Posts Tagged ‘PJ Acardle Roadway’
Low to high
Tuesday
– photo by Mitch Waxman
As mentioned yesterday, one was executing a constitutional walk around Pittsburgh recently, stretching my legs and maintaining a steady level of activity which kept my heart beating in an elevated but therapeutic manner. After riding the streetcar ‘T’ line to the center of Pittsburgh, and then crossing a bridge over the mouth of the Ohio at the joining of the city’s three rivers, one proceeded along the south shore of the Monongahela River.
Luckily, a Norfolk Southern train was rolling past on an elevated set of tracks found along a secondary arterial roadway called Saw Mill Run Blvd. This Saw Mill Run section is a fairly scary pathway, pedestrian wise, but I was heading for one of the inclines so…
Having paid my fare on the T, I got a free transfer to the incline/funiculars. That’s how I got from low to high (1,000 feet up) without having to climb a mountain.
– photo by Mitch Waxman
After being deposited atop Mount Washington, which the funicular is set into, my path led me to the P.J. McArdle Roadway which carries vehicular traffic from down on the waterfront flats all the way up to the ridge line of the landform. The views are fairly spectacular up here, and I quite enjoy them. There’s also a shared pedestrian and bike path which leads back down to the flatlands below.
One has been using an app on the phone to measure things of late, and apparently I walk at 2.6 mph. The phone also advises on the length of my stride (26.4 inches), approximates the number of steps taken in any given outing, and describes asymmetries in how I’m moving my feet about. No big revelation is encountered there, especially after the various issues and injuries experienced in my left foot in recent years,
I’m about 3% off in terms of that limb’s efficiency according to the phone. It seems that about a third of the time I’m out scuttling, I have both feet contacting the ground at the same time, which must mean that the phone wants me to hop like a bunny or something.
– photo by Mitch Waxman
The fencing along this pathway is terrifyingly fragile, riddled with rust and the weathered corruption of old age. In several places it’s non existent and you’re looking at 1,000 foot drop along what has to be a 60 or 70 degree angle through woods. Brr.
This particular stretch of the cantilevered roadway sports concrete separation between the ped/bike lane and vehicular traffic but this is only for certain sections. There’s a long stretch of this P.J. McArdle roadway where all there is between you and the traffic that’s zipping past you at 40-50mph is just a regular three inch curb. Brrr.
Back tomorrow.
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Boss… ze train, ze train
Friday
– photo by Mitch Waxman
That’s Norfolk Southern’s Locomotive #1825 pictured above, and below, hurtling through Pittsburgh on the south side of the city. The unit came online in 1993 as NS #2507, an EMD SD70 model. #2507 was rebuilt in 2019 and the upgraded engine is now an SD70ACC model. The tracks it’s riding on are the ‘Mon Line,’ which was formerly owned by the Pennsylvania Railroad Company. As far as I can discern, other than an upgrade of certain mechanical drive and braking systems, the difference between the two models revolves around the operator’s cabin and the electronics found therein.
I know people who keep this sort of information in their head, all the time. This post was actuated as a response to one of these fellows, a friend of mine and whom I consider to be my ‘go-to’ or ‘rabbi’ for understanding how the insanely complicated world of Choo-Choo trains works. Like all my friends, he likes telling me what I haven’t done.
– photo by Mitch Waxman
I had sent this particular fellow a link to a few prior Newtown Pentacle posts which featured another train line here in Pittsburgh, that the CSX outfit operates on. An offered critique was that ‘I had mastered the flying wedge photo alright, but I needed to start getting to “rail photos level 2”…’ Grrrr, thought I.
So… after scuttling down Arlington Avenue – as described in the two posts directly preceding this one (here and here) – one proceeded to the PJ McArdle Roadway where I knew a ‘POV’ for the Mon Line tracks awaited a humble narrator. Grrrr. Level 2, my ass.
– photo by Mitch Waxman
One had to hang around for a bit, and I used the time to call my old pal Armstrong back in Brooklyn and check in with her. While chatting about the news of the day and hearing about the old neighborhood, #1825 rounded a corner and appeared in the distance. Gotta go, said I.
I had already figured out the camera’s exposure triangle, but it needed a bit of fine tuning. The shot above is zoomed out at 300mm, so atmospheric heat distortion manifested itself.
– photo by Mitch Waxman
The train got closer, and I kept on shooting.
My big news for this day’s walk was that for the first time in literally years, I was using my headphones and listening to one of my beloved Lovecraft audio books. This particular entertainment was a ‘radio drama’ performed by the H.P. Lovecraft Historical Society’s “Dark Adventure Radio Theater” company, a dramatic adaptation of ‘At the Mountains of Madness.’
As mentioned several times, ever since Covid appeared and the streets got weird, I’ve been avoiding the use of headphones while out walking. This habit started in NYC, and whereas I’ve continued it in Pittsburgh, I needed to let a different set of voices talk in my head for a change, and listen to something other than my horrific inner voice, which is impossible to tune out.
– photo by Mitch Waxman
I’ve actually been listening to some music, as well, other than the tried and true playlist which I refer to as my theme music. That inner voice of mine, with its paranoid imaginings and cruel replays of past failures and or embarrassments, has really been getting old and tiresome lately. Best to drown the intrusive thoughts, and fill my head with music, podcasts, or fiction instead – at least while I’m awake.
I know that I’m more than 20 years out of date on a lot of music, but I’m particularly enamored with this 2001 song at the moment – which quite fits my current mood. That’s a real cracker of a rock video too, if you ask me.
One was standing on a bridge while shooting these, a cantilevered span which carries a fairly high speed road, and one whose designers didn’t anticipate camera toting pedestrians running across the travel lanes in pursuit of a photograph. That would have been a very bad idea.
– photo by Mitch Waxman
Thereby, the lens was extended out into its zoom range again for this final shot of NS #1825 heading eastwards. As a note, remember when I mentioned rock slides further up the Monongahela Valley? Turns out that a landslide in 2018 just a half mile west of here and which damaged the Mon Line tracks caused a Norfolk Southern derailment, which created no small amount of chaos and damage. Wow.
Level 2… grrr…
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.
High to low
Monday
– photo by Mitch Waxman
After a ride on the T from HQ in Dormont to the center of Pittsburgh, a humble narrator rode the Monongahela Incline up the face of Mount Washington and then proceeded along stately Grandview Avenue. My desire for this walk was to explore the upper reaches of the PJ McArdle roadway, a diagonally placed truss structure which starts at the top of Mt. Washington and leads you back down to ground level about a mile away, horizontally speaking. There’s a pedestrian and bike lane on McArdle, which is mostly ‘protected’ behind a concrete structure. Mostly.
Just before heading onto the thing and descending back down to my usual base level on the street, the ‘Saint Mary of the Mount Church & Saint Adalbert Church’ caught my eye. Don’t know much about it, but it’s a cool looking church, if you ask me.
– photo by Mitch Waxman
What drew me to this spot on this particular day were the many times I’ve driven up or down this roadway, every one of which saw me eyeing the pedestrian path in a somewhat lascivious manner. The views are quite stellar from this path. This walk was another one of my scouting missions, and I intend on returning here sometime at night, when the trees have enjoyed their autumnal transmogrification. I should be able to get away with doing tripod shots here, but the vibration from passing automotive traffic is probably going to hobble that effort.
That’s downtown Pittsburgh, by the way, at the confluence of the three rivers; Allegheny, Monongahela, and Ohio. The bridges are: the ‘Fort Duquesne’ in the distance, with ‘Fort Pitt’ poking up through the tree canopy at bottom left. It was a hot but breezy day in Pittsburgh, with climbing levels of humidity.
– photo by Mitch Waxman
Grandview Avenue can be analogized for New Yorkers as being a lot like the Brooklyn Promenade. It’s one of the high points in Pittsburgh, and certainly offers the most well known set of views of the place, but I actually prefer the West End Overlook. There’s a huge public space between the two inclines with overlook platforms, which is populated sparsely, in comparison to Brooklyn’s analogous promenade ‘back home.’ Right about where the PJ McArdle Roadway slopes away and down from the top of Mount Washington, a series of buildings are set in along the steep and sharp edge of the landform.
Apartment houses and private homes, what looks to me like it must be an Old Age home, a bunch of bars, restaurants, and a catering hall are amongst what I’ve observed up,here. These buildings all jut out onto structural cantilevers to take advantage of the epic views, which is apparently quite a valuable commodity. I wouldn’t say no to living in that place pictured above, provided that the lottery gods are smiling.
– photo by Mitch Waxman
The fence on the left, the one in green made of iron, is in an absolutely terrifying state of repair. What’s so terrifying about it? I looked on the other side of the rusted out fence. There’s about a 30 feet drop on the other side of the rickety thing. That’s a thirty foot drop onto heavily forested land, which would only be the location where you first bounce, and that’s where your tumbling journey down a roughly 1,000 feet/60-70 degree angled descent would start. Wow.
I don’t know if any of you have enjoyed any similar pleasures, but a humble narrator once experienced an icy slide down a forested hill, of about 35 degrees, and nearly cut his neck open on some thorn bearing shrubbery which was uprooted when I body slammed into it. Mount Washington? Brrr…
– photo by Mitch Waxman
By far, the coolest thing you get to see along this stretch of the PJ McArdle Roadway is the trackway for the Monongahela Incline, whose funicular trackway is cantilevered over the prime cantilever which carries the vehicle lanes. There’s a concretized set aside area surrounding the thing, and this is another composition I plan on coming back for at night. All those lights on the track are illuminated! Don’t forget, I was scouting on this one.
A humble narrator is quite aware of how ostentatious he must appear, while photographing. My oft stated policy is to keep moving, lest one draw unwanted attention. In this case, however, I broke my rule and hung around this spot since the funicular service is actually fairly frequent. I know, also, that which goes down must also come up.
– photo by Mitch Waxman
This view will definitely be revisited as well. I’m wondering what morning looks like right here, but I mean really early in the morning. Might be a cool shot when they’re popping off fireworks at the stadiums, such as when one of the local sports ball teams validate the hope and trust which their fans have offered or when Taylor Swift (of blessed memory) comes back to Pittsburgh.
They really like the sports ball stuff around here, as a note.
Pittsburgh is so damn cool! Back tomorrow.
“follow” me on Twitter- @newtownpentacle
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“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.
Day late, dollar short
Monday
– photo by Mitch Waxman
As mentioned last week, a longish walk found me scuttling along the pedestrian/bike path of the PJ McArdle Roadway here in Pittsburgh, which connects the prominence of Mount Washington with the South Side Flats section found on the banks of the Monongahela River. I entered the roadway path at about the halfway point, leaving the upper section for a future walk.
There are some pretty impressive points of view available along this path, although negotiating your way to it is pretty terrifying as you need to cross several vehicle lanes which all lead into a primary crossing and tunnel leading out of the city.
– photo by Mitch Waxman
My desire was to wrap up the walk at a spot I’ve become pretty entranced by, which also happens to host a brewery with outdoor tables. Further enhancement of my personal joy in this matter is provided by the bar’s proximity to a fairly busy set of freight rail tracks. The icing on my proverbial cake is provided by the fact that the tracks involve an at-grade street crossing, meaning that gizmos with signal bells with flashing lights and lane blocking arms activate when a train is nearing so I get advance notice of the approaching locomotive, and subsequently the time to run over and get into position.
That would be later on in the evening, though, and I wasn’t done kicking my feet about. This ‘zone’ in Pittsburgh hosts a lot of relict building stock, much of it seeming to date back to the early 20th and late 19th centuries.
– photo by Mitch Waxman
I should mention that I’m making a concerted effort to not get all ‘history boy,’ quite yet, here in Pittsburgh. Partially, it’s because a series of existential issues concerning the ‘now’ are occupying my time. Also, I’m not really planning on becoming the walking encyclopedia that I was in NYC. Whatever happens to drift into my head and lodge there is osmotic gravy, but I’m currently not involved in any form of research.
That building above is pretty interesting, to me, at least.
– photo by Mitch Waxman
After looping and scuttling about for a bit, one decided to head towards the ultimate destination for the evening – that aforementioned brewery. It’s a part of some gentrification scheme being pushed by a NYC real estate developer, wherein they’re making the same mistakes here that they made at the Bush Terminal in South Brooklyn. Saying all that, I don’t care anymore about stuff like that, and all I wanted was to pour a couple of pints of cold beer into the talkie hole on my face.
I enjoy the solitude and anonymity here in Pittsburgh. For the last several years along Newtown Creek it became a standard thing, for instance, to have a garbage truck driving by and hearing the driver shout out “where ya goin today, Mitch?” Once I was actually stopped by a DSNY crew who asked me to let the city councilman know about a broken water main that nobody cared about fixing which was getting in their way. It got fairly weird, being me. I like being some random bloke with a camera, again.
– photo by Mitch Waxman
Frustrating is how I describe the situation when I’m approaching a set of rail tracks here in Pittsburgh, and I’ve just missed the opportunity to photograph a train. The only shot I really want from a freight train is one of the head of the snake – the locomotive engine.
Wasn’t a big deal, since my plan involved an hour and change of sitting on the keister and drinking, but still…
– photo by Mitch Waxman
This spot has a fairly nice view of the Panhandle Bridge, which the T light rail uses to cross the Monongahela River, so I zoomed in on that while I was waiting for the show to come to me. When the train’s grade crossing signal alert bells started ringing again, I’d pay my tab and head back home. Luckily, they serve pretty good suds at this watering hole.
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.
Utterly pedestrian
Friday
– photo by Mitch Waxman
Another ‘long walk’ started with a humble narrator riding on the T light rail service from HQ in Dormont, and back to the center of Pittsburgh. My end stop for the day would be a bar I found that sits alongside the Pittsburgh Subdivision tracks of CSX. Beer and trains! What could go wrong?
This all started around noon, of course, and I had a whole megillah planned for the interval. I negotiated a series of street crossings from the T which would make the ‘Bicycle People’ back home clutch at their pearls, and found my way to the pedestrian path of the PJ McArdle roadway.
– photo by Mitch Waxman
Along the way, I discovered a few absolutely beautiful spots to capture Norfolk Southern rail traffic from, and was treated to a series of intriguing city views which I’d only witnessed from behind the wheel of the car while hurtling along at speed.
This is sort of the lower half of the viaduct, sometime soon I’ll show you what a subsequent walk of the upper section revealed.
– photo by Mitch Waxman
A pretty view of the St. John the Baptist Ukrainian Catholic Church was on hand from on high. For a panorama image of the view from 100 steps further down the path, click here.
Next week, I’ll be displaying what I captured on the rest of this walk, and the train photos I got while sitting at an outdoor bar drinking pints of craft beer. They’re real big on the craft beer thing here.
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.
The Newtown Pentacle 