Posts Tagged ‘railroad’
Ends are always odd
Thursday
– photo by Mitch Waxman
At the end of a medium length scuttle, and your humble narrator once again had a pint glass filled with a yummy oatmeal stout beer in his grubby mitt, and that’s when CSX #913 appeared.
Hey Now!
The locomotive was pulling a mixed up line of rail cars. Automotive cars, containers, even semi truck trailers were in line behind it.
A ‘GE ES44AC-H’ model locomotive, that’s what I’m told #913 is.
– photo by Mitch Waxman
I was there for the length of two drinks, about an hour, and the only train which passed through the CSX subdivision choke point during the interval was #913.
It gets dark really fast in Pittsburgh during the winter, as the burning thermonuclear eye of god itself lowers itself behind Mount Washington and probably Ohio, a deep shadow is cast.
– photo by Mitch Waxman
There’s some of the semi trailers the train was hauling. I get comments all the time about only showing the locomotive engine, and not running shots of what it’s hauling, so there you are.
As the sky grew dim, and the air colder, I headed within and paid my tab. A quick visit to the loo followed, and then back out into the street.
– photo by Mitch Waxman
An elevator was used to raise my point of view, and I hung around in the dark for a bit, hoping another train might be transiting through.
No such luck, and I made my way back out to the street. I’d be summoning a ride to get back to HQ, something easier accomplished from ‘up here’ rather than ‘down there.’
– photo by Mitch Waxman
Along the way, I couldn’t help but react to the ‘noir’ being offered up by those darkened streets. Spooky. This is what 5:30-6 p.m. looks like here.
It took a while for a cab to get to me.
– photo by Mitch Waxman
Eventually, the rideshare chariot arrived and a reunion with Our Lady of the Pentacle and Moe the Dog ensued. Good times.
Also, Merry Christmas to all you Goyem.
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.
rolling rolling rolling… rawhide!
Wednesday
– photo by Mitch Waxman
The last legs of this particular walk were fairly uneventful, as your humble narrator picked his way along the shoreline of a Monongahela River ‘rail trail’ and towards my eventual destination at the Sly Fox Brewery.
I was scouting out a couple of locations along the way, ones with a pretty good view of the rail tracks used by CSX.
I’ll be showing you a scene quite similar to the one above in the future, but with a CSX train hurtling through it. This setup looks like it could be kind of promising.
– photo by Mitch Waxman
Once I was again safely sequestered from vehicular traffic and onto the rail trail, which follows the former ‘right of way’ of a defunct railroad, my headphones were reinserted into those ear holes one might observe on the sides of the sensory and gustation stalk that sticks out of the collar of my t-shirt. Just had to watch out for bikes.
As mentioned in a prior post, these photos were gathered on the Saturday of Thanksgiving weekend, and Pittsburgh was pretty much deserted.
Good. That’s the way I like it. The human infestation can be noisome.
– photo by Mitch Waxman
There’s a bend in the path when you reach the South 10th street bridge, which is where the trail transmogrifies into ‘Colors Park.’ Herein, street art and so called ‘graffiti’ is encouraged and allowed. By creating an out door gallery space for the pursuit, it cuts down on the vandalism and ‘tagging’ for nearby spots where graffiti is unwanted. Smart.
CSX’s tracks are on the other side of that little fence, found at more or less the center of the shot above.
– photo by Mitch Waxman
There’s always a bit of new art on the pier of the South 10th street bridge, which is where I took a moment to consider and observe.
I moved on. This excursion was about movement, and accruing speed in my striding gait. The ankle was singing an aria by this stage. It seems that I’ve got arthritis in that joint now, and as it was a cold day…
– photo by Mitch Waxman
Y’know, back in NYC… the NYPD would be very interested in this sort of scenario. In Pittsburgh… it’s likely that a groundskeeper just forgot to load up his fuel can after cutting the grass and left it behind by accident.
Regardless, one continued on. Thump, drag, thump, drag… hey, cut that out… thump right, thump left, thump…
– photo by Mitch Waxman
Hey now! Suddenly, CSX’s #3166 hurtled past.
I had less than 15 seconds to get this shot set up after I heard the thing coming. This is why I like shooting trains at the brewery, incidentally, as there are grade crossing signal arms on either side of that space and you get nearly a minute of preparation time for lining up your shot and figuring out the exposure settings.
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.
So many axles
Thursday
– photo by Mitch Waxman
Your humble narrator had to hang about for around about a half hour on a pedestrian bridge over their tracks before Norfolk Southern’s #1181 thundered past the lens, here in the South Side Slopes section of Pittsburgh.
According to the AI at Google – ‘Norfolk Southern locomotive #1181 is a 2019 GE EMD SD70ACe model that was formerly a Progress Rail unit designated as “EMDX 7239”. It is one of the newer locomotives in the Norfolk Southern fleet and was converted to the #1181 number around 2019.’
– photo by Mitch Waxman
That’s the pedestrian bridge I was standing on, one of several which provide pedestrian egress from the ‘Slopes’ section the ‘South Side Flats’ below. I’ve waved the camera about at this spot a few times, most recently in the post ‘Cage Match, baby.’
Also from Google’s AI, which is now offering up one of my shots in its results… grrr…
Overview
The Norfolk Southern (NS) tracks are located at the base of the South Side Slopes, spanning the area known as the “Flats”. Pedestrian bridges, like the one at S. 10th Street, were built to reconnect the Slopes and Flats after the railroad was established, providing a crucial link for residents to cross the tracks and access either side. These bridges are a response to the steep topography and the physical barrier of the active rail line.
– photo by Mitch Waxman
#1181 was hauling garbage and sewer solids, which – god help me – is something I knew just from looking at the type of containers loaded onto its rail cars. It was heading ‘towards Ohio.’ That bridge is part of the PJ McArdle roadway, as a note.
At any rate, got my NS train shot, so then I moved on and headed down to the South Side Flats area and over to the Sly Fox Brewery, where a bathroom visit and then a pint of beer awaited me.
– photo by Mitch Waxman
CSX was unusually not busy on this particular day, and only one of their trains appeared while I was there.
It was #7211, which I’m told is a rebuilt GE CM44AC model locomotive. There you are.
– photo by Mitch Waxman
I ended up hanging out and chatting with somebody for a while, and after a couple of more beers, it was time to start heading back to Dormont. It gets dark about 4:30-5:00 p.m. out here, at the moment.
Night kind of snuck up on me, but to be fair – I was having a nice time and also drinking beers, so…
– photo by Mitch Waxman
On my way back to HQ, I noticed a tugboat navigating its way under the Liberty Bridge on the Monongahela River. One last shot.
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.
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
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.
Remains of a scuttle
Monday
– photo by Mitch Waxman
After traipsing all over Pittsburgh during a longish scuttle, your humble narrator found himself heading into more familiar territory along the Monongahela River. Another not so friendly to pedestrians route was chosen, this one paralleling a series of high speed roads which operate in a trench. Pictured above, in the distance, is a traffic machine called the ‘Fort Pitt Bridge.’
Every GPS navigation package you can think of directs all the traffic in Pittsburgh going to and from the South Hills region onto the Fort Pitt Bridge and tunnel. There are two other perfectly acceptable highway paths you can take out of the central section of Pittsburgh towards the South Hills, which deposit you in more or less the same area on the other side of Mount Washington, I’d mention. Saying that, all of the ‘maps’ apps just love sending traffic to that very congested bridge and tunnel.
The Fort Pitt bridge offers what I consider to be one of the worst traffic interchanges in the entire country. It’s an ‘X,’ and the thousands of cars and trucks an hour which cross it and enter that tunnel having to negotiate a diagonal merge in a surprisingly short interval.
As I’ve intoned earlier, the driving culture of Pittsburgh is absolute brutality, so this ain’t pretty.
– photo by Mitch Waxman
Moving easterly, the mirror face of the PPG Plaza building caught my eye as it threw reflection of the burning thermonuclear eye of God itself around. Disdain for the memory of architect Philip Johnson blossomed in my mind.
The plan for the rest of the day involved heading over to familiar territory at the Sly Fox Brewery where I’d hopefully get to see a train go by.
– photo by Mitch Waxman
The Smithfield Street Bridge is a wonderful touchstone. The original bridge here was designed by John Roebling, and when it needed an upgrade they hired Gustav Lindenthal to do it. The bridge’s piers are original to the Roebling version, and the tension spring upper steel is Lindenthal’s.
Roebling, of course, designed and built the Brooklyn Bridge. Lindenthal is the mastermind behind the Queensboro Bridge. I quickened my stride.
I was heading for the brewery, after all, and was fairly thirsty by this point. I also needed to make ‘wee-wee.’
– photo by Mitch Waxman
A pint of lager in hand, and after a trip to the loo, one settled in and waited for the signal chimes to start ringing at Sly Fox Brewery. It took maybe twenty minutes of waiting before CSX #4749 exploded into view.
HEY NOW!
It’s a 2003 vintage ‘EMD SD70MAC.’ A 16 cylinder engine in the locomotive produces some 4,000 HP of thrust, and it is said to offer a top speed of 70 mph.
– photo by Mitch Waxman
It had been a nice, long walk. Lots of ups and downs, long distances, and mostly flat. What was desired was attained, which was to do some shooting while subjecting my gamey ankle to a longish walk.
As you’re reading this, remember that exactly one year ago today I was still confined to a wheelchair, and experiencing ghastly amounts of pain. The injury was more than just orthopedic, as lots of soft tissue damage had occurred too. Suffice to say that I learned about a new one during this experience – pressure blisters. Felt like a burn, but under the cast.
I just can’t stop remembering that right about now. Trauma, yo.
Adding in that I was all doped up on opioid pain killers, this situation wasn’t at all pretty. All I could do, besides watching a Turk soap opera about the Ottomans, was dream about recovery, and getting back to doing…
…This…
– photo by Mitch Waxman
As the saying goes: Life is what happens to you while you’re making other plans, right?
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.
The Newtown Pentacle 