
– photo by Mitch Waxman
That’s one of the masonry piers which support the steel structure. Bridgemeister.com has a page with all the measurements and technical information about the bridge – click here for that.
Time was growing short, and I had to head back into Pittsburgh to pick Our Lady up from the event she was attending. It was Labor Day, after all, and all of the cops in Pennsylvania were prowling the highways handing out speeding tickets, or working DUI checkpoints. The highway speed limit had to be scrupulously followed, thereby, although I had nothing to worry about on the DUI side of things.
– photo by Mitch Waxman
One last shot from the Leechburg side of the Hyde Park Walking Bridge.
The Mobile Oppression Platform was parked on the other side of the river, so I headed over there and got moving back towards the southwest and Pittsburgh proper.
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.
The Fourth, and Final, Potato
Friday
– photo by Mitch Waxman
Just a short one today, with the last few shots from a Birthday walk wherein I contemplated – amongst other things – just how Superman would stop a runaway train without causing a derailment. I had just taken up station at an oft visited brewery found alongside CSX’s Pittsburgh Subdivision tracks when CSX #3320 appeared from the east. Or at least eastwards. I’m still working out the cardinal directions here, and have added a compass to the long list of stuff attached to or in my camera bag.
I had an ‘ok’ cheeseburger for dinner. Beer’s pretty good here, but the food is – as the youngins would say – ‘mid.’ #3330 is a GE ET44AH model locomotive, incidentally.
– photo by Mitch Waxman
From the same direction a GE C30-7 model locomotive, which CSX has assigned the charming moniker of ‘#7036’, appeared. It’s a fairly old train, apparently, as this model was produced sometime between 1976 and 1986. It seemed nice.
Given that it was my birthday, and that I also thrive on this sort of ‘Doctor Nerdlington’ information, it seems that the average rate of human fingernail growth is about 1.5 inches a year. Thereby, some 7.125 feet worth of fingernails have been produced by and clipped away from me, over an entire lifetime. How much of a mess are you? How much cellular debris do you think has been let loose upon the world in your name?
Apparently, I’ve also shed something in the neighborhood of 85 pounds and 8 ounces of human skin, as exfoliate, over the years.
– photo by Mitch Waxman
CSX currently has 2,700 locomotives in its fleet, the average length of which is 60 feet. All together that’s about 162,000 feet of end to end hardware. In miles, that translates to 30.68 miles of just locomotive engine. That assembly would theoretically produce a force of 11.34 million horsepower if combined perfectly.
This brings us back to Superman, doesn’t it? Given that the Man of Steel has ‘one arm’ pushed the Earth out of the way of a passing comet and returned the planet to proper orbit multiple times, can we say he’s more powerful than ‘ALL the Locomotives’ in the future? I’ve done the math on this, or at least a handy computer program has.
The last of my Birthday trains was CSX #7037.
Back next week.
“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 Potato
Thursday
– photo by Mitch Waxman
Mentioned several times this week, a humble narrator found himself taking a birthday walk here in Pittsburgh, and there was a regular cavalcade of CSX trains witnessed for the whole way. I was listening to a short playlist of songs, which I refer to as ‘my theme music,’ which includes a song about Superman by the 1990’s group ‘Crash Test Dummies.’
The eventual destination for the walk was the now familiar Sly Fox Brewery in the South Side Flats area, along the Monongahela River, where libation and good company was found.
This was my 20,820th day on the planet. That’s 499,680 hours, by the way. I still get pretty good mileage despite being so close to a half million hours in, although the frame has become a bit warped, and I could definitely use a new set of brakes.
– photo by Mitch Waxman
I’ve been contemplating the whole Superman is ‘more powerful than a locomotive’ thing of late. CSX #7269, up there above is – for instance – a rebuilt GE AC4400CWM model locomotive. It weighs 426,000 pounds and produces 4,400 HP of traction. That means Superman has to be capable of exerting at least 5,000 HP worth of counter force through his hands if he’s going to overpower it. Figure in momentum, and Supes would need to muster maybe two to three times that amount of force to bring it to a stop.
Now as to what ‘horse power’ means, it’s complicated. Also complicated is how Superman might stop a train without causing a derailment to ripple through all the coupled carriages behind the engine.
Suffice to say that Superman is surprisingly capable, and that the laws of physics don’t entirely apply to him. Strange visitor from another planet, indeed.
– photo by Mitch Waxman
Just a week or so before my half millionth hour on the planet, this is what I was getting up to. To be fair, I’ve had worse Birthdays.
Me? I barely manifest any horse power at all. A strong breeze is enough to push me backwards, and I was recently knocked onto my butt after colliding with a housefly back at HQ.
To be fair, that was some fly I ran into. Wonder if it might have been Kryptonian? Does a fly perceive us as meat locomotives, or just as strange visitors from the same planet? What do you say, lords and ladies?6
“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 