Posts Tagged ‘railroad’
Wassup in Sewickley
Friday
– photo by Mitch Waxman
Sewickley is a Borough in Pennsylvania’s Allegheny County, found about 12 miles northwest of Pittsburgh proper, and is home to about 4,000 people. It’s quite a lovely and seemingly well-off suburb, I would mention.
There’s a park and a boat launch along the Ohio River, the access road of which is pictured above as it tunnels under the Norfolk Southern tracks which I’d been shadowing all afternoon and has been mentioned in prior posts. In the shot above, the tracks are carried above the boat launch tunnel, with the Ohio River in the background.
After one walked through the tunnel, surprising a couple of people who were surreptitiously enjoying some cannabis, one discovered that the views attainable here weren’t terribly photogenic so I walked up a nearby hill to try and find a POV.
– photo by Mitch Waxman
The Sewickley Bridge came into frame at the hill top, a 1981 vintage truss which spans the Ohio and carries State Route 4025 – which connects Sewickley to Moon Township on the south side of the river. I’d be driving over that bridge before the afternoon was over, on my way back to HQ.
One scuttled about, and I received a phone call from an old friend while doing so, who’s been referred to here as ‘The Hermetic Hungarian.’ We caught up and discussed the issues of the day while I scuttled about and crossed my fingers that I might get a shot of a train, after haunting these tracks in different locations all afternoon.
– photo by Mitch Waxman
Wishes do come true, apparently, as Norfolk Southern #4781 came roaring into view. I’m told that’s an ‘EMD SD70MAC’ model locomotive.
That probably means quite a bit to someone versed in the railfanning hobby, but as is often stated – I like taking pictures of trains, and photos always need subjects to focus on. Trains are also sort of difficult to photograph, especially so when they’re under full steam and cooking along their way. Not railfanning, however.
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.
Second Interruptus
Tuesday
– photo by Mitch Waxman
Happily, I can report that the bug which has been afflicting me has fallen, and destroyed by my mighty immune system, as buoyed up by dozens of hours of sleep. Felt like hell for about 24 hours there, this was a ‘wild eyes looking back at you from the bathroom mirror at 4 in the morning’ kind of thing. Nothing survives within me for long. My gaze causes inflammation in the healthy, imagine what it’s like within.
Back tomorrow with proper offerings 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.
Disfunction Junction
Monday
– photo by Mitch Waxman
A gorgeous spring-like day saw a humble narrator walking all over Pittsburgh, as detailed in last week’s posts. The end of my longish scuttle occurred, and I settled in at an often visited brewery which is located along the Three Rivers Heritage Trail and the ‘Colors Park,’ where outdoor seating and active railroad tracks used by the CSX outfit are found.
I’m very fond of this spot, as it’s a grade crossing (the tracks intersect with a local street) with signal alarms that alert you when a train is nearing, and thereby you have ample warning to get into position and frame your shot. Also, there’s beer.
Choo Choo.
– photo by Mitch Waxman
One ended up having more than one glass of beer, I’ll confess, and it was dark when I set out for the T Light Rail station to acquire a ride home. I was testing out the ‘fail zone’ of a newish 50mm f1.8 lens on this leg of the day, I should mention.
The 50mm lens is pretty bare bones, electronics wise, and doesn’t offer ‘image stabilization’ technology inside the housing. My camera has an internal sensor based stabilization system, which gives me about three stops of wiggle room, but when I attach a stabilized lens to the thing I get an amazing eight stops worth of mechanical assist. The lack of stabilized glass on the thing caused me to throw away a few train shots, which just weren’t sharp enough to ‘make the grade.’
I made a mental note about sticking with my stabilized f1.8 35mm, or 85mm f2, for handheld night shots like the one above.
– photo by Mitch Waxman
Back home in Dormont some five miles away, and just as I was leaving the T Light Rail station, a Pittsburgh bound T train set was seen leaving the station. Couldn’t resist.
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.
I spy, with my little eye…
Thursday
– photo by Mitch Waxman
Walking over the Fort Pitt Bridge spanning the Monongahela River, here in Pittsburgh, and on one of my many constitutional walks – a humble narrator was feeling a bit ‘meh.’ The part of me that somehow misses NYC was issued a ‘shut the hell up’ order by my internal judge and jury after returning back to the nest at the beginning of February, but I’d be lying if I said that I didn’t miss my friends and a certain waterway.
Truth be told, what I really miss was the easy familiarity of the place which I enjoyed through long habitation. One never had to wander too far before something cool was in front of the camera. Sunnyside Yards, Newtown Creek’s industrial zone… heck, when I was bored or feeling a bit sore I’d just go ride the 7 train and crack out a few shots of the trains coming and going at one of its stations.
Most photogenic subway line in NYC, I always said.
– photo by Mitch Waxman
Pittsburgh is great, mind you, but I’ve had a frustrating couple of months due to the winter weather coupled with an onset of various physical maladies – like arthritis – that limit what I can do during the extreme cold and wet season. Now that’s it’s warming up again… well… it looks like I’m going to have to order another pair of hiking boots as I seem to have shaved about a half inch of the sole away from the pair I’ve been using, just in the last few weeks. My shoe brand is Merrell, if you’re wondering. Used to be sneakers, but I’d wear out a pair of Nikes in about three weeks and soon find myself scuttling along on bald treads. I get about 6-7 months out of a pair of Merrell’s.
The shot above looks back at where I’d been. Foreground is occupied by the Fort Pitt Bridge, which is also depicted in the first shot. Way in the background left area is the Fort Duquesne Bridge which was discussed earlier this week. About a half to 3/4 of a mile behind that is the T light rail station where I started this particular walk. About 400 miles beyond the horizon is the Empire State Building.
– photo by Mitch Waxman
The span above is the West End Bridge, which I frequently cross both on foot and in the car. The presence of a CSX train set on that curvilinear track is something I’ve been hoping to see for a while now. Even better news is that the train was being held in place, which I was able to discern by reading the lights on those signal posts. A rapid bit of scuttling ensued to an opportune spot, as there’s a shot which I’ve been desirous of collecting in that particular location.
More on all that 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.
Listen for it
Thursday
– photo by Mitch Waxman
While scuttling back to the T light rail station after a short walk, where a humble narrator hoped for transit egress back to HQ, a Norfolk Southern train was spotted rolling along its elevated tracks. Remember, yesterday, when I was musing about owning a better telephoto zoom lens than the one I have for random times when a long reach would be handy? Situations like this one are why I covet such things.
One of my favorite shots from last year was captured up near those tracks (location, and shot), when another Norfolk Southern unit was thundering through in the opposite direction. Apparently, there was a pretty dramatic derailment in this area a few years ago (2018) that saw train cars falling over the edge of the track bed, which damaged the light rail station. Wow.
– photo by Mitch Waxman
Those tracks up there are set against Pittsburgh’s Mount Washington prominence and are pretty busy, to my observation. This is the south side of the Monongahela River, and downstream – after the ‘Mon’ joins with the Allegheny to form the headwaters of the Ohio River – there’s a bridge which allows these trains to cross the water and continue on westwards using the northern shore of the Ohio.
There’s a medium sized rail yard kind of nearby that those tracks go through, one which I haven’t gotten close to yet. It’s on my list, however. So’s Christmas.
– photo by Mitch Waxman
Now that things are warming up a bit here, I’ve got a few things I want to check out on that extensive ‘got to check that out’ list of mine.
In particular, I’d like to pay some more attention to the steel mills east of this area, check out what I can see around Norfolk Southern’s regional ‘home base’ at the Conway Yard, and get a shot of the Westinghouse Atom Smasher.
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.
The Newtown Pentacle 